Bright colours at Hyde Hall

16th April 202116th April 2021 By cpadmin

On todays visit there were bright colours at Hyde Hall. I visited on a sunny morning in mid April 2021 and wandered around the grounds. I came away with 95 images. Of these I saved 34 and discarded the rest. This post has three of the images. Firstly, and without doubt my favourite image of the day is image of Bergenia Schneekoenigin. This lovely chain of small pink flowers goes up and down across the image. It was not until I subsequently looked over the images that I was aware of the chain effect!

April at RHS Hyde Hall — Bergenia Schneekoenigin

The next image is a close up of the bright yellow Mahonia Aquifolium is next in the sequence. Bergenia cordifolia Purpurea has strong pink and purple flowers. I am sure it would stand out in the dark!

The Magnolias are out or alternatively coming out at this time of year. The pinky white raspberry ripple flowers are strongly in bud, whereas the white Magnolia cylindrica flowers are out. These last ones have undoubtedly suffered from the frost, as the brown petals show!

A new page on the website shows ten of the images I captured during this visit to Hyde Hall. Click here to go to that page

There are lots of bright colours at Hyde Hall. Its well worth a wander round. Check out their website

RHS Hyde Hall after the snow

21st February 202121st February 2021 By cpadmin

Snow fell in Essex for the first time in several years, these images show RHS Hyde Hall after the snow. This had meant that local photographers have been short of recently captured local snowy images. Captured on two different visits the images show different aspects of the gardens in the cold conditions.

The first image looks from the winter garden across the grass to Clover Hill. Our eye follows the tracks of an earlier visitor across the grass. The shadows tell us that winter daylight will soon be ending. Secondly, we have an image captured from the middle of the winter garden, note the cornus in the foreground. The eye follows the path as it winds this way and that up the slope to the hilltop garden.

Without doubt the red and orange of the Cornus Sanguinea midwinter fire stands out against the snow and the bright blue sky in image three. It was great to be at RHS Hyde Hall after the snow, however it was freezing cold. More images from this shoot at Hyde Hall can be found in the latest images section of the Compass Photography Website. These include inquisitive robins, lens ball images and snow blown over a frozen lake.

You can also look up the RHS Hyde Hall website from here

Clements Green Creek SWF

26th January 202126th January 2021 By cpadmin

Clements Green Creek SWF is in South Woodham Ferrers in the County of Essex. The tidal River Crouch fills and empties from the Creek twice a day. At high or low tide there is either a wide expanse of water of a wide expanse of mud. When the water is high and calm like a mill pond it is possible to see reflections from the clouds. One of the images below shows that.

A gentle breeze leads the clouds across the face of the water. High water and wind can make for some turbulence Low tide brings a huge expanse of dark brown chocolate coloured mud into view. It brings lots of bird to peck in the mud for food and as they do this they make whistling noises. The mud looks like a pancake rolled out by a rolling pin. At low tide a trickle of water progresses round the narrow channel and down the estuary to the sea. The second image shows the chocolate brown mud at low tide.

More images captured recently at Clements Green Creek SWF are shown in the “latest images” gallery on our Compass Photography website. Clements Green Creek – Compass Photography Group

Clements Green Creek - Low tide — Mud looking banks with a brown chocolate pancake texture

Bright day at Hadleigh Castle

21st January 202121st January 2021 By cpadmin

Bright day at Hadleigh Castle. Hadleigh Castle in Essex is an English Heritage property near Southend. English Heritage’s website describes it as “The romantic ruins of a royal castle overlooking the Essex marshes”. Hadleigh was begun in about 1215 by Hubert de Burgh, but extensively refortified by Edward III during the Hundred Years War, becoming a favourite residence of the ageing king John. See more on the English Heritage website

Falling over — The falling tower at Hadleigh Castle

My visit to Hadleigh Castle in Essex took place in the week before Christmas 2020. It was a week day and there were not too many people about. A selfish thought but it was good for capturing images. The website also tells us that In 1215 King John gave this area of land, known as the manor of Hadleigh, along with many other gifts, to Hubert de Burgh, his chief minister. The castle is a ruin. Two towers are still visible, one of them leaning precariously. The other one is upright and it is possible to go inside it.

The bright day at Hadleigh Castle provided some magnificent views from the castle and its surroundings. Looking up the Thames the Great Cranes at Tilbury are visible. Looking down the Thames, the pier at Southend is visible. A bracing walk along the grass offers lots of opportunities to capture interesting images.

This post shows two of the many images captured. Go to the Compass Photography Website www.compassphotography.co.uk to see more images captured that day

Autumnal Rettendon

21st October 202021st October 2020 By cpadmin

To capture some images of autumnal Rettendon I paid a visit to the churchyard at All Saints. I had been tipped off by someone who knew, that the colours in Church Chase were nice. Before the rain came I nipped up yesterday with my camera. The churchyard and its bushes and trees offer a number of photogenic opportunities. I particularly like how the high branches of some of the bushes arch over the images to “frame” them. These images are on our website on the “Autumn in Rettendon” page. Click here to go there

This post shows three images. There are more images of Autumnal Rettendon on our website. https://www.compassphotography.co.uk/autumn-in-rettendon/

The views looking west from the churchyard are quite nice. Hedges on both sides of the A130 hide both the road and its traffic. The hedges are turning gold too. Most of the industrial buildings are hidden in the trees.

Images through a Lens Ball

18th September 202021st September 2020 By cpadmin

On a visit to RHS Hyde Hall I captured some images through a lens ball. Simply put a lens ball is a crystal ball. Refraction means that images shot through the lens appear upside down. Refraction occurs when light passes through an object of denser mass, such as water or in this case glass. The resulting image has two characteristics. Most of the image is the right way up. In contrast the element of the image within the lens ball is upside down.

The whole point of using a lens ball for me is that Photoshop allows you to isolate the circle of the lens ball within the image. You can then spin the image round so that both the main image and the contents of the lens ball are the “right” way round! You then see a microcosm of the image through the lens ball.

The images from Hyde Hall

lens ball photography — Before. Looking over the lake at Hyde Hall (Before being spun round)

The first image shows the lake at Hyde Hall as the image came from the camera and the second image shows the refraction “spun” 180 degrees. The third image shows the upper pond at Hyde Hall

More lens ball images captured at Hyde Hall and on the River Crouch appear on our website https://www.compassphotography.co.uk/latest-images/

Big Cats at Colchester

26th July 202026th July 2020 By cpadmin

Big cats at Colchester

Big cats at Colchester. This week we had a day at Colchester Zoo. We booked tickets on line and turn up for our time slot. This post shows three images from the many that were captured on the day at Colchester Zoo. A page on our website has a slide show of twelve images

The male lion sat lion sat majestically, surveying his domain. What else would you do if you were him? The lionesses were stretched out asleep. The tiger stretched on the roof of a hide in an aloof way. People wandering past seemed of no interest! He yawned as if we bored him!

Our penultimate visit was to the cheetahs. The expression on this cats face seemed to say “what a fine specimen I am”. And he was a fine specimen too

Big cats at Colchester — What a fine specimen I am!

The flamingos were difficult to photograph, they kept moving. In the image of them shown in the slide show they are nosing an egg around. Sometimes one of them would sit on it. You could title this image “bottoms up”. Have a look for it on our website page.

The website page is https://www.compassphotography.co.uk/a-day-at-colchester-zoo/

Looking straight down

23rd July 202023rd July 2020 By cpadmin

Looking straight down from the top of the Moot Hall. The roof of the Moot Hall is open to the elements. From the roof you can see the Blackwater Estuary as far as Bradwell and the Promenade Park in the east. To the south you can pick up tower blocks on Southend seafront. From the other sides fascinating images of the town itself can be captured. You can see where building really are. Not where you think they are!

Maldon High Street as you have never seen it before is the image looking straight down over the front retaining wall here. Perspective is added by the brick which appear to be horizontal.

The bricks are actually on the vertical wall and lead the eye down to the clock, which is seen from a strange angle. Moving further down we see the balcony and its flower boxes which are on the first floor, level with the Court Room.

At the top of the image is street level and people crossing the road!

The back of the viewing platform offers a nice view towards Heybridge. Looking right over the edge is a view all the way down to the prison yard and its primitive sanitation. The high walls are visible and the green floor of the yard shows that the sun doesn’t get there often.

The Moot Hall will soon be open for visitors again, check out their website. Click this link to see our gallery of images from the top of the Moot Hall. See more of our images by visiting our website www.compassphotography.co.uk

Hyde Hall Open again

1st June 20201st June 2020 By cpadmin

RHS Hyde Hall is open again. There is a great display of yellows and purples amongst the flowers. Today was the first day of opening after the lock down. Three of the images captured today are shown above, there are another six on our website under the heading “latest images”

The Purple Alliums are mostly past their best, however the one shown here was in the shade and had more colour. Moving up and round to the pond in the Hill Harden there were some bright yellow water lilies. Foxgloves (digitalis) were present in abundance. One of my images shows the patterns inside the foxglove petal.

To gain entry to Hyde Hall you need to go on line and book a time slot for entry at the website. Remember to take water with you. The one thing I missed after my walk round was the cup of tea!

To look at more of the images from Hyde Hall open again click here

Sunny Wednesday at Hyde Hall

14th February 202014th February 2020 By cpadmin

Image of the week focuses on Hyde Hall

A sunny Wednesday at Hyde Hall. Another sunny day before another storm! I was able to capture lovely images at Hyde Hall. Two image of the ones captured are shown below.

Clover Hill

The grass on clover hill was very green, there were nice bends to see on the bank. There were layers of colour in the flower beds. White grasses were waving in the wind and the yellow and deep red cornus (Dogwood) plants were providing striking displays. The image as you see it has different layers of colour as you look up and down it.

Daffodils

A sunny Wednesday at Hyde Hall and the daffodils are out! I managed to get a close up of one in the Hilltop Garden. In the image shown the daffodil flute bows its head down. Other flowers are out and coming out behind it. Since Wednesday we have a daffodil out in our garden. I hope they all survive storm Dennis!

There is lots to see at Hyde Hall at the moment so take a trip there after the storm. The roses are starting to bud! Visit Hyde Hall’s website

See more of our images at WWW.Compassphotography.co.uk

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Category: Great places to go in Essex