Buttercup field in full bloom

19th May 201919th May 2019 By cpadmin

Buttercup field in full bloom

One of the best things about summer is a field of buttercups gently swaying in the wind. Our image of the week this week shows a field in Little Baddow, near Chelmsford in Essex. The field with this view is across the road from the car park at Papermill Lock. One of the houses at the Lock is seen on the left of the image. You can tell its still May because not all of the trees have greened up.

This image of the buttercup field is my favourite from the series. A curved sweep of yellow buttercups start in the centre right of the image. It makes its way out to the hedge row on the left and then across back to the right hand side.

The second image is show from the height of the actual buttercups and is a veritable sea of yellow. Dropping down to this height did mean that the movement of the nearest buttercup is a blur though.

Have a look at more of our images on www.compassphotography.co.uk

Equipment: Sony SLT-A65V, Tamron 16-300mm

Image settings f3.5 1/2000 ISO 100

A carpet of colour

5th May 20195th May 2019 By cpadmin

A carpet of colour was on view at our local garden centre last Wednesday morning.

Rows of freshly potted baskets hang from the ceiling above benches of small pots of flowers. Sometimes the colours are in rows or blocks and other times they are random. We can see geraniums, though actually they are pelargoniums. It worth going round to see all the plants and pick some nice ones, however, not only does the carpet of colour look nice, the plants smell wonderful. The people who work at the garden centre tell me that they can’t smell the plants. I think that’s because they are there all the time!

It will be time to start to make our own hanging baskets, just another week now. There is also a close up of a pink geranium/pelargonium. It’s in one of the hanging baskets and you can see the tiny hairs on the stem and well as the pastel shades of other flowers in the background. If you are wondering where the image was captured click on this link here

To see more of our images visit our website www.compassphotography.co.uk

Equipment: Sony SLT-A65V Tamron 16-300 lens

Settings f4.5, 1/250, ISO 100

Hyde Hall on Easter Sunday

21st April 201921st April 2019 By cpadmin

Hyde Hall on Easter Sunday

An early visit to Hyde Hall on Easter Sunday enabled me to capture some super images in the sunshine. Hyde Hall is an RHS Garden in Essex, UK

The attractions included red and white blossom on the Malus trees, this one had no label! The purple Bergenia stood out against the white pebbles in the dry garden at the top of the hill. Magnolia judy is a delicate pink lurking around the far side of the lake overlapping the footpath. The strangely named Rododendron saint tudy (yes “tudy”) has lovely deep purple flowers and is found in a shady path to the right of the house.

The 150-600 lens enable me to frame a long distance image of houses along the B1418 in Woodham Ferrers. The leaves on the tree are bursting forth over the right hand diagonal half of the image. Behind them on the low skyline we see the houses and the undulating yellow field with its tractor tracks.

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Have a look at more of our images on www.compassphotography.co.uk

Equipment: Sony SLT-A65V, Tamron 16-300mm – setting vary

Bluebells in Bicknacre

19th April 201919th April 2019 By cpadmin

Bluebells in Bicknacre – image of the week

Bluebells in Bicknacre is an image from Thrift Wood nature reserve in Bicknacre. Thrift Wood is one of Essex’s hidden gems. Hidden in plain sight as lots of people drive past it en-route from Danbury, through to South Woodham Ferrers.

The Essex Wildlife Trust manage Thrift wood. Getting to the wood is not easy, there is no car park. There is a small “pull in” on the B1418 where you can park. The wood has lots of paths to stroll along and round back to where you started. You can see more about Thrift Wood on the Essex Wildlife website for Thrift Wood.

This is a great place to go and see the bluebells at this time of year. It seems that the bluebells are a week or two early this year. Captured today at tea time as the shadows lengthened, these images show the carpet of flowers in Thrift Wood. The bluebells will probably come out further in future days.

Have a look at our other images at www.compassphotography.co.uk

Equipment: Sony SLT-A65V

Settings f4.0, 1/100, ISO 100

Bluebells in Bicknacre at Thrift Wood Nature reserve

Birds on the wing at Mersea

7th April 20197th April 2019 By cpadmin

Birds on the wing at Mersea

Birds on the wing at Mersea is a shot of a bird murmuring on the Blackwater Estuary captured by Shru. She had ventured out on yet another trip on the Lady Grace from Mersea.

Shru said:

“It was a biting cold day with thermals on in an open boat feeling the wind on my face. There were several fellow photographers on the boat. We saw many different types of bird on the mud flats and we even manage to see a seal. It was sunset when I captured this image and I particularly like the way the sun catches on the bird’s wings.”

Find out more about Lady Grace boat trips by using this link

See more of our images by visiting out website www.compassphotography.co.uk

Canon EOS 7D Mark II EF 100-400mm II IS USM

F11 1/800 ISO 3200

Birds on the wing at Mersea — A Murmuring captured on the Blackwater

January Colours at RHS Hyde Hall

21st January 201921st January 2019 By cpadmin

January Colours at RHS Hyde Hall today.

A display of Colour at RHS Hyde Hall today

January colours at RHS Hyde Hall today. A cold misty day, we scraped ice off the car to get it going.

The partially frozen lake
Yellow Mahonia
Undulating hills
Callicarpa bodinieri
Cornus sanguinea ‘Midwinter Fire’

When RHS Hyde Hall opened today there was a queue of schoolchildren but very few normal members. The walk around the gardens took over an hour, it was too cold to linger anywhere. Ice covered both ponds in parts and some of the plants had a covering of frost on them. Yet if you looked there was colour. The Cornus sanguinea ‘Midwinter Fire’ was particularly vibrant. Here there gardens have enough space to place enough plants together to provide a spectacular show of yellow and red colours. Yellow Mahonia plants were also striking and looked good in close up. In focus in one image in the foreground, the purple berried Callicarpa bodinieri is set against a background screen of yellow Cornus sericea. Pastel shades were also on display in the winter sky over the lake and the undulating distant hills.

See our galleries of other images from Hyde Hall

Equipment: Sony SLT-A65V, Tamron 16-300mm

Settings: F5.6 1/50 ISO 100

Hyde Hall on a misty November day

22nd November 2018 By cpadmin

Worth a visit, even on a misty day in November

Hyde Hall misty November day — Pampas grass in sharp relief, shades of green behind

You might think that Hyde Hall on a misty November day was not great for capturing images, but you’d be wrong! There were not many people there today, apart from the gardeners! The lack of people meant that it was easier to capture images though. The Mahonia has nice and bright and the pampas grass stood out against the darker colours behind. Orange leaves, still on the trees reflected nicely in the water. The mist made for some atmospheric images as well.

Have a look at our new gallery containing some of today’s images using this link

Essex Landscapes Calendar 2019

19th November 2018 By cpadmin

Bluebells on the front of the calendar

Essex Landscapes Calendar 2019. The Compass Photography Calendar displays the Essex countryside in all its glory, month by month. The front cover is bluebells at Hanningfield reservoir

Monthly images of the Old Rochford Reservoir, Fenn creek at South Woodham Ferrers, Hawkwell, Thorpe Bay, Papermill Lock, RHS Hyde Hall, All Saints Church Rettendon, Paglesham, Marks Hall, Ashingdon and Compass Gardens – South Woodham Ferrers

You can also view the whole calendar our website:

http://www.compassphotography.co.uk/essex-landscapes-calendar-2019/

Each calendar costs £7.00 plus P&P if needed, payment can be made by PayPal, cash or cheque if you’d rather. Contact Mike on 07973-294820

Bridge over gentle waters

12th November 2018 By cpadmin

Bridge over gentle waters

Bridge over gentle waters shows a bucolic scene on a summer morning at Papermill Lock. Its always worth a trip to Little Baddow.

Here Shru was treated to bright sunshine. The sun was already rather warm at ten in the morning and the water had a slight ripple from a gentle breeze. Shru’s shot captures the reflections of the side of the bridge and the surrounding greenery. There are different shades of greenery from the bright green of the bank to the dark green on show of the more mature bushes.

This lock is one of several on the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation, connecting Chelmsford with the sea via the Blackwater Estuary. The navigation therefore became a fundamental freight artery freight in the 19^th century . Today there are riverboat cruises and a family run tea rooms for lazy summer days. Therefore today Papermill Lock is a great place to go and enjoy the outdoors.

Settings

Canon EOS 7D Mark II EF-S 18-135mm IS STM

F11 1/60 ISO 100

Lest we forget

8th November 20188th November 2018 By cpadmin

Lest we forget!

Lest we forget, Woodham Ferrers in Essex has, like many towns and villages, installed silhouettes of First World War soldiers. This one is positioned in Ormonds Cresent at the top of the hill and is one of several within the village.

The silhouette is attached to the village sign and reminds us that the village is in the Doomsday Book. It also reminds us that the soldiers went from a rural Essex background with its village church to defend our land. The silhouette is visible to everyone travelling along the main road in the village.

The image also shows that the silhouette is positioned amongst the very ordinary ongoing aspects of aspects of village life. It is near a bus stop from which people come and go, the bus stop has a litter bin. The autumnal foliage clearly shows us that this is the time of year that the First World War ended. Life does go on, seasons turn and now there are very few people alive who remember the First World War. At least we can demonstrate that we don’t forget the men who fought for us in such terrible conditions

Compass Photography Group

Passionate about Photography

Category: Great places to go in Essex

Buttercup field in full bloom