Category: Panoramas

Looking up, looking down!

By cpadmin

Looking up, looking down! La-Roche-Guyon.

Looking up, looking down!
Looking down! La-Roche-Guyon.

Looking up, looking down! contains two complimentary views. One is from the top of the Donjon (keep) looking down at the river. The second image other from the road in front of the Chateau. There are three ‘parts’ to La Roche-Guyon: the village itself, a large 14th century Chateau, and the medieval donjon (in English we would say “Keep”). 

La Roche-Guyon stands on a broad bend in the Seine River. It is 10km east of Vernon in the Ile de France (Paris) region of France. The village is officially classified as one of the ‘most beautiful villages of France’. Originally developed next to the river below the medieval Chateau, the remains of which still stand on the hill behind the village.

The two views show how high the keep is and how exhausting it was to climb to the top. The view is well worth the climb though. La Roche-Guyon is only a few miles drive from Monet’s garden and was Rommel’s Headquarters in 1944.

Looking up, looking down!
Looking up, la Roche Guyon

A stunning view – image of the week

By cpadmin

A stunning view. Curral das Freiras is in a stunning natural depression, 1600 feet above sea level, in the mountainous interior of Madeira. It was the sanctuary and hiding place of a convent of nuns during a particularly unpleasant pirate raid on the island.

A stunning view - Curral das Freiras
A stunning view – Curral das Freiras

The village was isolated until tunnels were driven through the mountains in recent years. This image is captured from the viewing point of Eira so Sarrado which itself is 3600 feet above sea level. The journey to and from the viewing point was by local bus. The bus charged up and down hills and around hairpin bends at great speeds on the narrow roads.

This image shows the village, tiny as it is, with the towering walls of the cauldron of rocks completely dwarfing it. The images captured from the viewing point ae so high above the ground that they seem to be captured from an aeroplane. The views are breath-taking!

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

Settings: F9 1/320 ISO 100

Let’s cool off at the beach!

By cpadmin

Let’s cool off at the beach! May be even have a dip? 

Let's cool off at the beach
Let’s cool off at the beach!

Let’s cool off at the beach! This is the beach at Kingsgate bay in Kent last week. On Monday lunchtime the beach is empty. We would all rather be there than sweltering at work or in our homes.

The chalk-white line of the cliffs leads our eye to the sea arch. It’s not as famous as the one at Durdle Door. The image shows a reflection of the sea arch in the gentle waters as low tide approaches. Sets of footprints in the sand come and go towards the arch.

Walkers can go through the arch at low tide and, as I did, walk along to the next bay, Botany Bay (no not that one). Then you can walk back along the cliffs to the Captain Digby for a long cool drink! The chalk shows the battering it has received from the sea over the millennia and the holes excavated by mankind. On a summer’s day this is a lovely place to go. For more information on Kingsgate Bay follow this link

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

Settings: F7 1/800 ISO 100

Glistening waters at the height of summer

By cpadmin

Glistening waters at the height of summer at Burnham on Crouch

Glistening waters at the height of summer – Burnham on Crouch
Glistening waters at the height of summer – Burnham on Crouch

Glistening waters at the height of summer, in Burnham on Crouch, Essex. A picture postcard image for sure. This image was captured from the waterfront in August last year on a really hot day at Burnham. Two of us went looking for nice images and whilst we were in Burnham we saw another photographer friend doing the same.

When it’s almost 30 degrees again this afternoon the water looks so inviting and I thought people might enjoy an image of water. O for an outdoor pool to splash in! The sun is making the water sparkle, the sky is reflecting in the water and making it an attractive blue. How nice it would be to sail off in one of the boats! We can but dream.

The direction that the boats are facing tells us that the tide is on its way out. If we were there today, the lines of the boat would be twanging against the masts and making that sound so typical of the waterside and seaside.

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

Settings: F9 1/640 ISO 100

What a view! La-Roche-Guyon

By cpadmin

A view from the top of the rock?

What a view! La-Roche-Guyon. This post contains two complimentary views. One is from the road in front of the Chateau and the other from the top of the Donjon looking back at the river. There are three ‘parts’ to La Roche-Guyon: the village itself, a large 14th century Chateau, and the medieval Donjon (in English we would say “Keep”).

La Roche Guyon
La Roche Guyon – The Chateau looking up to the keep

La-Roche-Guyon stands on a broad bend in the Seine River. It is 10km east of Vernon in the Ile de France (Paris) region of France. The village is officially classified as one of the ‘most beautiful villages of France’. It originally developed below the medieval Chateau next to the river.

What a view! La-Roche-Guyon.
What a view! La-Roche-Guyon – a view from the keep

Two views are shared to show how high the keep is and how exhausting it was to climb. The view is well worth the climb though. 

From the left of the image the chalky hillside arcs round to the centre of the image almost as if it is a container for the river. The village is central to the image. On the right of the image the patterns of the formal ‘potager’ (kitchen garden) can be seen between the Chateau and the river. This is a lovely sleepy village to wander round. La-Roche-Guyon is a few minutes from Giverny where Monet’s garden is found. 

More History

The Chateau de La Roche-Guyon had an interesting military use in the Second World War when Field Marshall Rommel established his base here to direct the German response to the Allied invasion of 1944.

Historically the region managed to remain under independent control despite the powerful regions that stood either side – the lands of the Loire Valley and the Kings of France to the south and the lands of the Dukes of Normandy to the north.

The flood has come – image of the week 17th June 2018

By cpadmin

The flood has come to Normanton Church

The flood has come. Where was Noah when he was needed? Normanton Church is in Rutland Water literally, half of the height of the building is under the water! The much needed reservoir proposed to demolish the church completely. A public outcry in 1970 saved the church from destruction.

The flood has come
Normanton Church, Rutland Water

Filling the lower level of the church with rubble topped with concrete created a new floor. This would be approximately 2 feet above the water level. A causeway was built connecting the church to the nearby shore and an embankment was constructed around the building. The church is now on an island in the reservoir. Boulders created a defensive breakwater around the island.

The blue water has a choppy texture which contrasts with the smooth texture of the building. The differences in colour of the boulders which form the breakwater show that the water level is normally higher. A dry spell had reduced the water level that August. The warm colour of the building contrast nicely with the blue of the water and green ribbon of trees in the distance.

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

Settings: F6.3 1/6460 ISO 200

Stromness, Orkney. Image of the week 3rd June 2018

By cpadmin
Stromness, Orkney
Stromness, Orkney

Graemsay, from the point of the ness at Stromness, Orkney

Stromness, Orkney. Using a wide-angle lens, I captured this image a year ago this week . From the point of the ness at Stromness we see the island of Graemsay. I cropped this image to a square format in Lightroom, to emphasise the diagonal shoreline. I have eight square images of Orkney from this visit. The extreme 8mm focal length does “stretch” the image as shown in the clouds and the water. The pleasant evening with “sharp” light allows a crystal clear image. The texture and warm colour of the pebbly shoreline contrasts with the calm clear cold sea which is flat as a millpond. The clarity of the water allows us to follow the pebbles underneath the surface of the sea.

Graemsay lighthouse is on the left of the image. Here is a stillness and an “out of the way” feeling, yet we are on the edge of the second largest town in the Islands.

We are currently exhibiting this image in a square format with seven others at Rayleigh Windmill. Why not come and see it in the flesh!

More about Graemsay

Graemsay is located in the Western approaches to ‘Scapa Flow’, lying between Stromness on Orkney mainland and the North end of Hoy. There are two lighthouses, Hoy High to the East and Hoy Low to the West. Both were built & designed by Alan Stevenson of the famous lighthouse engineering family and commissioned in 1851. The current population is twenty-three permanent residents including six children with the addition of two properties being occasionally occupied. Parts of the island have been left largely undeveloped and are a haven for many wild plants. Check out http://www.graemsay.org.uk/

Equipment: Sony SLT-A65V, Sigma 8-16mm

Settings: F11 1/320 ISO 100