Category: Water

Sparkly day at Abberton Reservoir

By cpadmin
Sparkly day at Abberton Reservoir
Sparkly day at Abberton Reservoir

Sparkly day at Abberton Reservoir shows the sun shining through the clouds onto the water and making it “sparkle”. The sunlight picks up the choppy nature of the water and creates the white and grey contrasts. The sun is shining from the right hand side of the image. The clouds in the distance are multi-coloured, even dark and foreboding. The wind is turning the wind turbines slowly in the background. The unusual lighting from the clouds creates a silhouette. The wind turbines, the bare winter trees and even the fence posts all stand proud from the slope above the water.

Abberton Reservoir is located south of Colchester near the village of Layer de la Haye, north of the Blackwater opposite Bradwell. Essex and Suffolk water own the reservoir. Essex Wildlife Trust manage the nature reserve at the reservoir Use this link to see their website

Just below the visitors centre there is a hide by the water’s edge. I was inside the hide when I captured this image, looking south. The image was captured just before lunchtime on Wednesday 26th February. This was undoubtedly one of the few nice days, in a week which once again has started and ended with a storm. See more of our images at WWW.Compassphotography.co.uk

Stormy Seas – Competition successes!

By cpadmin

Stormy Seas – Competition successes! These three images have just received prizes in the same international competition. The theme of the competition was “Capture the Wind”. With storm Dennis which is here today, these images will resonate. The one with the hooked wave came 11th out of 500 and the other one came 74th out of 500. The wave rolling in came 200th out of 500!

The first image was captured at Ramsgate on the first Sunday of January 2018. The weather had been bad. I was fed up of being cooped up inside, I definitely needed to get out. The south coast was my destination. The sea along the beach at Ramsgate was foaming. In addition, when I got to the harbour around lunchtime there were some giant waves. Very dramatic!

The power of the sea, Ramsgate
The power of the sea

Broardstairs is the location for the second image. It’s not far from Ramsgate. People had parked cars on the quay whilst the tide was out and as it came in, the tide washed the cards. I have often wondered if the cars started after their soaking. Some daft folk were also dodging in and out of the spray.

Stormy seas
Washing the cars at Broadstairs!

The third image shows a wave at Dunbar in Scotland last year. It is one of a burst of seven images. It was windy and the wind was blowing against the spray and driving it back over the waves. I spent quite a few minutes capturing shots here.

Windy waves at Dunbar
Windy waves at Dunbar

Hope you like “Stormy Seas – Competition successes!” See images at the Compass Photography Website. WWW.Compassphotography.co.uk

Sunny day before storm Ciara

By cpadmin

Sunny day before storm Ciara

Today was a sunny day before storm Ciara arrives tomorrow. I was able to capture images at Hanningfield Reservoir and Compass Gardens in South Woodham Ferrers. The reservoir at Hanningfield held more water than I have seen it is for a long time. The sun and the clear sky allowed me to create marvellous images of the large expanse of water. Use this link to take a look at Hanningfield’s website

Sunny day before storm Ciara
Glorious views at Hanningfield reservoir

In Compass Gardens the crocuses and catkins were out. I played with a few images of the crocuses and in the end got down to ground level. Literally the camera on the grass and my mobile phone employed to keep the camera level. It’s a great result. It shows the grass being taller than the crocus. The trees look massive in the background. The storm is coming tomorrow and I suppose it will not be possible to get such nice photographs.

Sunny day before storm Ciara
Yellow crocuses from ground level

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

A Bright Winter’s day

By cpadmin

Today was a bright winter’s day in Maldon Essex. I took the opportunity of a brisk stroll around the promenade to capture some images. It was the first outing for my new camera! Really pleased with the results.

  • Thames barges
  • a bright winter's day
  • a bright winter's day
A bright winter’s day

Hythe Quay was the home of a cluster of Thames barges. They make a colourful display. Maldon is the home of the Steam Tug Brent Trust. They are repairing two tug boats. Click here to have a look at the Steam Tug Brent Trust website

The tide was half out. This gave lovely textured patterns in the mud, as well as a visually pleasing sweep round the river

Have a look at the other image galleries on our website WWW.compassphotography.co.uk

Autumn colours in Colchester

By cpadmin

There were lovely autumn colours in Colchester yesterday. I spent an hour in Castle Park walking along the side of the River Colne capturing some lovely images. Image 236 is just above the weir where the river bends. Reflecting in the water are the golden leaves still clinging to the branches. Image 263 is again by the river. It reveals a bend with the bank on an angle and a rusty field of fallen leaves. The Willow in image 297 droops to the water and on the other side of the Colne more golden leaves reflect in the water.

Away from the water, image 337 shows that one tree has turned golden by the footpath. Bare branches of multi-stemmed trees that have already dropped their leaves reflect in the pool further down the Colne in image 346. A flock of seagulls that was sitting on the lake was disturbed. They took off as I was capturing another image of the pool. I managed one or two shots of them (363).

  • Autumn colours in Colchester
    River Colne (236)
  • Autumn colours in Colchester
    Autumn colours in Colchester (263)
  • Autumn colours in Colchester
    Going gold (337)
  • Autumn reflections in Colchester
    Weeping willow (297)
  • Autumn reflections in Colchester
    Autumn reflections (346)
  • Autumnal colours in Colchester
    Birds on the wing (363)

Find out more about Castle Park by visiting their website. Use this link to do that

Images of the Kent seaside

By cpadmin

Images of the Kent seaside

On one of the hottest days of the year I captured some great images of the Kent seaside. The sun shone without a break as I travelled from Cape le Ferne in the east to Dungeness.

Capel le Ferne is white cliffs of Dover country. It has a great café on the top of the cliffs. The Lees at Folkestone looked almost tropical in the images captured from there. Sandygate roasted in the sun. Behind Waitrose at Hythe I found some welcome shade along the calmness of the Royal Military Canal. Dymchurch was busy and it was extremely hot driving the steam engines at the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway so I was told!).

The beach at Greatstone had lots of people on it and pebbles reflected in the sunlight. Dungeness looked as special as it always does, perhaps more so in the sun. A yacht passed by near to the shore and provided a nice opportunity to photograph it in the blue sea against the yellow pebbles.

View more of the images from this day by going to the Compass Photography Website

  • Images of the Kent seaside
    Sailing by at the tip of Dungeness
  • Images of the Kent seaside
    Patterns in the sand – Folkstone
  • Images of the Kent seaside
    Dungeness – The boardwalk looking back to the road
  • Images of the Kent seaside
    Welcome shade – Royal Military Canal at Hythe
  • Images of the Kent seaside
    Pulling out at RHDR

Image of the week from Fowey

By cpadmin

Image of the week from Fowey

The image of the week from Fowey shows a view across the river to Bodinnick. Two images are attached. The daytime image is at high tide, whereas the second image is captured at 22:15. This is the view from the balcony of the apartment we rented for two weeks. The Bodinnick ferry runs across from Fowey to the slipway shown. The bright orange car ferry is not included as it is not very photogenic, but functional! This ferry terminal is said to have existed since the 13th century. I enjoyed watching the comings and goings on the river. Large and small boats went past.

Image of the week from Fowey

A day time view from the balcony

Ferryside

Ferryside is the name of the blue and white house. It was bought by the du Maurier family. Daphne du Maurier wrote her first book at Ferryside, which used to be known to the locals as Swiss Cottage. Originally the property was a boatyard. Bodinnick nestles on the hillside amongst the greenery. The steep hill is a challenge to man, beast and motor! The yellow lines on the road do spoil the image a little!

After dark

The long exposure of the night time image makes the water appear calmer when it is reflected in the lights. The road has water on it from the rain. It was fascinating to watch the lights in the houses come on one by one and add to the image.

We stayed at Fowey river views https://www.foweyriverviews.co.uk/

Image of the week from Fowey

After dark from the balconyMore of our images can be seen at www.compassphotography.co.uk

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

Daytime: F3.5 1/1600 ISO 100

After dark: F8 13 secs ISO 400

A top view from the Sky Garden

By cpadmin

A top view from the Sky Garden
A view from highest point of the Sky Garden

Image of the week – A top view from the Sky Garden

A top view from the Sky Garden was captured last week from the highest part of London’s “Walkie Talkie”. 20 Fenchurch Street is the official name of the “Walkie Talkie”. The views from up here are truly wonderful. You can walk around all four sides of the Sky Garden and look out on the sights of London. These include the Monument to the Fire of London, the architecture of the wharves and Tower Bridge. A unique complete view of the whole of the Tower of London is available. Canary Wharf is in the distance and the river twists and turns are a delight to see. Aeroplanes turning to go into City Airport seem to turn at the same height as you to make their descent!

This image shows…

This image shows the platform where you can eat and drink whilst enjoying the view. The platform is “inside” The “outside” terrace is in the fresh air, it allows you to look through the glass screens and capture images of the river. The river Thames slowly snakes past and the image shows boats moving up and down the river. The high angle opens up amazing views of the buildings on the south bank. HMS Belfast looks like a toy from this height. The great thing about this building is that it’s free to go up to the top!

My only regret was that the sun stayed in!

Equipment: Sony SLT-A65V

Settings f6.3, 1/100, ISO 100

Looking out down river!

By cpadmin

Image of the week – Looking out down river!

Looking out down river is the statue of Lord Nelson. The statue is in Greenwich, outside the Trafalgar pub and well worth a visit. From this position Nelson gets to see all of the boats travelling up and down the Thames. It is as if he is watching over the comings and goings. The traffic on the river is much less than it used to be though. Less traffic does allow you to see the sweeps of the river as it snakes around and back again. In the distance you can see the Millennium Dome. On the left of the image is Canary Wharf.

The statue was erected in 2005 to mark the 200th anniversary of the battle of Trafalgar. The Nelson statue was created by sculptor Lesley Pover after being commissioned by Trafalgar owner Frank Dowling.

The pub has great views over the river from the bar. Lots of people like to have their photograph taken with Nelson and he usually obliges without a grumble! Find out more about the statue using this link

Equipment: Sony SLT-A65V

Settings f6.3, 1/320, ISO 100

Looking out down river!

To Greenwich on the Thames

By cpadmin

Travelled by boat to Greenwich on the Thames this week. Took advantage of the warm weather to sit outside on the boat and soak up the sun. It was just like summer. Travelling under Tower Bridge is always spectacular. Here we are so low that the bridge looks as if it is bending back. HMS Belfast is in the distance.

To Greenwich on the Thames
Under we go, Tower Bridge

The second image shows how little river traffic is on the Thames today as we journey to Greenwich. We are at New Crane Wharf in Wapping and have just been passed by a speeding police boat going in the other direction. Hence the wave! Symmetry is a word you might use about the buildings here! It’s also marvellous to look at the detail.

To Greenwich on the Thames
New Crane Wharf, Wapping

At Greenwich it’s worth walking to the top of the hill and taking in the view from the Royal Observatory. Canary Wharf continues to develop a pace. It is said that the number of tower blocks will make it look like Manhattan! You can just see the river bending round in the distance too.

To Greenwich on the Thames
View from the Royal Observatory, Greenwich

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

Settings vary