Tag: #essex

Batty guest photographer

By cpadmin

Compass Photography has a Batty guest photographer on its website from today for a while. John Dobson has allowed us to show 10 of his wildlife image including several of bats. One of the images is really fascinating. The sleeping bats are covered with condensation droplets. Its quite normal apparently but strange to the rest of us who know nothing about bats and probably would not seek them out in caves to photograph! The image below has a lovely purple sheen. You can also clearly see the fingers hanging on to the wall.

Batty guest photographer
A Greater horseshoe bat in hibernation

Please look on the site and see John’s images and read his biographical notes which tell you more about him. You could also look up the Essex bat group’s website. John is not really a Batty guest photographer though

Sunny Wednesday at Hyde Hall

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.

colourful clover hill
Colourful beds on Clover Hill

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.

sunny wednesday at Hyde Hall
Daffodils catch the sun

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

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

Won prizes with these images

By cpadmin

Won prizes with these images. The Schoolroom at the chapel in Woodham Ferrers ran a Michaelmas Photography competition. The competition attracted over 100 entries. In addition it should be noted that it raised money for Mission Romania. Firstly, Mission Romania is a Salvation Army charity which delivers shoeboxes direct to children in Romania and Moldova. As well as providing shoeboxes, the charity is active in providing other support to these communities. So its worth supporting. Search for Mission Romania on Facebook and look at the great work that they do. Click this link

Five of my images won prizes and they are appended to the text here. Three images were in the “Best of Essex” category, whereas one was in “Flowers”, while the final one was in the “Sunrise/sunset” category. When entering images for a competition, you never know which ones the judges will select for prizes. Following previous times when I have agonised over the images I did a quick pick this time just before the entries closed. It seems to have worked!

  • won prizes with these images
    Tucepi sunset
  • Best of Essex - Hyde Hall
    The main house
  • Allium at Hyde Hall
    Flowers – Purple Allium
  • won prizes with these images
    Steam roundabout at Barleylands
  • Best of Essex - Mersea
    Calm waters of the Mersea

There are lots more images on the Compass Photography Website. Click here