Golden Hour

Photographers talk about the golden hour, that hour before sunset and after sunrise, when the light is rich and often golden.
Last night looked promising so off I went.
Called into Cawfields Quarry, it's haymaking/silage making time and fields are being cut literally from dawn to dusk while the weather holds.
I love the patterns made by the cut grass, left in lines to dry.

 Field that carries the Hadrian's Wall Path from Great Chesters Farm east to Cawfields

( well if you're walking w-e that is)

Light on the Cawfields Quarry face was lovely, we don't have many easily accessible bodies of water of the Hadrian's Wall Path but this is one. It was here I saw a Little Owl, managed a grabbed picture otherwise I would just have marked it down as a Tawny Owl. I'm hoping to get a better shot, using my 'big' lens, tried tonight but while the owl was in the same spot it was camera shy tonight. I was getting eaten alive by midges so I made a dignified retreat, Round 1 to the Little Owl.

Cawfields Quarry Lake

Some nice clouds in the sky so I went off to Sycamore Gap, while the sun doesn't actually set behind the tree I hoped the cloud to the east would colour up to make a nice background.

It takes 20 minutes from parking the car to the tree and by the time I got there all the cloud had gone from the bit of sky I needed it in.

Took a photograph looking towards Winshields Crag from Highshields Crag, than another looking towards the east and Hotbank Crag, strange how often the sunset colour is better in the east than in the west.



View west to Winshields Crag from Highshields Crag with the Hadrian's Wall Path snaking through the view.

Looking east over Hotbank Crag and Crag Lough, from Highshields Crag

Then the sun went down and it was nearly all over for another night, on the way back to the car I stopped at one of the other areas of water on this bit of Hadrian's Wall, Crag Lough.

You've probaby seen this view many times but it makes a nice full stop to my outing.

I had a few hours sleep then I was out again for sunrise but I'll save those pictures for another time.

Oh and here's the grab shot of the Little Owl,  massively cropped as it was taken with my 18-200mm lens a fair distance away. Challenge is now to get a 'proper' shot of it.

as always the photo's used in the Blog are copyright of Joan Thirlaway and can't be used without written permission.

No Contest

It's been a strange day, weatherwise.
I was out this morning but any light quickly disappeared and even the grey clouds weren't very interesting so  when the light began to improve as it got nearer to sundown I thought maybe a trip out would be an idea.
Of course it would mean me missing 'Britain's got Talent' and 'So you think you can dance' but really it was no contest, I went off to Crag Lough.
The clouds were amazing, bold and beautiful and I was hoping the wind would drop enough so the sky would be reflected in the Lough.It's a rare day when there isn't wind on this part of Hadrian's Wall and this wasn't a rare day so I took a couple of photo's and then headed up onto Highshields Crag.

Crag Lough

You climb up to the top of Highshields Crag through woods and as I went through the sun was dappling through the trees and a wren was singing it's heart out, magical.

At the top were some of the Hotbank Black faced ewe's with their lambs, I had intended to go along as far as Sycamore Gap but there was nowhere for the animals to go but ahead of me and I didn't want the lambs going over the edge of the crag. They were quite small and very bouncy.
I took a few photographs of the sheep and as the sun was setting headed back down to the water side.

Blackfaced Ewe's and their lambs on Highshields Crag.

The big red sky I didn't happen tonight but here's a shot of the sun just before it sets over the Hadrian's Wall Path

Hadrian's Wall Path on Highshields Crag

Clear skies tonight so tomorrow might be a good morning to be out and about early, off to set my alarm for a 5am start.

All photographs used on this blog are copyright of Joan Thirlaway and cannot be used without written permission.

http://www.joanthirlaway.co.uk/

24 02 11 Hadrian's Wall

The day started out grey but the wind got up and blew the clouds away.
I'd been in the garden taking photographs of the birds, nothing any different but a shift in numbers, Bramblings are down and Siskins are way up.
We also have some frogspawn, the earliest ever for our garden.
It seemed a shame to waste the sunshine but by the time I'd finished my chores the day was getting on and I started to wonder about a sunset.
I looked at this site to see where the sun was setting in relation to Hadrian's Wall and thought I'd go out to Crag Lough, with an option to climb up behind Hotbank Farm if the light was right.
Unfortunately it was as far over as I'd hoped which meant the Crags were in darkness, so I wandered across to the Lough.
Boy was it muddy (or clarty if you want a good Northumbrian description) and, unlike past years the boats hadn't been taken off for winter storage, which was a mistake, one had capsized and the other was full of water.

I waded through the mud for a wee while longer but as the sun sank behind the Crags there was no light  to lift the photograph.

I watched the farmer herding his cows for a while, they were bellowing fit to bust, then walked back down the track to my car, pausing to take a picture of the sheep silhouetted against the setting sun.

Perhaps not as productive night, photographically speaking, as I hoped but it was great to be getting back into the swing of things.

Rain again tomorrow.

All photographs used on this Blog copyright of Joan Thirlaway and cannot be used without written permission

20 02 11 : Hadrian's Wall

Cawfield Quarry on the Hadrian's Wall Path

Most photographers like to use water in their shots, you only have to look at the winners of big landscape competitions to know how it can enhance a photograph.

On the high part of the Hadrian's Wall Path we only have two areas of water that are easily accesible and Cawfields Quarry is one of them.

This is an early morning shot with the rising sun just catching Hadrian's Wall on Cawfield Crags, taken last October so the sun is rising to the south of the Wall.

It's a useful morning stop because the lake here is deep so you can often find mist rising off the water.

Wildfowl don't use it very often for some reason.

Crag Lough

The second area of water is Crag Lough and it's best for sunsets.

The rights to the fishing are owned by a syndicate and from March to October the boats are on the Lough.

You have to cross farm land belonging to Hotbank Farm to reach it, as always please treat the land and animals with respect.

Sometimes the cows will come down to drink or just paddle in the Lough and if they place themselves nicely it can enhance the shot.

From this angle you look west, Hadrian's Wall runs along the top of the crags to the left side of the picture, the peak in the centre is Winshields Crag with Steel Rigg beneath it.

This was taken in September last year.

This Lough also is good for mist in the early mornings but that would be from the Steel Rigg viewpoint.

All photographs used on this Blog are copyright of Joan Thirlaway and cannot be used withpout written permission

09 02 11

Seems ages since we've managed a decent sunrise on this part of Hadrian's Wall.
The best lately has been a tantalising thin glow of red below a big grey bank of cloud, as if to remind us of what we're missing.

At this time of the year the sun comes up to the south side of Hadrian's Wall, so there are limited opportunities for a good viewpoint.

Typical isn't it when you could set your alarm for 7am and still be up in time to be out for a sunrise photograph?

Late March is when it moves across to light up the crags and that means a 5am alarm.

This viewpoint from Steel Rigg is one of my favourites and not just because it's a short walk from the car park.

The mists rise from the low lying marsh land and from Crag Lough, it moves and the whole scene can change in seconds, natures own 'dance of the seven veils'.

These photographs were taken last September as the sun was heading back, and it's somehow comforting to know that no matter what goes on in the world, this view, repeated each March and September and no doubt enjoyed by the Roman soldier's guarding Hadrian's Wall, will go on until the end of time.