Dramatic skies

After all the blue sky, sunny weather we've been having for weeks, photographically at least it was a relief to get back to some cloudy and more interesting skies. Here's quite a brooding, dramatic sky above the equally brooding and dramatic canal-side facade of Salts Mill.

Applying a few textures makes it even more dramatic.

[Bloggers... Is anyone else struggling with the 'new Blogger' interface? Or is it just me? Seems such a palaver now to upload photos. Every step in the process now seems to consist of three. I keep losing photos I've uploaded because, if you upload several at once, you can't choose which ones to add to a post like you could before. If you then remove photos from a post they don't stay 'available' for the next post and you have to fish them out of the blog album, which takes ages to load. So frustrating. I hate how they suddenly change things for no apparent reason. 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it', software developers!]

Good afternoon, moon

One day I noticed that you could see the moon above the New Mill's tower, in the middle of the afternoon. I'm not exactly sure why the moon sometimes shows up during the day, though I've seen it before. It seemed to me an interesting juxtaposition of different elements in this one image: the Italianate chimney, the tree clothed with fresh spring green, the fluffy clouds and the mysterious moon. I liked it.

Crepusculars before sunset

Being so high in an otherwise fairly flat area, Almscliffe Crag is a good spot from which to enjoy a sunrise or sunset. The day I was there, a heavy bank of cloud drifted in to obscure the sun. It produced some dramatic crepuscular rays, though the sunset itself was largely hidden and rather underwhelming as a result. Pink skies are pretty though, aren't they?

Dreamscapes

A few 'mare's tails' - cirrus clouds - that seemed to echo the shapes of the trees.

Sky

For all the grandeur and scale of Saltaire's Victorian architecture, it is completely overshadowed and overawed by the sheer beauty of a spring sky. I was walking through Roberts Park and the scene quite took my breath away.

i thank You, God, for this most amazing 

day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees

and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything

which is natural which is infinite which is yes

e e cummings

Saltaire's saltire

Looking up on a bright sunny day I noticed aircraft contrails making a saltire, St Andrew's cross, in the sky. The flag of Scotland, I am hoping it is a herald of Andy Murray's triumph at Wimbledon 2017... If not, it's not for lack of me cheering him on. Come on Andy!!

Watchtower

Here is another moody, stormy sky that really seemed to make all the colours glow. Despite the dry spring, the trees of Shipley Glen and the fields on the flanks of Hope Hill are looking lush and green. The clear lighting picked out the peculiar little glazed watchtower on the roof of 47 Titus Street, Saltaire. No-one seems quite sure why it's there. It may have been simply a decorative touch, being more or less central in the village, but in the 1870s the house was the home of Salts Mill's security chief and so the tower may actually have been used as a watchtower.

Drama

From this angle, the Victoria Hall does look a bit 'naked' since they felled the large trees that stood nearby. The lion sculptures, however, are easier to appreciate and you can see, too, the glory of Hope Hill in the distance above the house roofs. You also see a lot more sky - not a bad thing when it is as dramatic as this one was. A huge hailstorm had just passed over.

Cloud mirrors

Such a beautiful day...  I walked past my favourite trees again and enjoyed the way the clouds were echoing their shapes.

We're having a lovely spell of dry weather, though before long they'll be saying it's a drought! This coming Bank Holiday weekend (27-29) is the annual Saltaire Arts Trail, so let's hope the good weather continues.

It's black over Bill's mother's

'It's black over Bill's mother's'' is a phrase you'll probably only understand if you're from the North of England or the Midlands. It's what people say when there are storm clouds visible on the horizon. The origin of the phrase appears to be doubtful. Some say it refers to William Shakespeare, others to Kaiser Wilhelm II, the last German emperor, whose character and foreign policy was changeable and blustering. Others say it has more local origins. But whatever the truth of the phrase, it is often apt round here!

Saltaire's houses are dwarfed by the huge bulk of the Victoria Hall which extends back in a T-shape behind its tower.

Northern Lights

Iceland holiday - The conversation over dinner the first night went something like this:

'There is a very high forecast for the Aurora tonight...'
'But it's cloudy here...'
'We could drive up into the mountains to see if the cloud lifts..'
'But we didn't get to bed until 2am this morning so we're all tired...'
'OK, let's not bother tonight and let's hope the weather improves during the week.'

So, I retired to my room at about 9pm, intending to catch up on my sleep. Within minutes, came an urgent hammering on my door: 'Come out, quickly!'  I thought there was a fire! But no, my friend pointed to the sky: 'Look... the Northern Lights!' I looked and saw the clear night sky, sparkling with millions of stars - and what appeared to be white, wispy, moonlit clouds, or maybe smoke drifting across. I would never have known what I was seeing. Furthermore, I would never have known how to capture them.

We all set up our tripods and cameras, right there on the grass outside our hotel, and the experienced ones helped those of us who'd never done this before. Point camera at the sky, manual focus on infinity, high ISO, widest aperture you can get, exposure no more than 20 seconds (not more or it'll be blurred), press the shutter... Wait ages, nothing seems to be happening - ah, wait, the little green light just came on on the camera (it's focussed). Still nothing seems to be happening... wow! Suddenly an amazing green image appears on the LCD screen. Magic! It's a bit like doing a chemistry experiment. Once the basics were mastered, the trick was in trying to discern where the best Aurora activity seemed to be and then to compose a pleasing image. A little bit of foreground detail seems helpful in that.

It was so, so exciting! I have wanted for many years to see the Northern Lights. I never really imagined that I would - and fully expected to be involved in a week-long chase, standing on freezing cold hillsides late at night in the hope that the cloud might part. Instead, we were blessed with this wonderful show, right there outside our hotel on our first night! What a gift.

As for why they don't really look coloured (as I'd expected) to the naked eye, it has something to do with the rods and cones in our eyes and the way we see at night, whereas the camera captures much more detail. To be honest, I'd have missed it if someone hadn't told me what I was witnessing. (See here for another blogger's take on it).  But oh, the joy...!

It's all about the sky

There were fantastic views driving back down towards Grassington from the lead mining area. Although I wished the incessant rain would stop for longer than just a few minutes at a time, that kind of weather makes for some fabulous and dramatic skies.

I learned several things during the week:
- a plastic bag is better than nothing for keeping one's camera reasonably dry, though excessive use of the telephoto lens in the rain can cause moisture to seep inside the lens casing;
- a microfibre towel is a must-carry accessory for a photographer when it's raining;
- my boots and coat appear to be waterproof;
- waterproof over-trousers keep you warmer as well as drier;
- you should don the said over-trousers before you put your boots on;
- 'tis also better to put the rain-cover over one's backpack before it starts raining;
- similarly, it's better to put one's gloves on before one's hands get cold!
- adjourning to a nice café serving decent coffee and cake makes everything seem much better.

Sky

Just because.
I think sky can sometimes be the most wondrously uplifting sight to gaze at. These cirrus clouds, which I think are called 'mares' tails', can herald rain (and they did) but I think a sky like this is spectacular. It's one of the reasons I love living in the UK, simply because the sky changes from day to day.

'The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.' Psalm 19:1

Snow clouds

Apologies for the patchy postings at the moment. I don't seem to have much time for taking photos right now and the weather hasn't been exactly encouraging me to get out with my camera. I drove over the moor road to Hebden Bridge at the weekend to babysit, whilst my daughter and son-in-law had a well-deserved night out with friends. I was a bit anxious as we had a sudden snowfall on Friday and the higher Pennines were badly affected. I was worried the moor road might be treacherous but actually the road itself was clear. The expanse of ever-changing sky and light at the highest point of the drive always thrills me.

Looking up

Such a glorious blue sky, so welcome after the long months of rain and grey cloud. The new shoots on the willows are a wonderful soft apricot colour, a pretty contrast against the blue. There are planes constantly flying over this part of Leeds on the flight path to the local airport. Spot the little contrail?

Of course, white blossom always looks gorgeous against blue sky too. There can't be many of us photographers who haven't snapped a few pictures like this:

Since I took these, we've gone back to grey skies, rain and wind. :(

Perfect end to a perfect day

Driving home from my daughter's house after the birthday party, I was treated to this spectacular sunset. It was difficult not to get distracted from driving so in the end I pulled over and took a few photos. The road over the moors is narrow and twisty so it needs full concentration, especially when it is getting dark.

Big skies

I've mentioned that my daughter and family have moved from London back to their roots in Yorkshire. It's lovely for me having them nearer. The drive from my home to theirs takes me about 50 minutes. It's quite a spectacular and 'active' drive, along narrow and twisty country roads, up and down steep hills and across a wide stretch of high Pennine moorland. Lovely in summer, though I am a bit apprehensive for the winter. The high terrain makes for some wonderful 'big skies' where you can see the weather changing as you watch. On this day the storm clouds were amazing and you could see the rain coming from the far distance.
(Click photo to view larger).

Looking up 2

Another possible contender for the 'looking up' theme. Some trees have already lost all their leaves and some are still holding on tight. I wonder why? The bare twigs of this one against a cloudy sky reminded me of lacework.

Pot shot

I hope you don't mind so many holiday photos... The weather here has not been very conducive to photography since I got back and I haven't had much free time to wander either.

I spent a few days in the north of Croatia, near Split, touring round the area and then a few days in Dubrovnik. I saw lots but the downside of such trips is that a fair bit of time is spent travelling - and on a coach you can't just ask for a photo stop! I occasionally took a pot shot out of the window. Croatia is famed for its sunsets out across the Adriatic Sea but this was the nearest I got to one... still, an atmospheric sky.

(Sorry about the intrusive watermark. I have my computer set up to add one automatically now, when I upload pics for my blog, but on this photo it's in the wrong place really.)

And then it dawned on me...

.... when I flung open the curtains this morning -

time to listen to Norah Jones: