James Shackleton's Photoblog
After what seems like weeks of sunshine, finally thick, grey clouds appeared and heavy rain fell. Went outside for a while to enjoy the cool breeze and splashes of rain. One of the positive things about the lockdown has been more time to enjoy my garden. What I liked here, where the little spheres of water formed in the middle of the leaf, which glistened in the light. The original was a colour picture full of vibrant greens, but I prefer this version in back and white.
I think I have missed my morning walk once during lockdown. Yesterday, it was quite cool and misty early on – but by the time I went out for my walk, the Sun was up and throwing long, dark shadows. And there is a contrast with the morning mist, which is slowly being burned off.
People tend to think of landscape photography as a fairly leisurely persuit, but in my experience it is anything but. I took these two pictures within a few minutes of each other – and then the light went!
If you are curious, I took these on my phone, which I bring on my daily walk. Moments after I took the rainbow picture it rained quite heavily, which made me glad that my phone is water resistant. To my eye, these photos are quite close to how it looked, the Sun was very low in the sky, casting long, dark shadows.
Another go at bee photography. I think this is another species of bee to my previous photographs, note the bright yellow pollen baskets on its rear legs! I don’t know how your lockdown is going, but I seem to spend far more time in the garden now, than I ever have in the past. And like anywhere, where you spend time, the longer you are there, the more you notice. The other thing is, I suppose, that we are now in Summer.
I took this photo with my iPhone – it is cropped a little, but I can still see some texture on the bee (its eyes look particularly smooth and glossy).
I’ve photographed these trees a few times. Usually during the day. On this occasion, there was a full moon and a clear sky.
During the lockdown I’ve been using my phone for most of my pictures and by and large I am happy with the results. I don’t chimp much, so I only usually know what I’ve got when I get home and upload to my computer. In my memory, the Moon looked larger – it could be because phones use a fairly wide-angle lens. It is an irony, that this looks, like a simple picture but I know my phone was doing all sorts of complex processing to produce this picture.
When the lockdown ends, what do you think it will be like? I’m looking forward to visiting new places, or maybe revisiting places I’ve been before.
Whether through design or cirumstance, seem to be photographing sunsets lately. In the UK, we have had sunshine for most of the lockdown period, which has made for some golden sunsets (see above).
I’m wondering if the air is a little clearer because there are fewer cars on the roads – in the evening, there is very little traffic these days – bicycles seem to be the most popular form of transport.
I don’t know when lockdown will end – could be June- but I have the feeling it may be a while, I am looking forward to pictures of people, but I think I will miss quiet walks and clear skies.
This is another early morning picture, seemingly they only kind I take these days. Like many people, with the lockdown, lots of the things I do has changed. Prior to the last couple of posts, nearly all my photos came from dedicated cameras, mostly of places I have visited rather than near where I live. Whereas now, I post pictures from my local area using my phone. There aren’t many people around, so they don’t feature so much these days either. I can see that I am photographing a lot more nature as well.
I saw this when I went for a walk a couple of days ago. It was about 6.30am.
Sometimes I like to listen to something when I’m walking and sometimes I prefer silence. My favourite sound is the birds singing before sunrise (remember back to walking home after a night out).
In the UK, we are in lockdown, which means we are all spending a lot more time at home. This picture is from my morning exercise walk through some park land near where I live. The whole situation at the moment is pretty difficult, but the weather has been beautiful.
