Islands in the Sun

The Islands of Fleet in Wigtown Bay, originally uploaded by Bay Photographic.

Half term provided me with the opportunity to spend a few days in Scotland with a Land Rover full of photographic gear. Well, maybe not full exactly. That would be a lot more gear than I could realistically use in any constructive way.
In reality most of my gear stays in my bag most of the time anyway and when I am scrambling around on slippery seaweed covered rocks taking photos I tend to confine myself to just my S2 and lens, and a Manfrotto monopod. If I feel the need to take brackets of exposures for future processing in Photomatix (like this one) I have to take a proper tripod, but that means lugging around a three ton Velbon that is made out of scaffold poles.
To achieve this photo of The Islands of Fleet I had to clamber over the rocks, running the risk of slipping on the wet seaweed, spearing myself on the jagged rocks and more importantly, smashing my uninsured camera, my uninsured lens and my brand new (and uninsured) circular polarising filter in to a thousand sparkly pieces, all while carrying a tripod that weighs almost as much as... a small island in Wigtown Bay.
And I loved every minute.

Flood Tide

Arnside Railway Viaduct, flood tide, originally uploaded by Bay Photographic.

Ambled down to the seafront today to take a few photos, hoping to make use of the surprisingly sunny morning that had dawned after a week of rain and high winds. As I parked on the promenade it was clear that the tide was about to arrive. I know that in most seaside towns the tide 'comes in' or flows' but in Arnside it Arrives. The stone jetty was occupied by fishermen and a group of canoeists were hovering about in the middle of the estuary.
The bore, when it came past, was only a few inches high, and barely rocked the canoes, but as I walked towards the railway embankment a roar like the sound of a BAC 1-11 taking off (sorry, ex-anorak aircraft spotter reference to an obsolete and very noisy jet aircraft) began to echo around the sea front. The water rushing upriver past the railway viaduct was increasing in volume and creating bow waves on each pillar as if the bridge was ploughing downstream at full throttle.
By the time I had walked past the Fighting Cocks, the usual Arnside seafront landscape of undulating and rippled sand had been replaced by ten feet of swirling murky water.
The roar from the viaduct continued undiminished long enough for me to photograph the entire seafront from the viaduct to Ashmeadow.
The power of the tide in the Bay and particularly in Arnside is either a curse or a blessing depending on your point of view. The spectacle of the bore may attract onlookers and the odd canoeist to the village, but the rush of water and the range between the high and low water marks seems to almost completely preclude the possibility of pleasure boating in the area.
If Arnside was on the Isle of Wight there would be yachts moored four or five deep off the foreshore, boatyards, chandlers and sailmakers would cram every building and alleyway close to the water and the pubs and restaurants would be thronged with people wearing reflective wellingtons and South Atlantic proof trousers.
Sailing heaven or yachtie hell?
Unless SLDC decide to build a barrage across the Bay from Grange to Heysham, we may never know.

A Cold Sunday in The Lakes

Windermere 1, originally uploaded by Bay Photographic.

Taken on probably the coldest, most miserable and dullest day I have ever been out with my camera. Having hardly taken a single frame since Christmas however, I was determined, despite the weather, to capture something so I could enjoy a little bit of CS2 time this evening. I suppose the whole concept of 'enjoying a little bit of CS2 time' is one that will only have a limited appeal to a few people but when the only other choices are Ski Sunday or doing some lesson prep. I'll take Photoshop every time.
Actually, I was so stuck for worthwhile activity that I processed this from the RAW file in three different ways, using CS2, Photomatix and the Finepix convertor that came with my S2. This is the CS2 version, which had more depth and range of tone and had a better 'surface finish'.
Its a pretty ordinary photograph really, and I make no pretence that it is special in any way other than that I suffered for it.
I might not have lived in a rat infested garret and cut off my ears to keep warm, but my hands got jolly cold and I had to turn up the heater in the car all the way home.