Snowy scenes are back in the Lakes!

Today’s walk was above Loweswater, with the snow capped fells fresh from new dusting of snow.

This walk is a fairly gentle 6 mile round-trip, although its possible to do a good 12 miler, dropping down to the lakeshore.

Snowy Peaks around Loweswater

This walk is a little off the beaten track, and trades the scenic Loweswater lakeshore for a birds eye view of the peaks ahead and the lakes below – Loweswater to the fore, with Crummock Water visible in the distance.

Peaks and Sheep

Snowy scene above Loweswater

One week before Christmas, and no one is taking any bets about whether it’ll be a White Christmas – the fells have had a couple of very decent dusting of snow already!

Indeed the backroads are getting rather treacherous!

On this outing to Skiddaw via Bassenthwaite, the roads were are now rather icey.  Routes that were innocuous 3 weeks ago are now icey helter-skelters…!

Putting the ‘Skid’ into Skiddaw.. quite literally!

Icey roads in Cumbria - the mean machine meets it's match!

The journey would normally take 20 or so minutes took over an hour as I inched along the roads, sometimes dismounting to avoid black ice. Starting from Bassenthwaite (village, not lake!) the walk over pastures on the ascent was very scenic, with lovely light.

Snowy scene in Cumbria, approaching Skiddaw

Around 3 miles out, I started to reach the snow line, and being under equipped and walking solo, I found a nice rocky outcrop with a 360 view.

Weather changes rapidly on the fells..sunny one moment, clouds the next!

Turned around by the weather, I headed around Bassenthwaite, to shoot a quick panorama from the lake shore – the ridge to the far right is the peak that was covered in cloud image above – how quickly conditions change!

'Panorama - Skiddaw Range from Bassenthwaite'

Some snaps from a recent fell walk, around ‘Haystacks‘, the fell range dominating the southern end of Buttermere. The hike is a fairly steep ascent, and the sort of hike where weather can close in rapidly – sunshine one moment, with rain the next, and funky clouds inbetween!

At the plateau…

'Above Haystacks I'

…there are a few nice little tarns scattered in and around the crops of heather.

'Above Haystacks II'

'Above Haystacks III'

The final shot was taken just a few minutes from my house, at ‘Mockerkin Tarn‘, a small tarn by the roadside that is easy to whizz past on the way out to Loweswater, Buttermere or Ennerdale. This shot was my first shot from a new lens, a Samyang 14mm f/2.8 wide angle – all manual so oldskool, but fun!

'Mockerkin Tarn', Cumbria

Sometimes its nice to revisit the archives for any ‘keepers’ that got buried at the time – this shot I took over Easter in Japan – a 4 day ‘whistlestop’ tour taking in Hiroshima, Nara, with Kyoto as a quick 3 hour visit as I was passing on the way home to Tokyo. Seemed rude not to really!

One tourist bus ticket later, and I found myself at the ‘Golden Temple’ – this sort of shot has been done a million times, so this is a million + 1.

The Golden Temple, Kyoto, Japan

My garden is currently playing hosting to a nest of four Swallow chicks, who are almost ready to fly the nest I think!

Swallow chicks in nest

Oregon II Travelogue and Photos

Day 1 – Wednesday 8th June 2011

So here we are again! Back in Oregon and scant 7 months after my previous trip? Why so soon.. well simply put, Oregon is probably my favourite state in the USA with so much variety from coast, low desert to high Alpine peaks.
This visit aims to take in the Easter side of the state, taking in what I missed previously, while re-visting some previous locations which should now (hopefully!) have plenty of snow.
A word of warning: In my book June is summer, and is not an ideal time for landscape photography. You never get great light, just 5 or 10 minutes of good light. Golden hour is more like 5 minutes. It’s a compromise time to year to go…

First location – and just a short hope from Boise, Idaho was Leslie Gulch.

Day 2 – Thursday 9th June 2011

Wake up early on the rough ground at the campsite, so go exploring!

Day 3 – Friday 10th June 2011

Second night spent camping at Succor Creek, a very pleasant spot. Along the route there were a couple of shot up roads signs and trucks that were simply abandoned that also caught my eye

Leaving Succor Creek, the journey headed up Northwards to Wallowa and Eagle Cap via Hell’s Canyon. Unfortunately Hat Point access road still was blocked by snow.

On the way, I was pretty taken by this old car, just left to rust.

Arriving pretty late on in the day, just time to shoot around Wallowa Lake at dusk.

Day 4 – Saturday 11th June 2011

Dawn spent at Wallowa Lake campground near Joseph – missed sunrise, but caught a nice barn. Spent the day hiking around Hurricane Creek.

Day 5 – Sunday 12th June 2011

More hiking around Hurricane Creek.

Also took in the very pretty Lostine Valley – unfortunately with a low snow-pack Eagle Cap proper was not accessible to the decision was made to head Westwards.

Spent the night In the middle of nowhere – Anthony Lakes is also closed – the snowpack is VERY unusual, and generally I’d expect this to be clear end of May…unfortunately snow is causing a few access issues now!

Day 6 – Monday 13th June 2011

Side journey meandering west via Sumpter to see the Dredge. The interior was pretty interesting – decided to shoot this bracketed for some HDR.

From Sumpter I plotted a fairly crazy route heading south west, aiming to cut over the Cascades via Klamath Marsh.

Day 7 – Tuesday 14th June 2011

Spent the morning at Summer Lake – not the best location really, and rather surprised by the glowing write up in Moon Travel for that one. Swing via Fort Rock,then head down south to Crater Lake.

The scene is pretty magical, and photos can’t do it justice as there is an impossibly perfect reflection in the ice-blue lake.

Day 8 – Wednesday 15th June 2011

Sunrise at Crater Lake.

With much of the Rim Drive closed, it was time to move on, upwards. A brief side trip to Rouge River Gorge for one night camping.

Day 9 – Thursday 16th June 2011

Heading back up North, via Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway. Very surprised by the amount of snow! I was hoping to get to Spark’s Lake again but the trailhead was closed. Rather recklesssly, remembering the route from the previous trip, I took a GPS reading and decided to head out anyhow, a 7 mile round trip through deep snow!

Got to the lake shore to find there was no lake – it was frozen over!

After a so-so sunset over Mount Batchelor, ended up camping at Elk Lake – ground still covered in snow, and site not officially open!

Day 10 – Friday 17th June 2011

Woke up at Elk Lake, in one of the closed campgrounds.

From Elk Lake, I head back to Scott’s Lake which was closed last trip due to a forest fire! This time I’m defeated by snow, and McKensie Pass is still closed by snow.

Decide to stop at Big Lake – campsite is closed and empty, so bag a prime spot with Mount Washington the view from my tent. Hard life, eh?

Day 11 – Saturday 18th June 2011

Big change in weather, and overnight the skies have turned grey with rain imminent. With only a few days left, the tough decision is taken to start heading back to Steen Mountain / Alvord Desert while stopping off at a few places missed previously.

Go via Crooked River then head via the desert, filling up the tank of fuel at Brothers. Found an old ruined hut that I was very taken with, so shot a bunch of bracketed exposed to blend later.

Spent the night camping off-road as no sign of any campsites in the area.

Day 12 – Sunday 19th June 2011

Head East via Plush towards Hart Mountain Antelope Reserve. Spent the day pottering around – with only two full days left, tricky decision whether to stay the night or move on.

A bad throw of the dice meant it was time to move – a poor decision in hindsight, as Steen’s Mountain Loop was closed from the get-go meaning the day allocated to Steen’s wasn’t needed. Press on instead to Alvord Desert where we pick up a puncture literally in the middle of nowhere with only 48 hours to go before the flight back to the UK.

This incident essentially ended the trip although I managed to shoot a sunrise at Alvord Desert before tyre repairs ate into the remaining time.

Day 13 – Monday 20th June 2011

Parting shot – sunrise from Alvord Desert.

Created on … July 2nd, 2011

Buttermere is a place I’ve been to a few times – either for long walks, climbing the fells and obviously also going with the intention of taking photos in the back of my mind too

Yesterday was a nice mixture of clouds with some sun, so I decided to head out fairly late to see if the light was going to play ball (often up here it doesn’t!) – just two weeks ago, I got caught in a huge and violent thunderstorm that came from nowhere..today the weather gods were kinder.

Buttermere and Haystacks - Buttermere, Lake District, Cumbria

Buttermere at Dusk, Lake District. Cumbria

Buttermere at Dusk, Lake District. Cumbria

Buttermere at Dusk, Lake District. Cumbria

Today I had a very pleasant day out with another local professional photographer in the area – this was my first shot of the day from the lesser-explored shore of Bassenthwaite, with St Bega’s Church in the background. And not a lake in sight

St Bega's Church, Bassenthwaite, Lake District, Cumbria

Well it really is most unseasonably seasonal for this time of year – yet another bright sunny day, and the best light of year is clearly behind us as we move headlong into summer.

Setting off early to get a jump on the crowds, even just gone 9am we are getting ‘summer’ light – low constrast, and the harshness you don’t get between October and March. So these shots are just snapshots of a very nice day up in the ‘Catbells’, overlooking Derwentwater.

'Derwentwater from Catbells', Lake District, Cumbria

Catbells

Derwentwater looking back down the Catbells trail

As a walker / hiker, sometimes the camera gear can get in the way. My full frame bodies – with wide and normal zoom lenses packed in the bag weigh a backbreaking 3kg. That’s 3kg of Great image quality, but for a stroll out, its overkill…hence the new Sony NEX3!!

The body is tiny, yet it packs a full APS-C sensor. The 18-55 lens is good and while I’m really not fond of Liveview only, I have to admit the camera takes nice shots. This was shot on Tuesday 12th – a late evening stroll up ‘Sale Fell’ one of my favourite local haunts.

Bassenthwaite Lake, Lake District, Cumbria