Simon's 52 in 2023

Forgotten... gorgeous shot and processing. Right up my street!
Spooky. Love the witch.
 
Week 44 - Captive

I'm up in the Peak District this week, and the weather's been awful. Rain every day on already wet and saturated countryside. Never mind eh?

This week's offering on the theme of “Captive” is the Derwent dam, holding back millions of gallons of water destined for Sheffield,Derby, Nottingham and Leicester

My chosen shot is the top of the dam wall holding back (captive) the water, with a lapse of the outstanding autumn foliage . The second phot for context is the front of the dam with the water (lots of it) cascading over the top of the dam. It's a truly spectacular sight, and the photo doesn’t really do it justice.

The light was awful, so I’ve resorted to some HDR naughtiness.

Derwent Dam 1 by Simon Hiscocks, on Flickr

Derwent Dam 2 by Simon Hiscocks, on Flickr
 
Kell said:
That’s a great image.

Love the stripe of yellow through the middle.
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Thanks very much Kell. I’m doing quite a lot of experimenting with HDR and high contrasty images at the moment bt need to reign myself back a little (I quite like it but I know it’s not a universally popular look).
The colours all around but particularly of these fir trees (I thought all firs were evergreen), were absolutely stunning, even in the gloomy weather. I can only imagine what they must be like when the sun comes out.
 
As Kell said the yellow trees really help the shot, the block work on the tower does look quite naughty/hdr :) but needs must if the weather is not helping.(y)
 
nog said:
As Kell said the yellow trees really help the shot, the block work on the tower does look quite naughty/hdr :) but needs must if the weather is not helping.(y)
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Thanks Keith. We come up to this area most years around this time, but I've never seen the trees looking quite as spectacular (even in the rain!).
 
HelenC said:
Really well composed. A cracking shot despite the weather.
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Thanks Helen. It was tricky to get the shot I had in my head - too many bits and pieces and occasionally people in the way, and I was also trying to keep up (at least visually) with the family group I was with who don’t stop to take photos but walk on ahead!
it sort of worked out though, but I’d have liked longer to compose some different shots and maybe change viewpoints, as well as wait for some sun - but that wasn't going to happen!
 
The first shot is very nice. I also got a very pleasant surprise when I scrolled down to the second. I was expecting to see a concrete wall, and not a curtain of water. It must look and sound lovely.
 
Week 45 - Snapper's Choice

With the weather looking grim here all week, here's another one from last week's trip to Derbyshire, which just crept into this week's theme timeframe by a couple of hours after @Cobra 's announcement!

This is a landscape view of Higger Tor on Hathersage Moor, taken whilst on our circular walk around the Longshaw Estate and Padley Gorge. We walked up Higger Tor a few years ago on a previous visit, and views from the top are well worth the fairly easy walk up there.

For anyone interested, there's a whole bunch of other images from our week away in the Peak District 2023 album on my Flickr page (*gratuitous plug ;) )

Higger Tor by Simon Hiscocks, on Flickr
 
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One I've heard of but never been. Nice shot :)
 
LC2 said:
Makes you wonder what the geology is to give the tor effectively a flat top like that.
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Mostly gritstone up there (and throughout the Peaks), but I guess something must be different to have caused it to be like that.
 
It looks like you get around a bit, geographically speaking lol.
I've had a busy few weeks so behind on my commenting. I find the Penarth Pier very striking, it looks like it's on stilts and is alive; some sort of weird alien with a hut for a head?
I've not heard of Dyfffryn Gardens but having seen that structure I definitely want to visit now and I'll be sure to walk behind it too.
I love the mono pumpkin shot, putting the moon behind it was a great idea.
Lovely colours at Derwent dam and a great idea for the theme.
 
n1kcy said:
It looks like you get around a bit, geographically speaking lol.
I've had a busy few weeks so behind on my commenting. I find the Penarth Pier very striking, it looks like it's on stilts and is alive; some sort of weird alien with a hut for a head?
I've not heard of Dyfffryn Gardens but having seen that structure I definitely want to visit now and I'll be sure to walk behind it too.
I love the mono pumpkin shot, putting the moon behind it was a great idea.
Lovely colours at Derwent dam and a great idea for the theme.
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Thanks for all the comments Nicky. One of the benefits of being retired is getting plenty of holidays and breaks in!
The pier's always a good shot and we have such a high tidal range here there are plenty of opportunities for contrasting images.
 
Week 46 - Wall and Tech (Wide angle)

This was the shot that immediately came to mind when @Cobra unveiled this week's theme of "Wall". It's the climbing wall along the promenade at Barry Island which is made up of colourful fixings that spell out "Yns Y BarrI" (Barry Island in Welsh) and Barry Island.

It seemed like a good opportunity to include the wide angled tech, but I don't have a wide angle lens for my Fuji X-S10, so this was taken using mu iPhone 13 Pro using the wide angle setting.

Barry Island Climbing Wall by Simon Hiscocks, on Flickr
 
rpn said:
Very colourful and great idea to use it for climbing too. I think the wide setting on iPhone 13 Pro is a 13mm effective Full Frame equivalent focal length. So it ticks the Tech box too.
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Cheers Stan. It's the widest setting I have on any camera!
 
Kell said:
It's an interesting shot.

Never seen that before.

AS said above, I think the iPhone 0.5 lens in equivalent to 13mm. It's very wide.
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Thanks Kell
The widest I can go on anything else is 16mm on my 16-80 Fuji, so I think this will fit the bill \
The perspective in this shot is also slightly confusing because the wall does get lower towards the end - it is a rising walkway above.
 
Colourful wall and you to the weather to match, what a good idea to add the name and have it as a climbing wall, Does it get used a lot?
 
nog said:
Colourful wall and you to the weather to match, what a good idea to add the name and have it as a climbing wall, Does it get used a lot?
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Thanks Keith. It gets pretty busy down there, and there’s usually a child or two having a go!
 
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Nice wall there Simon :)
 
Leads the eye nicely. I've now got "What's occurring" running through my head :LOL:
 
HelenC said:
Leads the eye nicely. I've now got "What's occurring" running through my head :LOL:
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Thanks Helen!

Yep, definitely Gavin & Stacey land……., although technically, the correct pronunciation round here is “Wos' occurin'?” :exit:
 
Week 47 - Autumn(al)

Was expecting this theme at some point, although I would have possibly liked it a couple of weeks ago when I was in the Peak District. However, I knew straight away the shot I wanted, just hoped the leaves and colours were still there!. The chosen shot and a couple of alternatively processed variations, is a place I've used before - a tree lined path in woods close to where I live. The biggest trick here is getting a shot without dog walkers in view! I'd have liked a little more sun to bump the colours a bit, but that's in short supply at the moment.

Cwm George 1: This is the (almost) SOOC image with only the barest of tweaking in PP

Cwm George 1 by Simon Hiscocks, on Flickr

Cwm George - Dramatic HDR: This is (almost) the same shot, but given a big dose of tone mapping in Affinity to make the colours really jump. HDR processing is a bit marmite, so I won't be offended if you don't like it, but it offers an alternative choice.

Cwm George 5 - dramatic HDR by Simon Hiscocks, on Flickr

Cwm George - Mystic: Another similar view, this time given the "mystic" treatment in Luminar 4 to soften it up a bit.

Cwm George 1 - Mystic by Simon Hiscocks, on Flickr
 
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