Tony Tomlinson – Page 3 – Tony Tomlinson Photography

21/04/202417/06/2024

Our visit to the Isle of Harris and Lewis: Part 1

tony-tomlinson-photography-Luskentyre-beach, Isle-of-Harris-and-Lewis

After many months in the planning stage, we finally got to visit the magical Isles of Harris and Lewis., because of the distance and travel time, we decided to break the journey into two days each way, this would allow a more relaxed approach to the journey and provide some respite after sitting in a car for many hours.

We decided to stay at the Caledonian Hotel at Fort William for an overnight stay on the outward and return journey. A pleasant experience this was, the hotel staff wherever so friendly and helpful, the food was tasty, and the room was clean, what more could you ask!

An early rise the next morning, breakfast was devoured, then we had a leisurely drive over to the Isle of Skye from where we were to catch the ferry over to the Isle of Harris.

We duly arrived in plenty of time to board the ferry, with plenty of fellow passengers lined up on the quayside waiting for the ferry to arrive.

We were soon parked on the ferry and sought a suitable viewing position up on the higher decks of the ship. Once out of the bay of Uig, the sea became a little shall we say, up and down, and left to right. Neither of us being the best sea-going passengers, we decided to look for a suitable seat and try and enjoy the journey. Easier said than done, but we found being at the back of the boat helped us, so we settled down for the remainder of the journey here. We were soon being called to return to our cars, with disembarkation soon afterwards. Once off the harbour we soon found our home for the next 6 days, this being the Harris Hotel, which was located not 5 minutes form the harbour.

After a goodnights sleep and an excellent breakfast, my morning was going to comprise of a scouting session to the Isle of Lewis to try and find some of the famous old houses that are scattered around the island.

tony-tomlinson-photography, Isle-of-Lewis, — Isle of Lewis Sign Post

tony-tomlinson-photography, Isle-of Harris-and-Lewis, — Isle of Harris Sign Post

I travelled up as far as Crosbost, keeping an eye out of these remarkable buildings, having found several, I took a look around them, but being courteous, I did not climb over any fences in respect to the land owners, nor did I enter any of the buildings.

The weather was what it was, overcast rain and strong winds, this did not provide any interesting light, but you have to take what you are given form the weather gods.

tony-tomlinson-photography, abandoned-house, isle-of Harris-and-Lewis — Isle of Lewis Abandoned House.

I returned to the Hotel early afternoon to collect Mrs Tomlinson and head to the place where everyone visits, of course it would be Luskentyre, a place that I have viewed many, many photos and watched many videos.

As we headed along the A589, we got our first view of the gorgeous coloured sand and the turquoise coloured waters, what a sight.

We turned off the main road to head for the car parking area, being for-warned that it is not large and soon fills up.

Surprisingly, there were only a couple of vehicles parked when we arrived, so it was on with the wellies, I grabbed the camera bag and off we set. As we traversed the last sand dune, the sight that greeted us was, well, simply stunning, the tide was rescinding which had uncovered mile after mile of unspoiled golden sands.

Even with a strong prevailing wind, rain in the air, and the mountains of Lewis being hidden in the cloud, I just stood for minutes taking in the amazing view that was in front of me.

There were only a few other people on the beach with us, so it was straightforward to begin scurrying around to find some reasonable shots, and surprise, surprise, its just like everyone says, you struggle with composures due to the vastness of the area.

I slowly wandered along the beach, walking up to, and into the dunes as I went. The seas was pretty flat, with small sized waves, this meant that trying to capture any crashing waves was out of the question.

Once the rain began to fall heavily it was time to vacate the area and get back to the car reasonably dry.

From the car park it was time to head back to the hotel for a refreshing drink and some food.

Day two began with a planned drive around the shore line of Harris, this being recommended by one of the ladies who was working in the Harris Hotel, she even provided us with a few stop off places to visit.

So first stop was Seilbost Beach, and OMG what a view looking towards Luskentyre, car stopped and camera set up immediately, it was at this point that I realised the strength of the wind, It was lifting the tripod, even with the camera on it. So I had to maneuver the tripod to a area where the wind was not so strong and try and fit compositions around this.

tony-tomlinson-photography, Seilbost-Beach, Isle-of-Harris-and-Lewis — Seilbost Beach

From here we literally drove another 5 minutes along the A859 when we encountered Nisabost Beach, another 30/40 minutes were spent here, admiring the view and capturing images of outstanding beauty that were in front of me.

tony-tomlinson-photography, Nisabost-Beach, Isle-of-Harris-and-Lewis — Footsteps off Nisabost Beach

As we drove the beaches just kept coming, Borve Lodge beach, Traigh Mhor beach, Sgarasta Mhor beach, this was a huge expanse of sand, beautiful with hardly a sole on it, simply breathtaking.

Onwards and past the Northton salt marshes, unfortunately we had spent so much time at the beaches that we could not stop here, as lovely as it is.

We soon found the sign post for St Clements Church, this is where the lady in the Harris Hotel said we must visit as it is full of history and is open to visitors.

We soon parked the car, but I left the camera in the car and planned to use the phone of my small compact digital camera to record any images in the building.

We took a walk around the church and observed the many information boards that were located around the building, these provided fascinating information about the Church through the ages.

We then went inside, and what a lovely place it was, ancient brickwork with the solid wooden roof, with many historical stones placed around its perimeter. All very interesting and enjoyable visit which lasted for well over an hour.

tony-tomlinson-photography, St-Clements-Church, Isle-of-Harris-and-Lewis — St Clements Church

From St Clements Church we followed the Golden Road along the east coast of Harris, where we were on the lookout for wildlife, Seals, dolphins, Eagles etc.

We didn’t travel far when we seen our first sight of seals basking on the rocks, and like the proverbial bus, you see one, then you see many more, nether the less, they are a lovely creature, especially when in their natural habitat.

Unfortunately, we didn’t see any dolphins, or eagles, but the journey along the Golden Road was a lovely experience, and thoroughly enjoyed.

tony-tomlinson-photography, seals-on-the-rocks, Isle-of-Harris-and-Lewis, — Seal Lions

Thus, ends part one of our trip to Harris and Lewis, part two will follow shortly, we hope you have enjoyed our recollection of our first few days on the islands.

11/02/202411/02/2024

Our holiday to the Scottish Highlands is no more!

Tony-Tomlinson-Photography-Cauldron-Falls-Glencoe-Scotland

We had planned a 5 day visit to the Glencoe area of Scotland some months ago to fall in line with the February half term school holidays in England.

Unfortunately, first Mrs. Tomlinson fell very ill with a virus a week before we were due to leave, then, as is fate, I was struck down with the same bug 3 days before we were due to leave. We tried to leave the inevitable decision as late as possible, but eventually, reality set in and we realised that we had no other option other than cancel the trip.

We are so disappointed not being able to get up to the highlands at this time of year, we were hoping for a smattering of snow while we were there, and we had researched half a dozen new photo locations to explore, still, I suppose they will still be there when we next visit the glorious Glencoe area.

We have further trips planned during 2024, one is a re-visit to a splendid photography area, with another visit being to a new location for us, one which we are both really looking forward too.

In the meantime, until I recover back to full health here is a little video clip to remind us all what a stunning part of the UK the Glencoe area is.

18/01/202418/01/2024

Trying to find the mist

tony-tomlinson-photography-derwent-water-myrtle-bay-mist- reflections-landscape- lake-district- sunrise

The forecast was for a hard frost during the night, but mist was scheduled to appear just before sunrise in several locations, not wanting to drive to far in case of a now-show, I decided to head for Derwent Water, as this is normally a good location for misty conditions.
My plan was to head for the southern shores of the lake to try and capture something a little different form the images that I already have of Catbells etc bathed in mist.

Myrtle, and Abbots Bay’s were my intended locations, for which I did not have a pre-determined plan on what I wanted to do, or capture, one of them times when you just shoot what appears at the time.

I soon found a partly submerged fence which had collapsed in the middle, I managed to get a couple of shots using this as the main interest, with the bank of mist in the background.

From here I took a 2-minute walk along the path towards Great Bay to find the trees and shrubbery were covered in a Hoare Frost, so I had a play-about here trying to pick out some of the frost covered shrubs and trees against a dark background.

Back to the lakeshore, but slightly further along, I came across a lovely little lone tree which was growing on a partly submerged rock, the water was flat calm, so allowing the tree to create a lovely reflection in the water’s surface, I played about with this composition for a while, capturing a couple of very nice images as I did.

I then found another frozen puddle, this time on one of the rocks that protrude out into the water, I thought the ice formation would make an original fore ground item, so set about taking a image of this.

By now the sun was up and most of the mist had dispersed, but a huge bank of mist remained at the northern end of the lake, even though the sky was cloudless, the sun was illuminating the wintery Skiddaw with its brown winters colour, so I grabbed a few images of this view, and of course captured a panoramic of the whole scene, as I do!

After this I went back to the car to set off home, but has I drove along the lower slopes of Catbells towards Portinscale, I notice that the mists were moving along the lake towards Lords island, which was becoming swamped in mist, I stopped the car jumped out and grabbed a image of this scene, no planning, just point the camera and shoot, surprisingly, (I think) that this is one of the best images form the whole mornings trip.

Until next time, stay safe, enjoy your photography, and please feel free to comment on this news article or on any of the images contained within it.

07/01/202407/01/2024

The first two mornings photography of 2024.

tony-tomlinson-photography-wastwater-wasdale-lake-winter-landscape, lake district, mountains, sunrise,

Wishing you all a Happy New Year.

After the recent appalling weather that we have endured during the Christmas holiday period, it was refreshing to see a reasonable weather forecast for the first working weekend on the New Year, to begin this year’s photography exploits.

1^st Mornings Trip.

The first trip of the weekend as planned to be Wasdale, overcast conditions were forecast, but when I left the house, I found the car covered in a layer of frost, on the drive to Wasdale, my concern was that the sky’s would be cloudless and not very photogenic.

I arrived well before sunrise, not that this matters at this location as the sun needs to clear the imposing screes and Scafell before any light begins to reach the valley.

I parked the car and decided to take a long leisurely walk along the shoreline of the lake and see what photographic options confronted me I found a selection of images has I walked along the Lakes shoreline, looking for any interesting leading lines, and keeping an eye out for any interesting light that may appear.

At first, I used a couple of rock formations for the foreground interest, not very original, but I had to use something.

I next found a little water inlet which became the foreground and its shape sending the eye through the image.

I then scrambled on to some rocks that were stretching out into the water of the lake to try and make some use of them, the image is below, do you think I have succeeded in make an original image of a well worked scene?

I could not resist in shooting the good old “Selfie”, I think by placing myself in the image it adds an element of scale to the scene. What are your thoughts on the “Selfie” images, are they a gimmick, or are they a useful tool to use?

There were some Birch trees on the far shore of the lake, stripped of their foliage, but the branches having turned that purple-ish colour which contracts to the sharp silver of the tree’s trunks. This contracting with the greens and browns of the winter foliage on the ground.

tony-tomlinson-photography-wastwater-wasdale-lake-winter-landscape, lake district, mountains, sunrise, birch trees, — A copse of Birch trees on the far shore of Wast Water.

Has I trudged over a sodden peat bog heading towards the road, I found a little puddle which was frozen, but the leaves and vegetation was visible through the ice, I positioned the camera to create a leading line of this puddle, looking towards the huge fells of Yewbarrow, and Great Gable.

To finish off the mornings photography I decided to create a panoramic of the vista that is Wasdale head, with Yewbarrow on the left, Great Gable in the center and Scafell on the right.

Day 2’s Trip.

My plan was to head for the southern shores of the lake to try and capture something a little different form the images that I already have of Catbells etc bathed in mist.

I soon found a partly submerged fence which had collapsed in the middle, I managed to get a couple of shots using this as the main interest, with the bank of mist in the background.

tony-tomlinson-photography, Derwent Water, Lords island' mist, reflections, landscape, lake district, sunrise, — Lords Island slowly being engulfed by the bank of mist flowing along the lakes surface

Until next time, stay safe, enjoy your photography, and please feel free to comment on this news article or on any of the images contained within it.

13/11/202313/11/2023

A Magical Mornings Photography

tony-tomlinson-photography, river-brathay, elterwater, langdale-pikes, lake-district, cumbria, uk, autumn, mist,

As the 2023 autumn season comes to an end, the weather forecast for the weekend was looking very promising.

Mild daytime temperatures with cold nights and the prospect of frost which create good conditions for a misty morning.

I had one day available, Saturday, so plans were made and alarm set for an early rise the next morning.

Once underway, my hopes for a misty morning were heightened has I passed Bassenthwaite Lake, it was covered in a canopy of mist, then has I drove around Keswick and began the rise up towards Castlerigg, I could see Derwent Water was also covered in mist.

I was very happy, but, once alongside Thirlmere, not an once of mist anywhere, as was Grasmere and Rydal Water, my hopes of seeing any morning mist were now evaporating as fast as the vanishing mists.

As I turned out of Ambleside and headed for Elterwater, signs of mist along the rivers surface, could I be in luck after driving all this way?

I pulled in to the roadside parking area at the Skelwith Bridge Hotel, I was surprised to see it nearly full, surly there wasn’t that many photographers at the River Brathay already, after all it was still 25 minutes to sunrise.

As I opened the gate on to the meadows that border the River, I could only smile to myself, cold conditions, with ground frost, and, banks of mist, YES.

I walked not 50 meters before I had the camera out of the bag, 1 shot, 2 shots, 3 shots, I was in seventh heaven.

I eventually got to the path that follows the rivers route and was planning my pitching point, but has I got closer I could see a line of people, then another couple, then some more, and more, all photographers hunting that elusive photograph, I counted at least 16 in total, in all the years I have been shooting landscape photography, I have never seen this may photographers in one place.

I was late, too late to grab one of the “honey pot” locations, so I had a stroll about, and decided to go up the bank, a place that I have never shot form before.

One set up I stood and watched the ever-changing flow of mist, intertwined with the rising suns light, looking down the river and back towards Elterwater and the Langdale Pikes.

I was perplexed, the views along the river were astonishing, but when turning to my right the views towards the Langdale Pikes were just has enthralling.

I was like a kid in a sweet shop, snap, snap, snap, as the conditions changed and differing compositions came and went.

A hour and a half went in the blink of an eye, some of my fellow photographers had departed the scene so I had a stroll down to the river side to view what compositions were available as the sun began to rise over the ridgeline to the east.

I found a lovely scene which forms the featured image for this post, the sun breaking over the hill to illuminate the mist that was glued to the waters surface and helped pick out the gorgeous reflections in the waters surface.

The sun then began to strike the various copses of trees that are spread around the meadows, it was then a matter of picking out the images that attracted my interest, what I ideally wanted was any side, or backlight autumnal coloured leaves.

I think that I managed a couple of good images, here is one, what do you think of the photo, does it capture the autumnal colours of the leaves, please comment if you wish.

I now began to notice the excellent reflections in the water which were becoming more noticeable as the mists began to rise revealing these lovely images, a example of these views is attached below.

To finish off I could not omit to include one of the many panoramic images that I took which (I think) capture the atmosphere of the morning. All told a thoroughly enjoyable 3 hours, which were arguably the best mornings photography of the year.

Until my next adventure, thank you for finding the time to read this news update, stay safe and enjoy your weekends.

06/11/202306/11/2023

My one and only Autumnal photography of this Year

Derwent Island, in Derwent Water, Keswick in the English Lake District dressed in Autumnal colours. tony-tomlinson-photography.

This years Autumnal season has passed me by in a blink of an eye. I was astonished to find that it was over a month since I was last out with the camera, the joys of being a “Weekend Photographer”.

Even though family commitments were again taking preference, I was determined to get out on the Sunday morning, even though the forecast was not the best.

Because of the poor weather forecast, I was not prepared to plan a long journey, so it was off to Borrowdale to see what materialised, and hopefully include some woodland photography.

Has I approached Keswick there appeared to be the possibility of some mist over the Lake, so a short detour was the order of the day.

Upon arriving on the Lake Shore via Crow Park, the light was very nice indeed, Derwent Island was dressed in its Autumnal colours, a photograph waiting to be taken.

From here I quickly shot round to Isthmus bay, where I captured a lovely image of the old jetty looking out towards the Cumbrian Mountains.

Isthmus Jetty, in Isthmus bay, Derwent Water, Keswick in the English Lake District dressed in Autumnal colours. tony-tomlinson-photography. — Isthmus Jetty, Isthmus Bay, Derwent Water,

From the shore of Derwent Water, I made my way to Grange Fell where I was hoping to secure some woodland photography images, this is genre of photography is well outside my comfort zone, but I really wanted to get some images of the remaining Autumnal season.

Once up on the lower slopes of the Fell there were gorgeous shades of oranges, browns and reds on the trees, but the hard part is always finding compositions form the surrounding chaos.

Disappointingly the whole area was in shade, but the rising sun was beginning to strike the surrounding ridge lines, this was my starting point.

Silver Birch trees on a ridge line on Grange Fell in Borrowdale, dressed in golden brown Autumnal coloured leaves.tony-tomlinson -photography — Silver Birch trees on a ridge line on Grange Fell in Borrowdale.

I then found several knurly old trees covered in green moss, (I’m sorry I am not sure what type of tree they are), these really attracted me to them, but by god, it takes some time to pick out a suitable composition, still you have to learn somewhere, haven’t we?

Knurled trees on Grange Fell in Borrowdale, dressed in golden brown Autumnal coloured leaves.tony-tomlinson -photography — Knurled trees on Grange Fell in Borrowdale,

I then found what appeared to be a tree with three trunks, again a little pottering about to find the best place to shoot it, what do you think of this photo, does it create interest for you ?

A tree with what appears to be three trunks.tony-tomlinson -photography — A tree with what appears to be three trunks.

As I was walking out of the woods a stumbled across some small toadstool or fungi like plants hidden in the undergrowth, time for some macro photos, these plants looked really nice, so I was careful not to tread on any has I retuned to the path.

Fungi hidden on the floor of the woods on Grange Fell in Borrowdale. tony-tomlinson-photography — Fungi hidden on the floor of the woods on Grange Fell

After a really enjoyable time in the woods, I decided to head to the southern shores of Derwent Water to try my luck in capturing some images of the lovely morning light striking Otter Island and the surrounding areas. As I arrived the light was really nice, shining on Otter Island and the far side of Abbots Bay, as I began to set up sods law struck again, the sun became hidden behind the bloody clouds. Despite waiting for just over an hour, there was no sign of any improvement, so I decided to grab the panoramic image and head home for a well deserved breakfast.

Abbots Bay and Otter Island on Derwent Water looking towards Skiddaw and Walla Crag. tony-tomlinson-photography — Abbots Bay & Otter Island, Derwent Water looking towards Blencathra and Walla Crag.

It Just goes to show, the weather forecast is not always right, and I was well pleased to have made the effort to get out.

I thoroughly enjoyed the six hours that I was out during the morning on my adventures, I makes you relies how much I enjoy what I do.

Thank you for your likes, comments and shares, as always, until the next post, take care.