Cumbria Archives - Page 3 of 3 - Tony Tomlinson Photography

21/06/202505/05/2026

Summer Solstice Sunrise

Cumbria, great-gable, Kirk-fell, lake-district, Landscape, scawfell, Summer, sunrise, tony-tomlinson-photography, UK, wasdale, Wast-Water, Yewbarrow

We have been experiencing exceptionally warm weather in Cumbria over the last couple of days, I decided to head to Wasdale for a sunrise session, not realising that the day was the summer solstice.

Upon approaching Wast Water, I could not believe my eyes, every parking place was taken with cars of campervans, I drove some considerable distance along the lake, but nothing changed, car, after car, so I turned round and retraced my route to find a parking spot.

I was soon pulled up on a grass verge, well off the road so that traffic could pass safely., I then headed down towards the lakes edge to look for a decent composition to capture the impending sunrise, not a chance, there were tents at all the locations which I could use.

So, plan “B”, I headed up from the shore to try and use the road as a leading line into the scene. As I was heading up for the lake shore, I bumped into a group of wild swimmers who were coming out of the water, a very friendly bunch of people they were, fancy going for a swim at 5.45 am !!

I found a reasonable place on a small mound to set up, and began the waiting for the sun to rise above Great Gable and Kirk Fell to the east.

The sunrise was short, not much time for pre-sunrise colours, which soon became hard light. It can be frustrating having to get up a daft o clock in the night to get to a location, then what seems like a blink of an eye, its over.

Whilst I was waiting for the sun to rise, I got to thinking, was the fact that it was the Summer Solstice that there were so many people camping or visiting Wasdale on this morning, or was t the fact that we were having a exceptionally warm spell of weather which had enticed all these people to be out at such a time?

By the way, I am not grumbling about people being out in the countryside, they have as much right as anyone else (including me) to be enjoying the experience, I found it a little confusing to understand that’s all.

I took the scenic route home, heading south before turning north on the A595, as I was pottering along the road, I seen four Roe Dear in a field, managing to catch a photo on one, they certainly do not hang around once a human is close by.

Cumbria, lake-district, Landscape, Summer, sunrise, tony-tomlinson-photography, UK, wasdale — A Roe Dear

I also came across a Buzzard perched on a farmers gate post, no doubt eyeing up its breakfast. I didn’t have chance to grab the camera, but it was pleasing to watch such a beautiful bird out in the wild, it was soon off looking for a meal though.

I stopped off at Egremont to grab a coffee, surprised to note that it was still only 6.15am.

One home, time to edit the photos an plan where too tomorrow!!

Until next time, stay safe and take care.

10/11/202405/05/2026

Using my new Camera for the first time

Autumn, Borrowdale-Valley, Cumbria, Grange, Lakedistrict, Landscape, long-exposure, River-Derwent, tony-tomlinson-photography, UK

The proof is in the eating, so they say, so after waiting for several weeks to trade my old photography system and receiving my new, Its finally time to try the camera and lenses out.

The light as been pants for the last two weekends, but I had to bite the bullet and get out, so on a overcast, grey and damp day, I’m off to try out my new camera.

I headed for Grange, in the Borrowdale valley with the aim of looking for some compositions of the River Derwent as the water is crystal clear, along with a trek through the woodlands to capture some autumnal colours.

Once you have used one camera, you can use any, (so they say) and to a point this is true, but I soon ran in to muscle memory issues as I was instinctively going for buttons that I have been using for 20 years or more.

It will take time to become accustomed to the new layout, but the issues are not insurmountable, presently these minor issues are just slow me down a little.

Photography wise, I was struggling, the light was pants, and I have missed the best of the autumnal colours, however I found a little beck with moss coloured rocks and brown autumnal coloured leaves scattered around the scene so I took a little time to compose a image. Not the best in the world, but a reasonably interesting one.

The river levels were low, a reflection of the reduced rainfalls recently, the lovely turquoise coloured pools drew my attention, but compositions were hard to come by.

I found one large pool called “Wilkinson’s Dub” which was a lovely colour, with a shrub on the far bank being reflected in the water, so I used a K&F polarizing filter to remove some of the glare to try and get a different type of image, this image is below, do you think it works?

I then came across a disused quarry which provided some contrast to the remaining autumnal colours of the woods.

As I trekked through Low and High Hows Woods I took a couple of snaps, one of a tree which, to me had a branch that looked like a birds face, can you see it?

OM-1 Conclusion:

Of course it will take some time to become fully accustomed to the OM-1 camera and its controls, I still need to customise some functions, but this will be done in time.

My main concern was one the quality of the images, as the four thirds sensor is substantially smaller than the full frame variant that I have been using for many years. I wont know the full answer to this question until I print a A2 sized print to make this assessment.

One big positive is that after two and a half hours lugging all all my new kit around in my backpack, I managed this with no issues, the weight saving was very obvious, long may this last.

02/09/202405/05/2026

Ullswater: My Nemisis

Ullswater is a bit of a nemesis for me, I’ve visited it many times, but rarely have I come away with many portfolio images.

This weekend was a fine example, the forecast for Saturday was ideal, but my glass back ensured that I was unable to make the trip, so the second best option was to visit on the Sunday even thought he forecast was nothing special.

I arrived well before sunrise so that I could find a good viewpoint, but was hindered by the shear number of wild campers along the shore of the lake, not that I have any problem with them, its just that I like to keep my distance from the tents, especially being about so early.

A mooch about didn’t find anything worth photographing, just one blue hour panoramic image along the lake looking towards Pooley Bridge from Glencoyne Bay, I decided to convert this to black & white during post processing.

Ullswater Panoramic

I then re-retraced my tracks back along the lake shore towards Mossdale Bay to find the boathouse.

I captured an O.K image from here where I tried to use the brickwork and character of the building to tell a story about the image. do you think I have achieved this, please let me know by way of a comment?

Ullswater Boathouse

From here I didn’t find anything worth photographing, so I drove up to Brothers Water to see if there was anything interesting there.

When I arrived at Brothers Water, the lakes surface was flat calm, but by the time I picked out a composition the wind had picked up causing ripples along the waters surface. So the waiting began, I was sure the wind would drop and allow me to get a nice reflection shot, waiting is the name of the game after all.

Hartsop Dodd reflection in Brothers Water

I got chatting to a fellow photographer who was present, he being from Cockermouth and me from Maryport. We had a interesting chat about all this photography, then said our farewells.

As I was about to leave, I decided to get a shot of the lone copse of trees on the edge of the lake, this image was probably the best of the morning, see below.

Copse of Trees

On reflection, another visit to Ullswater with no decent photos, flat light, and lack of compositions seen to this. This is why I see Ullswater as my nemesis, its a place where I rarely come away with anything special.

Still it was nice to get out again, as I need to make more of an effort and start getting out into the landscape more often.

Many thanks for reading, stay safe until the next news article from me.

18/01/202405/05/2026

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.

13/11/202305/05/2026

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.