Natural History and Countryside Photographs. UPDATED 20th MARCH 2022.

 Hello all.

 

UPDATED 20th MARCH 2022.

Well, here I am again. I'll carry on until something else happens! I've had even more problems. This has to be the end of a trying time for me. I hope. For those who have seen the original post on the 10th of February, scroll down to the blue text and read from there. The rest of the readers, start here.

Life got in my way again as regards posting more regularly. SIGH. Oh, well, here I am with my latest post. This one is all natural history and nice countryside photos.

If I don't think an image needs a comment from me, I won't add one.

I'm starting with my best photos of lepidoptera last year. A couple of them rank as my best discoveries in several years.

The first one is a Mother of Pearl Moth and my all time best moth photo. I've photographed several of them over the last few years. I never understood why they are called "Mother of Pearl", as they have all been white, or off white moths. That is until I took the one below, then I understood it's name, I was amazed! It seems that the light needs to be at a particular angle to the moth,  before it's beautiful iridescence becomes visible. It's wingspan is  26 to 40 mm.

Mother of Pearl moth

Next, my second best moth photo last year, a beautiful Frosted Orange. Along with a few others, it was one my Holy Grail moths. I woke one morning to find this one sleeping on our front door. It's said that everything comes to those who waits.

Frosted Orange moth

The moth below is an annual visitor to our house, I love this one. It's a reasonably large moth, with a  wingspan of 45 to 50 mm. It was in the perfect position for photographing.

Angle Shades.

Below is a detail of the Angle Shades head, showing the tufts of scales.

Angle Shades, detail

My last moth in this post is a Brimstone Moth, I had several of them come to the door last year, far more than normal. (Many moths come to light and flowers). This one is another regular visitor. A newly hatched one is a beautiful, bright yellow. Like many moths, their colour fades as they get older.

Brimstone Moth

Now for my last lepidoptera in this post. It's a very striking Peacock Butterfly. The large spot on each wing is to make predators think it's a great deal larger than it is. If disturbed, the peacock butterfly can rub its wings together to create a hissing sound. This combined with its large eye-spots, will help to deter predators. After waking from hibernation, this butterfly often lays 500 eggs at a time.

Peacock Butterfly

I have two more wildlife photos to show, before I move to another topic. The first is a Marmalade Hoverfly. It's called that because of the orange lines on its body, which resemble shredded marmalade. In Britain there are over 270 species and over 6,000 hoverfly species across the world. They are known as farmers friends, as the are important pollinators of plants and crops. Also, some of their larvae have a huge appetite for aphids, which damage millions of pounds worth of crops each year. Thay have no sting and are harmless to humans. Their yellow and black stripes make them look like wasps and are for protection against predators. I love to watch them hover in the air over flowers. 

Marmalade Hoverfly on Bramble flower

The last wildlife creature is the Heron. They are an impressive sight, being 90 to 98 cm in height with a wingspan of 175 to 195 cm. I've tried to get a photo of one for years but they take to the air, if you get anywhere near them. I was very pleased with this shot.

Heron.

I'm going to have to stop for now, I don't usually do this, but I'm posting what I've typed up so far. Tomorrow or the day after, I shall finish the rest of this post.

OK, here are the rest of the images for this post.

First, two skyscapes. Clouds are such incredible things to photograph. They constantly vary in size, shape, colour and amount of clouds visible at an time. They are good indicators of weather to come too.

Sunset over a Winter Field

Sunny Day on the Moors

Three tree images.

Sunlit Woods, Hollins Lane Nature Reserve

The Weir at Hollins Lane

I came across this on a walk. As soon as I saw it, I thought " This is a tree clock" The title was born. Some things present themselves to me on sight, others need a little thought.

Tree Clock

The next image is the only photo which relates to the sea. It was taken on the beech at Heacham, Norfolk, at sunset.

Tide on the Beach

Below are two images from a series I'm working on, of  the Calder and Hebble canal. This is a wonderful area for photography and walking. Depending upon the weather, time of year and time of day, it changes dramatically. It's a haven for flora and fauna. If you're lucky, you may see a Kingfisher fly from the trees, down to the water and catch a fish. There are narrow boats gliding past from time to time, too.

Bracken by the Canal Side

Leaves and Grass Floating Past

The last nine images, are some of my current favourite plant and flower photos. Nature really is amazing.

Greater Willowherb in Autumn

Crane's Bill Seedpods

Hogweed Seedpods

Pixy Cup Lichens with Raindrops

The title of the following photo, is an in-joke. There are several species of ornamental grasses called "Feather Grass". This it not one of them!  Actually, this is the second photo I've takes of a feather caught in a low-growing plant. Maybe I could hunt for more and make a collection of them. They'd make a nice little book. The other photo can be found in my blog post dated, Monday 11th May 2020 and titled, "An Offering".

Feather Grass

Most people look at things but don't see them. "Oh look, a pretty flower". Then they walk on. The closer you get to objects, the more you see in them, try it!

Close-up of a Zinnia Flower

Tagetas Macro photograph

The last two photos in this post are of Teasel seed heads. I took them less than three minutes apart. They are incredibly photogenic. I think I mentioned teasels before in an earlier post. They're very common in West Yorkshire. The seed heads used to be used in the textile industry. Below is a VERY short item about them.

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/lifestyle/teasel-power-1847165

Teasels against the Sun

Teasels against the Sky

 

NEW POST! A Mixture of Photos and Art.

Hello world. 

Finally, a new blog post. Sorry for the ridiculous delay. I had two illnesses, the second one came right after the first. I'm still having treatment for the second. This is the 17th week of  this illness, but I'm SO much better.

On with my October blog post. It's a varied mix of photo manipulation, photography, and one experimental photograph. The experimental one is a taster for some more of these in my next blog post. You will NOT have to wait a long time for that one, I already have it planned.

As always, if I don't feel an image needs me to say anything, then I won't!

OK, first images. Whilst I was unwell, I used the time to experiment with new ideas and learn new techniques. The last few months were quite painful but have not been wasted. One of the new ideas, (well, for me, that is) was to take some of my old photographs of buildings and try to redesign them. I created over 50 of these, the following are a small selection. The first one, is part of the stonework taken from a row of buildings called, Wainhouse Terrace. I'm very fond of this one.

Wainhouse Stonework 1

The next image was also created from one of my Wainhouse Terrace photos.

Impossible Building 1

Funhouse of Death

Fortifications

Double Trouble

Vertigo Attack

A few colour redesigned buildings now.

Control Tower

Office Blocks at Sunset

Shopping Precinct

Space Patrol Building

The last in "Redesigned Buildings", (in this post anyway) is another of my favourites.

Dyeworks

I've mentioned Gasometers and their demise in a previous post. They really are such photogenic structures. I decided to rework some of my photos of them. The triptych below, is one example.

Huddersfield Gasometer Triptych

Now for a few arty photographs:

Fishing Boat Wreak

Coastal Diptych

Beach Marks

Seaweed on Pebble

Twisted Tree 1

Sheffield Fountain 2

George - isn't he 

a handsome boy?

Two of my rock studies, both from Eve's Top quarry. Regular visitors to my blog will know that I've had a love of rocks, stone formations and boulders for many years. It comes from being brought up seeing them all around me since I was a baby. 

Eve's top quarry was the very last rockface I ever climbed. A long time ago, someone told me that he liked climbing. I asked if  he did Freestyle climbing, also called Free soloing, he said he did. Free soloing, is what it says, one climber on their own, without the aid of ropes or climbing equipment. I took him down to Eve's Top Quarry. It was about 8 minuets walk from where I lived. It's weathered Millstone Grit and 70 feet high, (a little over 21 m). The top of the quarry is very chossy. (A rock climbing term which describes a route or problem as dangerous, because of loose rock.) I chose the route and led the climb. At about 30 feet up (9 m) a rather nervous voice floated up. He was stuck, not only that, I could hear the rising edge in his voice. This is the start of what climbers call, "being gripped up", that is, so scared that you can't let go of the rock, or move at all. That's potentially very serious, as you realise. I told him how to get balanced and comfortable and NOT to look up or down, just breath slowly. After about five minutes of me "talking him down" (calming him) he was ready to get to the top. He never spoke of it again, neither did I. Obviously, even though I'd explained there would be no ropes, he didn't seem to understand. I didn't realise that at the time. There is a lesson to be learned here; ALWAYS be sure that the person with you, knows exactly what they are in for. You don't want to be ringing for an Air Ambulance.

After that primer, two photos of Eve's Top Quarry.

A small section of Eve's Top Quarry

Eve's Top study 1

Three final images. 

Very Old Tree Stump

Sea Holly

This last one, is just in time for Halloween.

Evil in the Church

Happy Halloween everybody. Stay safe and watch out for Goblins.

Gordon.

A mixture of photos, photo manipulations and digital art.

 Hi everyone

 I have, what I think is a nice mix of images in this post. I'm sure I've said the following before on this blog, however... If you take an object, for example, a functional one, or part of a ruined building, out of context, viewing it for it's shape and colour alone it can be seen as a work of art. Displaying unusual, or curious objects as ART, dates back to at least the 16th century. In the 1900s, artists began to include found objects into their own work, as an artistic statement. Nowadays, objects, or products with a non-art function, incorporated into art, are termed "readymades". 

Try this, look at, (say) an old door with badly peeled paint. Or a noticeboard with several layers of old posters showing on top of each other. Flick the little switch in your brain and imagine it with a frame around it, or perhaps on show in an art gallery. Do it a few times as you walk about, when shopping, or out for a stroll. You will find that part of your awareness of "things" has expanded.

The first image is dedicated to my friend Claire. Hi Claire, I hope you like it. It's the latest of my digital Op Art pieces.

Eastern Promise

I may as well stay with digital art for the moment. A couple of months ago, I was studying the De Stijl art movement, (Dutch for "The Style"). Ultimately, The Style became known as the Mondrian Style. I decided to try creating art in a similar manner. For those readers of my blog who may not be familiar with De Stijl, there is a nice introduction to it on Wikipedia at:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Stijl

One of the people involved in the movement, was an English woman called Marlow Moss. She was quite close to Mondrian, (one of the founders of De Stijl) and was probably the nearest thing to a friend he had. She was an interesting person and artist, helping to take De Stijl to the next level. She influenced the direction I took with my De Stijl work. For those interested in her, I strongly recommend the following book, available from eBay and Amazon. It's cheap, nice, pocket sized book. The eBay link is below, copy and paste into your browser.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/133681134006?epid=24034103247&hash=item1f200439b6:g:DF8AAOSwIa9gWU6d

The next three images are part of a set of twenty that I made. Sixteen of them are below in three groups, to avoid showing them all as separate images. My thanks to my friend Peter for suggesting it.

Six Linear Form Pieces

The next in this series is composed of three separate works. I started with the one on the left. Once finished, I decided to see if I could use the existing one, keeping all the elements of form and colour, evolving them into a new image. Once I'd completed the second one, I thought it would be nice to create a third, still based on the original image. When I was almost finished, I felt I should show some of the other colours used in later De Stijl work. I added sections in orange and green. Having gone this far, I saw that they should be combined as a triptych. I was very pleased with the result. Interestingly, a couple of people who have seen this one said it reminded them of Native American Indian Art. I can see why.

Triptych made from three Linear Form Pieces

The final ones in the De Stijl trio, were all inspired by Marlow Moss. Separately, each on them has it's own name. I decided to call the collection as shown below, by a single name, "Playground." The name was triggered by me having studied a selection of modern architectural designs for children's playgrounds.

Playground

Now to one of a series I'm working on called "Land Art". It's a bit of an arbitrary title, as the term already applies to the huge sculptures by artists like Henry Moore, Anthony Caro and others. In the way I'm using it, it really means objects I've come across as I'm out on photoshoots. They can be anything, from man-made retaining walls holding hillsides up, to objects abandoned or discarded by people. I created the image below, almost by accident. I came across a very long and high steel retaining wall by a roadside. I loved it straightaway, it reminded me of the sculptures by one of my favourite sculptors, Sir Anthony Caro. Once I uploaded the photos to my computer, I realised there was a set of images to be taken from them. I reworked them very subtly, keeping to their original appearance as close as possible. I chose the best and made them into a quadtych.

Four Variations on a Caro Form

A few more of my Land Art examples follow.

The first is one panel of an old door on Northgate, Halifax. There are several panels, all have become distressed by age. I'm going to go back to photograph some of the others. This one looked like a nice, textured, abstract painting to me.

Found Art Painting

The next is another Found Art painting. Again, I came across in Halifax. It was the bottom panel of an outside door, in an disused building. It looks like an abstract painting which has been left behind.

Ready Made Artwork

The next example of Land Art, is outside a small Tesco supermarket. I'd been looking at it for about 12 months, waiting for a sunny day, when there were no shoppers or cars about. Virtually all boxes like this - for electricity or telephone

connections - are dark green. The choice of this shade of blue, against the red brick was either a subconscious one by somebody, or a happy accident. I love this for what it is. I think it's an ignored, undervalued object, in just the right place. 

Blue Box

When the walls of old buildings start to sag, one way to give them structural reinforcement, is to use anchor plates. There are various names for these. Because they will be visible on the outside of a wall, many of them are quite decorative. A common one is a circular steel plate, in the UK these are known as "pattress plates". A few days ago, walking around the old parts of Halifax, I found two different pattress plates a few footsteps away from each other. One was simply a blank steel disk, the other is illustrated below. Having seen these two and also a cross shaped one, a star shaped one and a very ornate "S" shaped one in Norfolk, I decided I was going to see how many types I can find in my local area. I think I'm in danger of becoming an anorak. Oh no!

A pattress plate

Carrying on with Found Art, very near the place I came across the image above, I stumbled on the construction below. It was yet another, "I HAVE to photograph that" moment. It reminds me of the sort of work produced by the Bauhaus school. Simplicity. functionality and clean lines are just a few of the concepts behind their creations. The way the service pipes, cables, waste pipe, disused wooden plank and buttress on the right, are all set out, is to me, text book Bauhaus.

Bauhaus Lines

Now for two images taken from one of my Urban Exploration, or Urbex, trips. The first is very much a still life.

Bramble Sculpture

The second is a more dramatic Urbex image.

Neglect

Next is a selection of my recent works.They're a mixture of abstract, digital and photographic work. Some of the photos are montage, others, photo manipulation. Most of the following will not have any comments about them.

Geometric Fail

Liminal Gate

Green Demon

I spent a long time trying to get the next image to look like I wanted it to. I had one or two conversations about it with my good friend Roger. It was almost right, when I realised that the gates should look red hot at the edges of the mesh. It was the  final touch, a bit like the icing on a cake.

The Guardian of Hell

Crystalline Tree

The next one is a tribute to the abstract painter, Hans Hofmann.

Tone Poem For Hans Hofmann

Remember 1969?

Modern Architecture 1

The closing few images are all bright, or cheerful images.

Colour World Lilies

Carnation

Snow on Fall Spring Woods

She Tripped on the Pavement

A freaky one to finish with.

Windmill Stripes

And that's it for the moment. I have already decided on the content of my next post in a few weeks time. It will be all, or perhaps almost entirely all, photographs I've taken this year.

Stay safe everyone.

Gordon.