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How often do you stand still and take a good look around you? Maybe not on your way to the office, probably never on your way to the supermarket, definitely not whilst driving your car! But just sometimes you are stopped dead in your tracks, time grabs you by the arm and holds you still, just long enough for you to really open your eyes and absorb what lies in front of you. For some it could mean the second you recognise someone you haven’t seen in years, or the moment you see your newborn baby for the first time, or the terrible scene after traffic accident. But for me that moment came when I first visited the Lakes and drove high into the fells, stepping out of the car and across the meadows, beckoned to the scene like a bee drawn to the flower, moving forward towards it yet feeling like my feet were not in touch with the ground….until you are rooted to the spot, in awe at the scenery that inspires you yet intimidates you at the same time. That is when time stops for me, my eyes drink in the beauty and the mundane disappears, my achievements and struggles insignificant, my life fleeting, I am humbled in the presence of greatness….

The tree of a hundred years stands small against the greatness of the everlasting fells and I am insignificant compared to both…….

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I don’t think for one minute I will be able to afford a holiday this year, maybe a short break at some point but a short break never satisfies my appetite for the Lake District. I have visited the Lakes for several years now and although I can say I know my way round, there are so many places I would like to visit, and places Id like to re-visit. It is an ever-changing place, no two visits are ever the same and there in lies the attraction, especially to a photographer like me because no matter how many times you photograph a place or an area in the Lakes it never looks the same! Even in a visit lasting an hour you can capture so many variations in light that it amazes you! So today I am bringing back some memories, I have revisited some photos from my last visit, in the hope that I can feel like I am back there once more, until the next time…..

View across Windermere at early sunset

Another view across Windermere towards The Langdale Pikes, taken a matter of 20 mins after the image View Across Windermere

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”Not Sure I Fancy a Safari!”

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I had driven past this woodland several times recently and on each occassion had desperately wanted to stop and admire them at close hand, so on Saturday I headed out with one purpose, to photograph the bluebells among the trees. After a couple of drive by’s looking for somewhere to park the car safely I found what looked like an entrance, only upon pulling in I realised that the way was blocked by a heavy gate! What was even worse was that there was a huge Forestry Commission sign stating that the ancient woodland was private and trespassers would be fined upto a thousand pounds if caught in the woods! Now I can appreciate that whoever owns the woodland would want to protect it and keep it unspoilt, as it has stood for over 400 years but what a shame that no one can enjoy the absolute beauty and splendor of the sight of thousands of bluebells dancing in the slithers of sunlight that manage to filter down through the canopy of oaks and ash, tiny dancers costumed in hues of lilacs and blue, a chorus line of magical fairy bells, here for a short performance before retreating backstage and allowing the trees to become the leading role once more…….let me add that the photo was taken from behind the low mesh fence having scrambled down the ditch and avoided several bramble bushes! For one I absolutely did not want a thousand pounds fine and I have total respect for all things nature!

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I had the sheer pleasure in being in exactly the right place at the right time for once! How many times have I left home without my camera only to then miss something spectacular! I guess it happens to everyone at some point but this weekend I was fortunate indeed to be out and about just as a Spitfire and a Hurricane flew over during some Dambuster Weekend celebrations over Leicestershire. The photo cannot convey the sound as they approached, infact for some seconds I scoured the horizon unable to locate what or where the sound was coming from, but then they appeared, wing  to wing barely meters above the ground! Camera now shaking somewhat with excitement I managed to focus and shoot as they buzzed overhead and into the distance only to turn and head straight back towards me! I couldnt believe my luck and continued shooting, the two of them so close they could have reached out and touched each other! For several minutes they circled upwards and split, only to rejoin each other at close quarters and perform their moves with such grace and technical ability that it left you in no doubt that they knew what they were doing and could get the very best from their machines! As they departed into the distance I felt emotion and pride, not only for the pilots at the controls, or the ground staff who so lovingly keep these historic machines airbourne, but for the pilots who flew them in the war, not flying for pleasure or for thrills, but flying for their country, their compatriots and their lives…………and the many who took off never to return…….

Images are of the Spitfire and Hurricane i think which are based at RAF Conningsby in Lincolnshire…….check them out on facebook for more info.

A Spitfire and a Hurricane from RAF Conningsby, Lincolnshire

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There is a street in my local town that is lined from end to end with the most beautiful cherry tree’s. I didnt have long to shoot but here are just a couple of images…..

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I just love this atmospheric derelict old building alongside the canal with it’s shattered fascade, the lifting platform where goods were once hoisted from the barges below as the smoke rose from the engines through the open windows to be breathed in by the workers with blackened faces. Workers who sweated and toiled from dawn until dusk and beyond. Stand for a moment and you may imagine the scene, smell the industry and remember the workers, the people who made this country great, a bygone era of industry and development sadly lost, the people gone, the skills gone too along with the pride in being a working man…… as the buildings melt towards the earth from where they once rose.