Photography
Hyde Park Winter Wonderland
Canary Wharf
Views from the dimmed cabin of an A320 on Final Approach to London’s Heathrow airport. Hyde Park Winter Wonderland shines brightest and is the undoubted star of this show, but even this looks like a pretty jumble or jungle. These night-time images remind me of the images we see of astronomical objects, the Crab Nebula etc. The sensor registers only the lights, the concrete structures are invisible and indistinguishable from water or roads. So as it’s hard to work out a view where we know what is there, how much more difficult is it to work out something totally unknown, like an astronomical object.
One lovely thing about the Lake District is that it has so many of the features of the big world outside Cumbria but on a scale that makes them accessible. The River Greta is powerful and causes damage for sure, but it’s a miniature compared to the Snake River (US) or the Kawarau (NZ). Nonetheless, the Greta has impressive rapids as it passes through its gorge upstream of Keswick. Waterfalls get the artists’ attention but it’s river rapids where you feel the power of moving water.
More photos: Rapids of the River Greta - Lake District National Park
Could be Corsica... Dreaming of a southern coast... the Mediterranean, Corsica or Provence, maybe even the Indian Ocean. Always good to dream. More about the location after the pictures.
More photos: Could be Corsica... My Mediterranean photo fantasy
This is London - towers of boxes. I surmise that this architecture nurtures thinking likewise, in boxes and towers.
View through the dirty window of a moving train approaching Battersea Park station, London.
I rather like the distortion due to the motion and softening due to the dirty window.
Lambley Viaduct, South Tynedale Railway
River South Tyne
Diverting off the direct route from Newcastle to Carlisle as the Tyneside rain and mist on gave way to glorious autumn sunshine up in the North Pennines. Also, the car hire company had supplied me a go-faster Corsa which I wanted to enjoy.
The River South Tyne rises in Cumbria even though it flows out to the North Sea. Its upper valley is now rural though dotted with industrial relics from the mining era including Lambley Viaduct of the South Tynedale Railway.
Great light for about half an hour but it didn’t last long, the show was over by the time I reached Hartside; Blencathra, Skiddaw and the Lakeland Fells were all hidden in low cloud.
