Between the canopy
Peering upwards through a break between the trees’ canopy, these Horse Chestnut leaves are highlighted against the brilliant white of a passing cloud, resembling an outstretched hand with green, swollen fingers gently waving back at you!
*Shot on an Olympus E-P1 12mp M4/3 digital camera using an Olympus 40-150mm f/4-5.6 ED R lens with camera settings at ISO-320, aperture at f/10, spot metering mode and an exposure time of 1/320 seconds*
Flying high
This multi-coloured kite and its serpentine tail dipped, danced and dived in line with any variation in the wind’s buffeting power, as the kite flyer on the other end of a thin length of nylon string battles to retain control.
*Shot on a Canon 70d 20.2mp dSLR using a Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 IS L lens with settings at ISO-100, aperture at f/5.6, spot metering mode and an exposure time of 1/1000 seconds*
Yellow petals
Raindrops cling to the delicate yellow petals of this Welsh Poppy, bending its stalk even further with additional weight to its light shade-shaped flower head.
*Shot on a Canon 6d 20.2mp full-frame dSLR using a Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX Macro lens with settings at ISO-400, aperture at f/10, spot metering mode and an exposure time of 1/60 seconds*
Curlew in-flight
This Curlew flies high over the moors above Abbeystead in the Forest of Bowland, UK, sounding its shrill alarm call for all to heed.
*Shot on a Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 20.1mp digital Bridge camera with camera settings at ISO-100, aperture at f/5.6, spot metering mode and an exposure time of 1/640 seconds*
Fun day at the seaside
Kiteboarders take to the sea across Morecambe Bay in Morecambe, UK, their multi-coloured, wind-stretched kites dragging the daring surfers at speed across the wave’s breaking crests.
*Shot on a Canon 70d 20.2mp dSLR using a Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 IS L lens with settings at ISO-100, aperture at f/4.5, spot metering mode and an exposure time of 1/1250 seconds*
Black Beauty
This all-black Horse – albeit with a white forehead spot, just like the famous horse from English author Anna Sewell’s novel of 1877, Black Beauty and its many TV and movie adaptations- stares at the fool with a camera (that’s me) as she leisurely chews on a mouthful of grass, completely uninterested in having her portrait taken due to looking like a fictitious but famous Equine…
*Shot on a Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 20.1mp digital Bridge camera with camera settings at ISO-200, aperture at f/5, spot metering mode and an exposure time of 1/125 seconds*
Pareidolia: branch or Snake?
As I was on a walk through some forgotten woods at Abbeystead in the Forest of Bowland just last week, I suddenly noticed from the corner of my eye this huge, open mouthed Snake rising from the grass in a break from the canopy…. then I remembered we in the UK only have two genuine, indigenous species of snake slithering around the country – the Grass Snake and the Adder – and they don’t grow to anything more than around three-to-four feet in length.
So a closer look allowed me to see that this ‘reptile’ was nothing more than a fallen, bark-less branch sitting at an odd angle with a weird shaped end…
… or was this thing really just a branch?!
*Shot on an Olympus E-M1 Mk1 16mp m4/3 pro mirrorless camera using a Panasonic 100-300mm f/4-5.6 MEGA O.I.S lens with camera settings at ISO-400, aperture at f/4, spot metering mode and an exposure time of 1/160 seconds*
Aquilegia Columbine Granny’s Bonnet
The beautifully complex, purple-headed petals of this Aquilegia, the Columbine ‘Granny’s Bonnet’, shows one flower closed with its ‘hooks’ clustered together and the other spread open, flashing its yellow stamen.
The three names of this plant reveal interesting descriptions for the same flower: the ‘Granny’s Bonnet‘ is because of the shape of the open petals of the flower, akin to a Grandmother’s hat; ‘Aquilegia‘ stems from the Latin for ‘Eagle’ due to the hooked ‘talons’ at the rear of the flower head; and ‘Columbine’ again comes from the Latin for ‘Dove‘ as when the the flower is looked at from the side, the five petals resemble Doves’ perching.
*Shot on an Olympus E-PL7 16mp m4/3 digital camera using a legacy Asashi Super-Takumar 55mm f/1.8 lens (Pentax K mount) with camera settings at ISO-200, aperture at f/5.6, spot metering mode and an exposure time of 1/500 seconds*
God’s house
The United Benefice of Dolphinholme, Quernmore and Christ Church, standing just outside Abbeystead in the stunning surroundings of the Forest of Bowland, Lancashire. The church is designated as a Grade ll listed building by the National Heritage List for England.
*Shot on a Canon 6d 20.2mp dSLR using a Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 IS L lens with settings at ISO-100, aperture at f/6.3, spot metering mode and an exposure time of 1/640 seconds*
Brilliance
No more words are needed…
*Shot on a Panasonic Lumix G9 M4/3 mirrorless camera using a Panasonic Leica 100-400mm f/4-6.3 DG Vario-Elmar Lens with settings at ISO-100, aperture at f/5.6, spot metering mode and an exposure time of 1/320 seconds*
Stretch the Horizon 