Lockdown is slowly lifting, it’s still almost impossible to go abroad, staycations are the order of the day, so we went to Wales – deepest Pembrokeshire. It was empty. Where is everyone!?!?
St Martin’s
For once I didn’t bring the big camera…, but luckily still had my iPhone! Love it! The best camera is the one you have with you, they say, and quite right too!
Pembrokeshire coastal path
Long walks along the coastal path. Lots of shrieking from Isobel not to go over the edge (she was worried about the dog, not me…). But at least we did manage to tire Rufus out. He slept very very well….
There’s an awful lot of tosh spoken about Iceland in the photographic community (it’s too full of tourists, all cliché, nothing new to photograph etc etc etc). All of which is rubbish. Iceland is still one of the most dramatic places in the whole world for wonderful landscapes, and if you take your time to see the vistas on the side of the road, then it’s easy to come away with images that don’t contain a cliché view amongst them. Here are a few of mine from our Quest photography trip just before lockdown.
An awesome place, for awesome photographs. Can’t wait to get back there again!
Photographers can’t resist a ruin, especially one as decrepit as this on Harris. On a moody, rain-filled day, here is a place to escape the weather and get some images. Mind you, there were so many holes in the roof that the weather chased us inside…!
There is a strong sensation of ghosts in places like this. Not literally, but a feeling of lives lived here and now gone. Mouldering away, all quite eerie.
The goosebumps are certainly prickling when you spot that a sheep has wandered in, some time ago, not escaped, and left its skull as a decorative element in the kitchen…
Upstairs is empty and forlorn, silent apart from the curtain in the wind.
Whoever did live here just got up from their chair and departed. The last cup of tea left to go cold and stale on the sideboard. Ruined, in Harris.
(Ruined House found on Quest workshop trip to Harris, Lewis and Durness. 2019 brochure here)
Inspired by Roy Essery’s cracking website (here) I thought it about time to upload some of my images from our recent workshop to Harris. The Outer Hebrides being so far north, and so far into the Atlantic, it’s no surprise that this is a world of contrasting weather and contrasting colours. It’s a wonderful place for black and white, but I’ll leave that for another day…
These colours are barely tweaked at all in PS. Vivid green, purple, blues and oranges, all very typically Scottish…, and all very photogenic!
There’s no Scotland trip planned for 2019 (check out the brochure here), but Harris pulls strongly, so we’ll be back there the following year. Now, to have a look at the monochrome images…
Venice is a photographer’s delight. Everywhere you look are potential images. The trick is to empty the city of people, and that isn’t quite so easy…
Early morning works (only photographers get up before 6am…) or shoot across the water in the misty twilight.
I love slowing the exposures down so much that everything moving – boats, people etc – just disappears…
And then it’s good to find hidden corners, bridges and canals where occasional interlopers do appear, but seem quite arbitrary.
Visit Venice in the off season and it’s easy to appreciate its beauty, and not get too flustered by its crowds. And then, get up early morning to make the most of it…
For more info on Quest Photographic Tours, and the workshops I’m leading next year, please click on this .
It’s been years since we went to France on summer holiday. But the wait was worth it. Even in the canicule (41C at its peak) it was lovely. And in spite of the heat we made a trip to the Camargue so that I could photograph the horses. A fantastic evening, knee deep in the marsh, camera set up to 3200th of a second, and galloping horses, coming straight for me, very fast….
I guess photography is as much about the experience of taking the photo, as the photo itself. And this was an experience! Power and grace, and a lot of splashing. I couldn’t stop grinning…
This is gypsy land, and gypsy horses. It was fantastic to see the gardiens drive the horses through the water. Here’s gypsy Lucie, bareback, no helmet, galloping at 40mph. Definitely a sight to behold…
I think my favourite images are those that are slightly desaturated to reflect the ethereal experience (see first and last image). It was a great day in a great place. I can’t wait to return!
There is a moment when you know that you’ve fallen for a place. I’ve just been co-leading a workshop in Iceland, a land which is awesome in every sense of the word. But the place that encapsulates that wonder is the beach at Jökusárlón, where the bergs get washed up on the black sand and create amazing temporary sculptures. Stunning.
Iceland is not just black beaches and icebergs. It’s glaciers, fish, volcanoes, waterfalls, geysers, sulphur, mud, horses and expensive hotels. Empty roads too. Route 1, the equivalent of the Icelandic M25, is empty once past Reykyavik and the glory spots of the south coast. I drove for hours only passing a few cars the whole time… 2500 kms, empty most of the way.
I can’t wait to go again. Next year, perhaps in late March when it’s a bit colder, more icy, more dramatic, more raw. If you want to come, let me know. We will be in 2 4x4s, space for 6 passengers on the photographic trip of a lifetime…
When I was a student I was good at doing this. Large quantities of beer were the norm, and recovery time was minimal. Nowadays a great evening out takes about 2 weeks to recover…
I guess the best way not to suffer is to stick to one particular drink, and in Dublin that can only mean one thing, and try to drink slowly over a long period of time. Perhaps I didn’t quite achieve that (drinking slowly…) but at least I stuck to the black stuff, and mighty delicious it was too…
The other way to forget that you can’t quite be a student anymore, is to surround yourself with your student pals and just relive the old days. And that’s what we did, to great effect. Enjoying the craic! Inside I still feel like I’m in my younger 20s anyway…
And at no stage did I give up the ghost, put my head in my hands and drown all my sorrows. This pic isn’t me!
Northumberland is a fantastic windswept rugged landscape. Big beaches, huge sky, imposing castles. A great area for photography, which is why I’m running a workshop there next year. I’ve just been on a quick recce to check out the locations. Here are a few resulting images.
Bamburgh Castle, a classic dawn and dusk location. Great for big land, and seascapes, beach reflections and rocky lead-in lines…
Alnwick Castle, home to much Harry Potter castle filming…
Holy Island and its famous boat sheds. Normally this is a great shot with Lindisfarne in the background, but scaffolding on the castle put paid to that this time (scaffolding that will be removed before the workshop thank heavens!)
Pilgrim’s Way across the mud flats of the estuary to Holy Island. I kept my feet dry and resisted splashing around in the mud…
Abstracts and long exposure in Berwick upon Tweed…
A day away from the seaside checking out Roughting Linn waterfall
No trip to Northumberland should be without a visit to Hadrian’s Wall. The Roman soldiers must have shivered and longed for return to the continent when they were posted here…
And finally, the famous Sycamore Gap on Hadrian’s Wall. Much photographed, but stunning nevertheless. Great location!
If you are interested in a trip to Northumberland, the workshop is 6th – 10th September 2018. Contact me at thomaspeck1@mac.com for more details or to request a brochure. Stunning landscapes guaranteed.
Thomas Peck Photos 