Friday 17 August 2018

Difficult

I managed to drag myself to the Lake District yesterday. There was a sheep dog trial on along with a hound show.I guess I'm just a miserable old git but as this event attracted  holiday makers I didn't enjoy it as much as I might have done.


The trial fields (there were two being run at the same time) were fenced off which was restrictive from a photography point of view. Then there was the crowds who had less of a clue as to what was going on than I have. It was the sort of event I could imagine Marin Parr revelling in with its mix of tweedy types with their back of the Range Rover picnics and Berghaus clad townie. So I had a bit of a go at 'doing a Parr'.



Once more I was trying to love my 70-200, and this time it was making more sense. Perhaps I'm starting to see in those focal lengths. Still wish it would focus closer though.

The sheep dog trials didn't hold my attention for some reason. Probably being fenced off was to blame, but there's also the issue of there not being all that much to them. Certainly not much I haven't already photographed. The only different stuff showed the setting of the trial, and the audience.



The weather was typical of Cumbria, rain and sun, but mostly rain! After three hours I'd got bored and thought I'd carry on north to look at the remains of an auction mart pictured in Hill Shepherd which Google showed was gradually decaying. On my way there I had to pass Castlerigg stone circle, so I called in to see what it was like these days. It being thirty years or so since my only visit to it. The stones were still there. I have only a dim memory of my first visit but things I guess it had been winter last time as there certainly was no ice cream van in evidence.

I took some photos to show that the stones are not in the least remote. It was a shame there were no sheep in the field, only tourists. While I wanted people in my pictures I still managed one or two without figures in the frame because rain set in and they all headed back to their cars!



I even gave one a black and white conversion and the black border treatment!

Time was pressing and hunger beginning to set in so off to the old mart. Cloud cover had rolled in by the time I got there so the light level was low and the sky uniformly white. I think it would be better to photograph the mart in winter with the leaves gone from the trees and the weeds died back to give a clearer view of the buildings. It's not something I'm likley to do though. I'll settle for my high ISO record shots.

 




Leaving there I took a circuitous route home, stopping to make some rubbish pictures of a sheepfold (including what might be a sheepwash) in glorious sunlight.




No comments: