Command attention. Capture perfection.
Landscape and seascape photographs taken within the British Isles. Often centered around the home town of the author; Ironbridge in Shropshire, England.
As the barometer headed for the top of the scale in early February, the rising air pressure led to a stunning red sunset and I managed to grab this shot with my iPhone through the branches of our silver birch tree. There’s a photography ‘rule’ that says that you should never allow the frame to be cut in half, but I think that it works well here and so prefer the adage that “rules are made to be broken”.
The Shropshire Canal at Coalport was created in 1793 to allow tub boats of coal from the Shropshire coalfields to be transferred onto river boats (called ‘sprys’) in order that it could be sailed down to Bristol and then on to the worldwide market. Workers were needed to operate this riverside trans-shipment port and so dwellings were built to house them – and thus the village of Coalport (coal-port) was created.
At about the same time, entrepreneur John Rose founded a china works immediately adjacent to the canal utilising the transportation link for both raw materials and finished goods. The village is now synonymous with Coalport China although it was the coal that paved the way to its creation.
Another shot of the Shropshire Canal at Coalport in the Ironbridge Gorge, but this time looking towards the Hay Incline Plane. This amazing piece of Victorian engineering was built in 1793 to transfer flat-bottomed ‘tub’ boats full of coal from a canal at the top of the valley down to this canal at the bottom. A tub boat would be slid onto a wheeled cradle to keep it level and then the weight would take it down the rails, pulling an empty tub boat back up at the same time. A steam-driven ‘brake’ at the top controlled the speed.
A morning walk just a few minutes from my house, and the same route as I’d taken with the dogs just a few hours previously – only it was dark then! This is the frozen Shropshire Canal with the bottle-kilns of the Coalport China Works in the distance. The kilns went cold in 1926 when china manufacturing ceased and transferred to Staffordshire.
It was just below freezing and the frost gave a Wintery feel to the scene – and to my fingers. It is a shot taken with my iPhone 14 Pro Max which once again shows how the gap between phone camera and DSLR camera is getting smaller.
Once a year the Ironbridge Gorge Museums throw open their doors and give free entry to anyone with a local postcode – and this year is no exception with an open weekend on 19th & 20th November. As I only live about a mile from the Victorian Town I make a point of visiting, camera in hand, to get some atmospheric shots. Tickets are issued on a first-come, first-served basis and so I made a point of applying early to get mine.
Last year I concentrated on taking background shots to use in studio composite images but this year I’ll be taking my medium format set-up to capture architectural landscapes.
Pembrokeshire in South-West Wales is one of our favourite places, but with Covid restrictions limiting travel over the past two years it’s been too long since we’ve paid it a visit. But recently we managed to put that right and even though it was a fleeting visit due to other commitments we did manage to spend a few hours on Newport Beach (not far from Fishguard) with the dogs.
Last Friday saw myself & Mrs H take a trip out! Yes we finally decided it was appropriate to visit the Welsh capital, Cardiff. It was nothing to do with photography and everything to do with a particular jewellers shop that Mrs H wanted to go to but it was our first visit and so we made a day of it – particularly since it was a 5-hour round trip.
Before we went I used Google Maps to locate a few possible open-air car parks (I do dislike the multi-storey variety) assuming that we would end up parking well away from the city centre. However on arrival at Sophia Gardens car park I was surprised to find it virtually empty and it was only a brief walk to the city centre. The other benefit was that it was right next to Cardiff Castle and so on the way back to the car (after numerous hours looking at shops) we diverted into the castle gardens and I managed to take a few shots with my iPhone.
Ironbridge Images 