Tag Archives: woods

The New Forest Will Need to be a Regular Feature

Leave a Reply

A sunny Saturday afternoon and we had some time with my mum and headed down to the New Forest for a stroll. I had thought that it would be very busy down there given that it was a lovely weekend, but I was pleasantly surprised just how quiet it was once we got there. It wasn’t a long walk – just a nice wander through the woods and over some of the open grounds. It was a super place to be, and you can see why old monarchs will have liked to keep it for hunting grounds although I understand it was not good agricultural land and was better for common grazing.

Here are a few shots from our stroll across the countryside. It is about half an hour from our home and so I think we shall be making more trips down there in the coming months. The selection of good pubs for lunch is certainly not going to hurt that idea!

Mt Tam in the Clouds

Leave a Reply

wpid12411-AU0E3541-Edit.jpgMy friend John from Chicago was out in San Francisco for the weekend and we arranged to get together for a walk up in the hills of Marin County. We headed to Mt Tamalpais to walk the trails there. The weather was not ideal with rain and low cloud when we set off but, as we got closer, the rain eased up, even if the cloud didn’t. Even so, it meant we were going to be okay to walk. What I hadn’t counted on was that I was going to warm up a lot as we walked and the uphill element of the second half of the walk was going to mean I was a touch overdressed! I was dry though.

wpid12405-AU0E3518-Edit.jpgI left the main camera in the car rather than lug it all around. However, I did have my phone and it was good for some shots. Also, I have been playing around with Photo Sphere from Google recently. I got a sphere while down in the woods. You can see it here. https://plus.google.com/u/0/104745382077938728957/photos/photo/6089868108315918482?pid=6089868108315918482&oid=104745382077938728957

wpid12403-IMG_2375.jpgWhen we got back to the car, we drove along the ridge above the valley where Muir Woods is located. The clouds were beginning to break up a little and the combination of the light and the clouds still on the hills looked great. I struggle to take what I see in those situations and turn it into a photograph but hopefully this gives you some idea of what was there. The dynamic range is one thing to deal with in processing but the feel is something harder to translate.