BEAUTY ON OUR DOORSTEPS

PART 1

TREASURES FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM

Memories and Adventures

The United Kingdom is a wonderful treasure trove of diversity, particularly with regards to landscape. Although it may not have the highest mountains, or the largest lakes, the greatest forests, or mightiest rivers, it still has all of these and more, but on a smaller scale. And with this smaller scale comes incredible beauty.

Having spent almost 20 years living in the Highlands of Scotland, in the small village of Fort Augustus, located at the southerly most point of Loch Ness, in The Great Glen, we had an absolutely wonderful wealth of natural beauty on our doorstep. It was something we greatly valued and appreciated. Over the years we made many splendid photographic excursions into the local landscape, as well as further afield.

We captured a magnificent collection of images. Included in these were Loch Ness and The Great Glen throughout the seasons, the Nevis Range, Glen Roy, The Cairngorms, the amazing Isle of Skye, plus the beautiful and remote coastlines of the far Northwest and North of Scotland, including the Bay of Tongue and Whaligoe.

In 2019 we returned to England to live in the Ribble Valley, in Lancashire. Again we were surrounded by beautiful landscape, literally on our doorstep. Plus, just a short drive away we also had the fabulous Yorkshire Dales and the North Yorkshire National Park district.

Prior to moving to the Highlands in 2000, we had spent a considerable amount of time travelling through our beautiful British Isles, taking every opportunity to capture - first with film, then later digitally - all the magical moments that presented themselves to us, on our journeys.

Although very different from the landscape of The Highlands, Lancashire and Yorkshire offer their own extremely beautiful, natural landscapes. Obviously there are no high mountains like the Nevis Range, but there are many impressive Pecks, most notably the Three Pecks: Whernside, Ingleborough and Pen-y-Ghent, in Northwest Yorkshire. On a clear day, the highest of these Whernside, provides spectacular views across the north of England and down as far as north Wales.

One of our most favourite places for shooting landscape - in recent years - is the area close too the Ribblehead Batty Moss Viaduct, just over the boarder from Cumbria into North Yorkshire. We have been blessed on at least two occasions during the last couple of years to have visited this location during spells of spectacular weather, including magnificent cloud formations and sunsets. From both shoots we managed to get a superb series of images.

Slightly further north we have the wonderfully rich and diversified landscape of the Lake District, in Cumbria. Apart from the beautiful lakes and tarns, you also have the impressive mountains of The Lake District. The tallest of these being Scarfell Pike, Scarfell and the stunning Helvellyn. On clear days the views from these mountains are utterly breathtaking. A photographer’s dream.

We have also revisited the wonderful landscape available to us along the coastline of Northeast Yorkshire. The fishing town of Whitby being of particular interest and another one of our favourite places.

Whitby is an absolutely beautiful coastal town, with the famous Whitby Abbey ruins standing high above the town on the cliff tops, over- looking the tempestuous North Sea. It is also the setting used by author Bram Stocker when he wrote one of the most famous horror stories of all time, Dracula ! Robin Hood Bay another famous beauty spot is just a little further along the coast.

Central Yorkshire also has an abundance of wonderful landscape. Stately homes such as Castle Howard, only a short distance from York, and situated within the Howardian Hills, an area of outstanding natural beauty, provide splendid photographic opportunities.

Heading southwest through our beautiful Isles you come to Wales, with the awe inspiring landscapes of Snowdonia National Park and the Brecon Beacons. Wales is a photographic treasure trove. You have stunning views all along the impressive Pembrokeshire and Conwy coastlines. Equally important are the many wonderful castles and gardens which are situated within the beautiful Welsh landscape, Bodnant Garden near Colwyn Bay, Dinefwr in Carmarthenshire and Dyffryn Gardens in the Vale of Glamorgan to name but a few.

Further south appear the fabulous coastlines of Cornwall, Devon and Dorset, including the now famous, Jurassic coastline. The interior landscapes of these 3 stunning counties are filled with wild moors - Bodmin Moor in particular - splendid gardens, historical architecture, forests, rivers and wildlife, offering wonderful photographic opportunities for professionals and amateurs alike.

Equal in beauty and splendour are the coastlines of County Down and County Antrim in Northern Ireland. Whether it’s The Giant’s Causeway in the north, or The Mourners in the south, the diversity of the landscape and coast is fantastic. As with the rest of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland proudly boasts magnificent inland landscapes including Murlough National Nature Reserve and many beautiful gardens. Two of the most famous gardens being Rowallane and Mount Stewart, which is situated in exquisite landscape, overlooking the beautiful waters of Strangford Lough, in County Down.

As you’ll become aware - after viewing our work - skies and clouds (Skyscapes) play a major role in the composition of the images. For us they share equal importance with the landscapes they’re anchored to.

There is nothing quite as fabulous as a stunning sunset, or sunrise, or the gathering of magnificent thunder clouds just before a storm, and of course we never forget the beauty of a dazzling clear blue sky, without a cloud in sight. Sometimes we’ll visit a location many times in order to shoot the same scene in different light and weather conditions. Each visit always offers new surprises and challenges. Sometimes, the changing light is so fleeting, you may only get a few seconds to capture the perfect image.

Like the rest of the world Coronavirus has changed our lives forever. When we returned to England in 2019 we had planned to launch 2 books in early 2020. One of these is the magnificent ‘Magical Landscapes Secret Places’, full of fantastic images with a unique magical twist. Various marketing/advertising and PR events had been planned to coincide with the launches, to boost sales and help reach larger audiences. Unfortunately, Coronavirus made all of this impossible. We are trying to remain optimistic with regards to Christmas 2021 and the possibilities that we may be able to launch at least one of our books by then.

In the meantime as we’re self employed and for various reasons not entitled to any form of furloughing or benefits, we are still actively working and continuing to photograph beautiful landscape. We have decided to create and produce another eBook entitled ‘Beauty On Our Doorsteps’ which will be devoted to landscapes of the British Isles. Unlike ‘Magical Landscapes Secret Places’ these landscapes will be as photographed without any magical stories or elements attached to them. However, as with our previous books we will use poetry and prose to enhance the images, and a brief, location description will also accompany each of them.

A number of new ‘Projects’ will appear on our website over the coming weeks/months, all of these will have the same title ‘Beauty On Our Doorsteps’, and the same description copy, but each will be referred to as Part 1, or Part 2, 3 etc;

Enjoy

Christine and Alastair