Saturday Goths and a Missed Aurora

These photos are again from my camera rather than the phone - hopefully you can tell - and I’m aiming to use these as components to make other photos. Taking the first one as an example, you will see I have removed this gentleman’s background - he was actually sitting outside a bar having a gin & tonic with his wife, with a window behind him where the back of someone could be clearly seen. I’m hoping to place him in a entirely different location, creating a composite photo which is perhaps better described as photographic art. These types of photos can do well in local and national photographic competitions so I thought I’d give this style of photography a go and see how I get on. Time will tell.

Having spent a few hours taking photos and enjoying my time in Whitby, Elizabeth picked me up late afternoon then later that night, with the skies remaining crystal clear, I spent the early hours of Sunday morning under the stars with my camera photographing the constellation of Orion, my favourite of the winter skies. When I say ‘crystal clear’ by the way, I really do mean it. The sky teemed with glistening stars on a deep black sky with the Milky Way shining brightly right across the heavens. I got to bed around 3.30am, though thankfully it was an hour earlier than that because the clocks were turned back to GMT. I won’t be processing the photos I took until I get home.

(One very annoying thing happened tonight. You see, the Northern Lights were visible from Scotland and Northern England - I’d seen the forecast saying they would be so while I was out I kept an eye on the northern horizon just in case, but I saw nothing. However, only 20 minutes by car from where I was standing, just south of Whitby, it had been possible to see the Aurora. So why didn’t I see it? It was because the green glow was visible only very low on the horizon and to my north there were trees blocking my view. I was so disappointed when I saw a photo on Instagram the next morning, taken by someone so close to where I was standing. I’d love to see the Northern Lights from the UK but I’ll just have to be patient and hope there will be another opportunity.)

Tomorrow Elizabeth and I will be off walking in the Yorkshire countryside, so hopefully the weather will be better than the current prediction. Do you fancy placing a bet on our chances for a walk?Read more