The Royal Duchy followed by Oliver Cromwell

There’s just something about the feel of a massive piece of genius engineering like this coming thundering down a track towards you that is indescribable, and that feeling is heightened all the more when a second engine, The Oliver Cromwell, follows on..
The unfortunate thing is there’s not an awful lot of time to set up and make the shot before its passed and steaming away from you.

The Royal Duchy thundering towards me

and there she was gone

Steaming Past on her way to Penzance

Penzance Bound

sheltering from the wind

slanted seabirds or windswept med gull

Myghal Newlyn

Around the end and up the pier where I encountered a lone Pipit staring out to sea.. probably thinking the same as me.. I’m staying put till the wind drops a bit

Rock Pipit on the Harbour wall

its always funny how when something catches your eye you suddenly awaken to lots of other things in similar settings.. the skyward reaching beams of the trawlers as I looked from the end of the pier looked like a massive statement of victory all lined up.. ominous perhaps?

Looking across the bay the waves and wind werestill battering the walls along the seafront in penzance

and the light was dropping with the setting sun so I headed back to the van.. as I walked round the bottom I heard.. over here.. over here point the camera over here.. probably for the first time in my life I was on the receiving end of some scaffolders banter.. well it seemed rude not to so I pointed the camera..

and finally around by the fish market and a final shot in the soft fading light of our old friend the great northern diver who was happily fishing in the shallows

The Great Northern Diver

Thats it for now folks.. your comments as always are welcomed.. but keep it nice

I went down and checked him out and apart from being exhausted he looked okay so I decided it was probably best to just at least inform the rescue team and see what they said.. I radio’d Leanne to give them a call and I stayed down the beach with the pup.

Sleepy Seal pup

Well the rescue team decided to send someone out just to check the seal out and as we waited for them to arrive, he decided it was time to go and promptly woke up.. had a little grumble at me and set off on his colossal journey to the sea.

wake up time for the seal pup

checking out where the sea is

A quick stretch and then on his way

 and that was it he was up and off… I walked a little way in front of him all the way down the beach to the sea just to make sure there were no dogs to worry him.

Heading Seaward

almost there

and finally water and the pup was home safe and heading out to sea

Just as the pup hit the water the rescue guy turned up and walked down the beach to where I was.. we had a little chat he checked over the pics on the camera and was happy that the pup was okay and would probably head back to its family up towards Gwithian.

a last pause before heading out..

and that was it, excitement over for the day and time to head back for us.. if it carries on then I’m gonna have to get me and Leanne trained up to recognise the seals and know if they’re in distress or not.. as it seems to be becoming a pastime rescuing seal pups…

Take care everyone

Mel

Seemed very quiet tonight and the tide was low with most of the fleet out it left the quay empty:

Newlyn Empty Quay

Must have been pretty uncomfortable squatting like that for some time judging by the amount she’d already sketched.. especially when the harbour supplies us with so many natural stools..

Crew of Lyonesse

Crew of Lyonesse

I wandered down the far side by the harbour wall and watched the usual pied wagtails flitting backwards and forwards while the Blackbacks just watched on Nonchalently from their High perch above the workshops..
The light was falling fast as the sun slowly descended behind chywoone hill, casting some nice lazy long shadows and sparkling off the water light millions of tiny flashlights .

 The Soft light warmed the stark lighthouse standing on the end of the quay and the pastel shades were already lighting up in the clouds..

And the last of the evening sun was fast dissapearing behind Chywoone

Well that was the wrap for me and one final shot of Ruth high upon her plynth before going behind the lifeboat offices to my van and packing my gear away with a nice cup of Tea made by my lovely wife for me.

Ruth up in the air

A nice slow drive back through Mousehole and up the hill home to mark the first day of the end of british summer time for 2009… Hope you enjoyed the post and pics

Sudden thoughts of steam splashed into my head and at good speed we drove to the charity car park at the far end of the marsh and I set off through the marsh camera’s in hand to find out just what was going on froma secret location in the middle of the marsh I had a great view of the railway..

Glorious sunshine was beating down causing a haze over the lines as I clambered the fence and set up my tripod alongside the tracks (in a safe place obviously) and then the wait began.. not really a problem as it was sheltered from the onshore wind and surrounded by long tailed and blue tits chiffchaffs and great tits flitting backwards and forwards and being all the while entertained by the sweet songs of the Cettis and sedge warblers.

I was eventually joined by a couple of others and found out to my great delight that not one but 2 of our historic steam engines would be pulling out of Penzance station any minute to start the Great Britain II tour, an incredible steam hauled journey from Penzance to Kyle of Lochalsh taking 8 days.

The Tour would start with a double header by 70013 Oliver Cromwell and 5029 Nunney Castle engines.

70013 Oliver Cromwell at York following restoration, June 2008

70013 Oliver Cromwell, is a British Railways standard class 7 (also known as the Britannia class) preserved steam locomotive. The locomotive is notable as one of four steam locomotives to work the last steam railtour on British Rail (BR) in 1968 before the introduction of a steam ban.

Tangmere leading the procession with Oliver Cromwell

The Nunney Castle appears to have been switched for the 34067 Tangmere due to firebox problems as far as I heard. so we see here the Tangmere fronting the train followed by the Oliver Cromwell.

First out of the Station was the D1015 Western Champion (The Mule) a 1963 Diesel Traction Engine started life on the 21st january 1963 fresh out of the Swindon works, and finished its life before restoration to its current glory on the 13th December 1976 after a derailment caused damage to an air tank front valance and bogey at Castle carey down yard. Here she is restored to glory heading for Plymouth today…

The Western Champion (The Mule)

There she goes

A short while after the standard service train sped by as we awaiting the whistle stop call as the Great Britain II tour left the station.. I could feel the adreniline rush I’d felt so many times before as the first clouds of white steam belched over the trees.. by the time it came into view my hand was shaking on the shutter.. making sure I got the right shot I quickly switched on the 7 shot bracket and continued to fire 7 shot bursts as they thundered up the track…

13+ years since I last stood by the railway and felt the ground shudder as the wind almost blew you over and I’d forgotten the thrill the excitement and the nostalgia and romance that came with a fleeting glimpse of one of these great masterpieces of engineering that I’d once loved so much..
The wind made my eys water a little and I tipped my hat to a great man and an absolute engineering bloody genius who’d explained so much to me at many steam fairs and told me so many wonderful stories in my childhood, Youth and early adulthood.. the Late Great Fred Dibnah … how he would have loved this afternoon…..

Enjoy the shots…

And of course no Steam railway experience would be complete without the classic Black and white shot….

Many thanks for those Bob

Onto the Harbour at Newlyn as the weather closed in a bit, there’s something about all those towering beams and masts when the fleet are in that just feels so homely..

Newlyn across the harbour

The pride & Dignity

Newlyn Skyscrapers

The amazing Ripple

 and finally the baskets that bring home the bread (or shellfish in this case) showing the romance of this working harbour..

The Bread of Newlyn

Hope you enjoyed… there will be more .. one day

St Erth Church offered me the first opportunity, basically it was a perfect subject in Bright sunshine (a rarity these days reflecting off the harsh granite surrounded by the stark trees Leafless in the early spring. I loved the softness of the sky in this image and the way the vapour trails from some airbus scarred their way across it.. there was so much texture to play with in this image and here’s the result for your own conclusions.

Next it was back home that I spotted a good opportunity, the wind was howling and there was a lone Kitesurfer on the beach.. again the sun was bleaching the skies and sand and there was something naturally Ansell about this image so again I loaded the filters, switched to B&W and took my chances..

Its Kind of impossible to be on the beach there and not take a shot of probably the most photographed spot in the area, St Michaels Mount.. so naturally being rigged for Monochrome shooting I took the opportunity..

Whilst reviewing the shot a couple walked up the beach and I spotted this opportunity and it (for me) brought the image to life.. these are the opportunities many of us miss in todays Big Brother Style environment where every photographer is looked at suspiciously…

 Turning round I spotted the bridge and thought I’d try a close up shot in Monochrome

Well that almost draws this post to a close, though I’ve no doubts at all I’ll be back to this as there’s so much more to learn and explore in the world of Monochrome, but the mood needs to be right .. here’s my final shot from this sequence, Hells mouth farm, or more to the point the wonderful Scots Pine(I think) Jinned by nature giving perfect contrast to the landscape.. Hope you enjoyed my little experiment.. I certainly did.

Cheers – Mel

Hopefully should get a bit more time now to update the blogs as well as the site

Mel

I’d been reading some things on White Balance and realised that these twinkling Lights that we’ve often tried to photograph and never really got the true feeling into the shots, were actually Tungsten – Incandescant, and as such maybe the same white balance setting as for Tungsten Lamps in the studio might just enhance them.. well worth a try at Least.

I called in at Newlyn Tonight and took a walk around the harbour, if you haven’t done that at Dusk as the harbour starts to sleep from the days Bustle, then I can heartily recommend it.. to be honest by the time I got back to the van I cared little as to whether the shots were good or not. there’s a beautiful tranquil feeling dwells in the harbour at night and I suppose in many ways its like the mothers arms caring holding protecting and keeping safe all those who rest in there.

So all in all I was pleased to see on my return home and offloading the Raw images that Yes they were much more sparkly, more alive and the reflections too jumped out of the water at you, the only problem was… Next time I’ll use a tripod lol.. 20th/sec at 800 ISO.. not easyto avoid camera shake.. still there’s a couple of the better ones here for you.. make your own judgement…

Harbour Lights 2

Mel