Being a keen landscape photographer, the various photography books, magazines and social media platforms I follow bombard me with impressive pictures of faraway locations. From mountainous regions, tropical beaches, vast hilly landscapes and endless forests, this beautiful planet of ours has some amazing places and in every corner of the globe there is certain to be a talented photographer snapping away.

Even here in England we are spoilt for choice in terms of locations to take scenic shots, the Lake District, Peak District, Jurassic Coast and Dartmoor National Park to name a few. With all of these beautiful locations, my home county of Northamptonshire often gets over looked as a place to capture great photographs. However, since my journey into the world of landscape photography began in 2008, I have spent endless hours exploring this little gem in the heart of our green and pleasant land. 

Famous for its shoe-making and leather industry, Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the East Midlands. With its central location and the M1 motorway running through the county, getting to Northamptonshire is relatively straight forward wherever you are travelling from.

Despite the swelling towns dotted around the county, much of Northamptonshire remains very rural. Our technology-led hectic lives seem an age away when roaming Shoe town's rolling countryside full of quaint villages, lush fields, hill top woods, brooks and streams. The never ending collection of footpaths and bridleways allows you to explore every nook and cranny of this fabulous landscape. Here is my guide to capturing the best of the Northamptonshire countryside.

​You can find a number of parks just a short walk from the hustle and bustle of the town centre. The tree lined paths of Abington Park are a great place to capture autumnal shots.

Northamptonshire's woodlands are great places to explore. With its tree top walk, Salcey Forest is very popular although my favourite woodland is the quieter Harlestone Firs, a great place to visit after snowfall.

​You'll find lots of bodies of water in Northamptonshire, many of which are open to the public. Ravensthorpe Reservoir (probably my favourite place in the county) is a beautiful spot for a walk. Head down there at dawn in spring or autumn and you'll have a good chance of capturing some beautiful misty sunrise shots.

​One of the county's highest points, Honey Hill (702ft) is well worth a visit for spectacular views of the surrounding countryside. The lonely tree on the west side of the hill makes for a beautiful photograph.

​Much of the Northamptonshire landscape consists of gentle rolling hills which can look spectacular on a misty morning.

Head to Coton Manor in the spring and walk through their stunning bluebell wood.

Agriculture is a big part of the Northamptonshire way of life. In late summer, the harvest scenes make lovely rural photographs.

​The county's well maintained canal networks make for pleasurable walks and you really feel like you have been transported back to a simpler time as the canal boats lazily pass you by. 

​Northamptonshire is still referred to as the county of "spires and squires" because of the number of stately homes and ancient churches. My favourite country house is Castle Ashby House, the mile-long driveway is a very impressive sight and while the house itself isn't open to the public, the gardens are lovely to walk around and look stunning throughout the year. 

A ​hidden gem; located near to the church at Great Brington is a lovely tree-lined avenue leading down to Althorp estate. This is a fantastic spot that will produce a great photograph whatever the season. 

​So, when planning your next photography adventure, why not consider Northamptonshire? If you're looking to visit somewhere that highlights best the simplistic charm of rural England without the influx of tourist activity, it's the perfect choice. Despite the many hours I've spent driving around photographing the county's countryside, I've barely scratched the surface and I am looking forward to what else I'll discover when exploring this beautiful part of the world.

Thanks for reading :)

​James

​Here is a wintry scene I captured earlier on today :)

The Avenue - Castle Ashby, Northamptonshire 21/01/18

It's the start of a new year and I'm excited for what 2018 has in store; I'm sure there will be many amazing moments that I'll capture on camera and I'm looking forward to sharing it all with you. 

2018 marks 10 years since I first took up photography, and the skills I have picked up from those 10 years of experience have enabled me to get to a level where I can call myself a fairly competent photographer. Throughout 2018 I will be sharing with you some of the tips and tricks I have picked up along the way and I hope you will find these blogs both interesting and useful. With these posts, I am not trying to preach to you and tell you that this is the way it should be done; the wonderful thing about photography is that really there are no rules and you should do what feels right for you. These tutorials will simply give you insight into what I have found works for me, and if they help you improve your skills then I'll be delighted.

In this post I will be showing you the power of using a telephoto lens and by how simply zooming in on a particular part of a landscape, you can actually produce more mood and atmosphere to a shot, proof that on many occasions, "less is more."

​When I first started landscape photography, I would mostly try to include as much of the landscape I could see in front of me in the images. I had this misconception that including as much as I could would create amazing photographs. I carried this mindset along for a few years until I realised that my work lacked the atmosphere and mood of other photographers' work I'd seen in magazines and books. With this realisation, I started experimenting; rather than cram as much landscape in the shot as possible, I'd zoom in on a portion of the scene. Straight away I could see an improvement in my work. I'd get home from a photography session, upload my work onto the computer and compare my old method to the new one. The zoomed in shots really did create much more atmosphere and I felt much more connected to the scene. All the details, tones and textures would really stand out and draw you in, in a way that the vast landscape shots could not.
 
I still take big landscape shots, particularly when there is an amazing sky to include, but this technique of homing in on a subject is incredibly effective when you have strong leading lines (lines that lead to the main subject of the image) in the scene. I use this technique for the majority of my tree-lined photographs.

Below are some examples of this approach.

​This first example is taken from a tree-lined path in Abington Park, Northamptonshire. In the first image I have the lens set at 22mm. It's a lovely image, showing the warm autumnal colours. I particularly like the leaves in the top left of the shot, however I personally feel that there is too much distraction in the scene, notably the fence to the right and the sky through the trees.

​In the 2nd image the focal length is at 61mm. By homing in on the scene, I have removed the distractions that were drawing my attention away from the path and surrounding foliage. Notice how much more defined the branches are. The autumnal colours stand out a lot more as well. By zooming in, the mood and atmosphere of the scene have been enhanced.

​​Here is another example taken at Harlestone Firs, Northamptonshire. I wanted the viewer's focus to follow the snow covered path through the picture. Again, this image is beautiful in itself and has some pleasing aspects but there is so much going on that the image has no flow. My attention is immediately drawn to the footprints and tracks in the snow towards the bottom of the scene, and the distraction from the sky at the top and the trees in the background to the left are taking focus away from the path. A nice wintry image with just a little too much chaos.

​In the 2nd image, the focal length is set at 53mm and the shot has much better direction. The trees to the left stand out much better and the footprints are now not in shot. The subtle mist that was present when taking these shots has been enhanced by the longer focal length. The man walking down the path was a classic example of "right place, right time" and gives the shot a great sense of scale against the huge trees. Again, by using a longer focal length we have simplified the scene and enhanced the mood.

​In this next example you'll see how a longer focal length can, again, enhance colour and clarity. Taken at Kingston Lacy, Dorset in the spring, the colours were simply stunning. The blue sky against the fresh foliage and carpet of wildflowers was a perfect spring setting. In this shot, I had the lens set at 21mm as I  wanted to include as much blue sky as I could, but in doing so the impact of the blanket of wildflowers was reduced. It's a lovely image but I knew that using a longer focal length, and almost forcing the viewers' attention down the path toward the beautiful flowers would produce a more impactful shot

The lens in the 2nd shot is set at 50mm and as you can see, the colours of the wildflowers have really come to life. I particularly love the daffodils towards the bottom right of the image. Yet again, the tones and textures have been enhanced, giving the shot more of a wow factor.

​My final example shows how this technique can also work when not under the cover of trees. Castle Ashby has a mile long avenue leading up to the House. In this shot I wanted to try and show the viewer the scale of this driveway, but as with the examples above, by trying to include more I've reduced the overall impact of the image. In this instance, the lens was set at 35mm.

​At 85mm you'd think that eliminating so much of the driveway from the scene would ruin the sense of scale but, amazingly, it doesn't and the added detail and clarity from this example actually strengthens the objective I was trying to achieve here.

I hope you've found this blog of interest and I hope it inspires you to get out and practise this simple technique. Please post your examples on my Facebook page as I would love to see them. It helps to have a camera with a zoom lens but even using the zoom on your camera phone would enable you to practise what I have discussed above. All you need to remember is that, sometimes, less is more :)

​Thank you for reading.

James

This picture sums up how I've spent much of this week, enjoying nice autumnal walks through woodland taking in the colours and breathing in the lovely scent of decaying foliage. As I've said before, autumn is the season that gets the senses flowing like no other :)

Ravensthorpe Reservoir, Northamptonshire 29/09/2017

​Canon EOS 7D Mk1...
Canon EF-S 15-85mm lens at 50mm
Formatt-Hitech Firecrest IRND neutral density 4.8 filter
Camera settings - f/5, 252sec, ISO-500

I've had a lovely relaxing break on the Isle of Wight this week. It was my first visit to the island and for a relatively small place there was so much to do and see. I really enjoyed driving along the coastal roads to the south of the island, the scenery near Compton bay was particularly impressive. Further inland there were some lovely country roads surrounded by arching trees, which highlighted the early autumnal colours.

There are some great attractions on the island, Osborne House was one of our favourites. The grounds to this former royal residence are huge and the mapped walks allow you to explore all its charm. Shanklin Chine is another must see attraction; you can visit here during the day and after dark when it is illuminated. I think my favourite place was Ventnor Botanic Garden. Unlike the other places we visited, it wasn't as busy here and I loved the peaceful nature of the garden :)

​Isle of Wight
September 2017

​I have mixed emotions as the summer draws to an end. It's sad to see the days getting shorter and the chillier nights, hinting that winter will soon return, but there is also excitement that the beautiful season of autumn is about to burst into life. It is a season that I have really learnt to love and being a nature photographer, you really appreciate the amazing transformation the landscape goes through. It's a spectacular colour display and I just hope the overall gloomy weather we had in August gives way to fairer conditions to compliment this amazing season.

The harvest period is summer's parting gift to us and I love heading out into the countryside in search of harvest activity. It's a hectic time for farmers and there's something lovely about hearing the tractors and combine harvesters working into the night. ​The straw bales that are dotted around the landscape during this time are great subjects to photograph.​

We didn't have the best weather this August so I made sure I headed out on the pleasant days to capture as many shots as possible of this wonderful occasion.

Hope you like the photos :)

​James

A sunrise and sunset shot from this year's summer solstice. The days will now start to gradually get shorter which is a little upsetting, but there is still a lot to look forward to in 2017. We still have the remaining summer months, the magic of autumn and the frosty mornings of early winter.

Here's to an enjoyable 2nd part of 2017 :)

Sunrise (4:56) - Ravensthorpe Reservoir, Northamptonshire
Sunset (21:19) - Honey Hill - Cold Ashby, Northamptonshire

​21/06/17

Despite my love of photographing the beautiful scenery around my home county Northamptonshire, a trip to Dorset in late April made a nice change.
​
It is a stunning part of the world that has so much variety so before the trip I short listed the places I most wanted to visit. You can't go to Dorset and not visit Durdle Door, so on the first evening we took a short hike down to Lulworth Cove before heading back to Durdle Door to get some late evening shots. The arch looked great, glowing in the evening sun but being such an iconic place, the beach was littered with tourists. I wanted a natural looking shot of Durdle Door and the surrounding coastline so, to blur out all human activity, I attached my long exposure filter to the camera which produced some shots I was very happy with.

​I was up early on day 2 for some sunrise photography and Osmington Mills was my location of choice. A rugged bit of coastline with a waterfall spilling over onto a rocky beach was a great setting for some sunrise photography, and unlike Durdle Door, apart from a couple of pied wagtails, I had the whole beach to myself.

​Colmers Hill was next on the list; this was meant to be another sunrise location for me but unfortunately the weather forecast was set for generally overcast conditions for the remaining mornings of the trip so I decided to visit here in the afternoon. We parked the car in the nearby picturesque village of Symondsbury and walked up the footpath to the view points of the hill. I think a bit more blue sky would have produced better shots but it was still a lovely walk.

That evening, we headed to Kimmeridge Bay which wasn't actually on my list at all, but this beach was apparently great for sunset photography. The trend of the trip continued and cloudy skies had moved in again so nice colourful sunset shots were out of the question, but to my surprise the dark clouds worked tremendously well with the location and I was able to get some dramatic shots. Despite the threatening skies, it was very calm and peaceful, like the calm before the storm. It felt like I was standing on a remote, rugged Scandinavian coast, miles from anyone and then I turned around to find a family cooking dinner on a BBQ. I hope they didn't get rained on! I think this was my favourite place of the trip.

​After a busy second day, and with overcast conditions again, I treated myself to a lay in on day 3. We had a walk around Poole and then Sandbanks before heading over to Old Harry Rocks and the Pinnacles for a bit of photography. These chalk formations mark the most easterly point of the Jurassic Coast. We visited Corfe Castle that evening; I had planned to visit here one morning in the hope that some mist would be present but with the cloudy conditions I altered the plans and headed here for some sunset shots. It looked like conditions were improving on the drive over so I was hopeful of getting some good ones but thicker cloud had moved in by the time I'd got to my vantage point. It was still an incredible ruin to photograph though.

​We stopped at Kingston Lacy on the drive back to Northamptonshire and, with it being the end of our break, the sun decided to make an appearance really complimenting the spring colours in the gardens of this lovely stately home. A tree lined path surrounded by spring flowers was the final picture I took on our trip, a perfect way to end our time in Dorset.

​It was a very enjoyable trip and as I said earlier, Dorset offers so much variety for a landscape photographer. From the rugged Jurassic Coast, quaint coastal towns, vast hilly countryside and lovely rural villages, it was a real pleasure to explore and photograph this stunning part of the country. :)

​Dorset, April 2017

​"Things are never quite as scary when you've got a best friend"
- Bill Watterson