Life and Landscape Photography - What Happened in November?
Wow! It's December already. What happened to the year?
As it's the beginning of a another month it's time for my Life and Landscape Photography review of what happened in November
What's been going on?
November has seemed to fly past. I seem to have been really busy but, for the life of me, I'm not sure with what. Sure there's been some things that I needed to get sorted out, and we did do a weekend trip away to Cordoba (although I'll be covering that in the next blog post after the video comes out - there will be a sneak peak at the end of this post though).
We also had some interesting weather, a number of days with really heavy rain, some strong winds and a drop in temperature.
Events, Exploration and Non Landscape Photography
Apart from the trip to Cordoba that I already mentioned I don't have anything to report here.
Vlogging
Well, it continues. I am still putting out 2 vlogs every week and I'm still trying to make them a bit of a mix between exploration and inspiration and the more information or tutorial based.
You may recall that I had some problems with my vlogging set up a while back and that stopped me from producing my Filters for Landscape Photography video. Well, I finally managed to get it done and I published it in November.
If you're interested in how I use filters in my landscape photography then check it out
As for the new vlogging set up... It seems to be working really well. I think I may do a review of my experience of it sometime in December so keep an eye on my Youtube channel if that's something you're interested in. CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL
Landscape Photography
In my last post I put up some sneak peaks for a trip that I did into the Murcia region.
This started out with an early rise to get away at about 05:30 for a drive of nearly two hours. My destination was the lighthouse at la Manga and it was still full dark when I got there. I spent the next 30 minutes exploring the cliffs looking for compositions, not always easy to do in the dark, and ended up getting a few images that I was happy with, despite the cloudless skies.
I think this one is probably my favourite, taken shortly after sunrise:
Check out the video
When that shoot was finished the day was just starting. I got back into the car and drove over the the town of Mazarron. The location was the abandoned mine workings just outside of town and I was there for two reasons.
First, I wanted to get some images using the weird, but strangely beautiful, orange and red pools that form there after heavy rains (which we had just had).
Second I was there for a return meet up with another Youtuber, Shaun Matthews.
I managed a few interesting shots here. The location, with the bright orange tones, worked well with the blue skies and the strong light in the middle of the day. The pools, coloured by acid leaching out of the ground, really make this an unusual scene.
Check out the video of the meet up and my photography session there
It was back to my local mountain for the next trip out. Cabezon del Oro (Cabeco d'Or in Valencian or Golden Head in English) is only a twenty minute drive from home and offers some beautiful views, rugged peaks and, when the conditions are right, some great mood and drama.
On this afternoon / evening we had lots of clouds but also some really strong winds. The clouds made it possible to get some nice images, like this one:
but in the end the strong winds blew the clouds away (and also nearly blew me away as well!)
Check out the video
In October I did a first, fairly short, exploration of a new location called Font Roja. In November I decided to go back and spend some more time there.
This is one of the few locations that are relatively close (about an hours drive) where there were actually Autumn colours and I went in search of detailed compositions that would make a feature of these tones.
It was actually windier than I expected but I did manage to get several shots I was pleased with. Here's a couple of very different compositions that both show off those autumnal colours.
In landscape photography, failure is ALWAYS an option. Most of the time when I go out I manage to get something but, just occasionally, I fail to get images that I'm happy with. Earlier in the year I made several trips to the top of a tall hill, overlooking the sea, that has a ruined 16th century watchtower on it. At the time I really wasn't happy with what I achieved and I resolved to give the location a break.
Well, in November I finally went back there.
It was a tricky clamber up and across as the recent rains had washed away some of the paths (which are not great at the best of times) but in the end I managed a couple of images that I was pleased with.
When I did this trip I was a bit behind on my video production so I ended up posting this really quickly. After the video had gone out I decided that I wasn't happy with the edit on one of the images. So I decided to do another video discussing what I felt was wrong with it, and what I was going to do to fix it.
Here's the video of the trip and shoot, that also shows the previous version of this image
and here's the second video where I make some changes
and this is the final image:
As we got towards the end of the month I had a bit less time available and so I made a quick trip out one afternoon in El Campello, just to see what I could get. This ended up being an exercise in 'the rule of thirds' as I took a few images that either used, or broke, the rule of thirds when it came to the placement of the horizon. I was also treated to a beautifully colourful sky around sunset as I stood on the beach although I did think it was going to be an even better display after sunset (spoiler, it wasn't).
This was the final image from that shoot
and here's the video so you can see what I mean about the compositions, and also see the other images from the shoot.
My final trip out for November was another one when I was under time pressure. With only two hours to spare I headed out to one of my regular locations, Amadorio reservoir.
The advantage of these regular locations is the familiarity. I already know the place well and I can concentrate my efforts on finding compositions in a small area, very useful when time is limited. Of course there is a risk of just reproducing previous compositions and images.
But, one of the beauties of landscape photography is that a scene never looks the same twice. Different weather conditions and the direction of the light helps to make each image unique in some ways.
I ended up with some images I was pleased with and I think this one is my favourite from the shoot despite having some concerns about the composition.
Anyway, here's the video:
So thats it for November.... well not quite.
We actually did a trip to Cordoba at the end of the month but, not a photography trip but I did manage to get some photography done.However, as the video for that won't be out until next week, I'm not going to cover that until the next post.
Here's a couple of behind the scenes shots as a sneak peak of what's coming up
My Movie 2My Movie 3
I hope you've enjoyed this post. I will be doing my monthly 'tips' post in the middle of December so I hope to see you then
