 Mountain Goat Over the last few months we have been walking across the moors and have come across some amazing mountain goats. I suppose in the past there were large wild herds roaming around, and these ones we found are few and far between.  One herd was found on the southern tip of the Isle of Islay, where the land was probably just used for hunting and shooting. It had been a couple of hours walking past old abandoned villages and hamlets to get to the point on the sea cliff. Then we came across the herd. The other herd was in the Galloway forest park.  Goat Resting The lovely thing with the goats is that they seemed totally fearless, in fact we were probably more worried about their horns than they were about us. Especially the ones with the baby kids.  Goat Patrol The good thing was that we were able to take these shots when the weather was not too bad. A circumstance that has been few and far between so far this year. As you can see we left baby goat on patrol
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 Sun and shade Recently we were walking in Galloway, on one of the few days when it has not been raining, and the sky cleared up and the sun came out. It seemed so very bright, maybe because we have not been used to the sunshine due to all the rain and grey skies, or maybe due to the extensive tree cover over our path. This meant that initially we could not make out what was beyond the table. It seemed to be forming a junction between the dark and the light. Our eyes just like the camera having problems coping with the contrast, as you can see in the image  Rigg Bay in the sunshine As we got nearer the beautiful sandy bay was revealed, glistening in the sunshine. This enabled us to sit at the table, take in the view and enjoy the rays, as the table was at the junction between the shade and the sun. (The fact that the people on the beach were wearing thick warm clothes does really say it all for mid July, when the image was taken).  August 2012 Free Wallpapers Sitting in the sun enjoying the view really cheered us and we thought that this would make a good image as our August wallpaper at fullersfolio.
We are offering two versions of this - one with a months calendar on it and one without, in varying different sizes. More details can be found on the fullersfolio freebie page and we hope you like them.  Long Straight Northumberland Road Northumberland is blessed with roads that run along the lines of old Roman roads, and Drover tracks that tend to cut straight across the landscape. They seem to go on and on into the distance as can be seen here. Normally it is quite hard to get an image of a road like this without another car in it, during normal hours but the recent bad weather has put a stop to the majority of non essential traffic.  The straight roads then tend to end in some form of bend complex and the all too often warning for motorcyclists. These images were taken recently on a day when it was not too wet but still the grey skies dominate the images.  Wind farm Construction My main reason for going down the road was to get some pictures of the wind farm construction that is going on near Sweethope Loughs Fortunately I was able to get a few shots with the zoom lens. The two yellow dots just infront of the smaller crane (above the 'm' of Tim) are people – which shows the size of these things.  Constructed Wind Turbine When constructed they seem to lurk above the trees like some giant bird of prey.
I am sure we will get used to them in a few months time, but they certainly make a major statement on the landscape.  June 2012 Floods It is hard to put into words the weather we have had this last month. Our weather station recorder said we had had 345 mm of rain, though i find this hard to believe as this is over a foot in old money. I know it did say that on the 28th we had over 100mm. The reservoir built below kielder down the Tyne valley was built in an area of high rainfall so we should expect it but this has been exceptional. Just as it is hard to put the month into words, so it is hard to choose which images conjure up the month. Part of the problem has been the light levels – grey to very dark seems to be the norm.  June 2012 Floods Being so dark due to lack of light and having a fast moving subject meant that this was taken at ISO 3200 for speed and f5.6 to try and get as much light as possible. Hopefully it captures some element of the speed and force of the water. Moving a bit further along, whilst trying not to get to soaked I came across this tree that had come down due to the force of the water and it was acting as a natural dam.  June 2012 Floods For this final image as the light had improved and the water was not moving so fast it allowing me to step down the ISO to 100 – still f5 to try and get as much light in. Normally in the summer this watercourse could be easily jumped, and the bridge is there just to stop walkers getting their feet wet. At the time of taking it was solid water spreading across the field in the distance towards the far trees.
The only good thing about the rain is that the water levels go down nearly as fast as they rise up. Each image has a link to a larger version of the picture on our fullersfolio site  Kintra Farm Isle of Islay For our first free set of wallpapers we thought it would be good to have an image that reminds us of this summer, even if it is currently grey and bucketing with rain out side, and not like summer at all. We were fortunate enough to be staying on a converted barn at Kintra Farm on the Isle of Isaly recently, which covered the period of the Jubilee bank holiday celebrations. The farm where we were staying is visible at the top of the image.  Islay Beach from Kintra Farm On the Monday the weather was fantastic and we had been for a long and enjoyable walk along the beach – miles and miles of sand, sea and very few people. The evening remained fine and the sky lit up with the most fantastic sunset. We were half watching the sunset and half watching the Jubilee concert on TV when a massive ball of fire erupted on top of the hill across the bay.  Islay Jubilee Beacon The people lighting the beacon must have added large amounts of fire lighter as the flames initially must have been 10-20 metres high. Even though it was a good few miles away I managed to get several good shots of it, using the 500mm telephoto lens.  Islay sunset with beacon on left The beacon continued to burn for some time, but the flames were no real competition for natures show, that just covered the whole horizon The beacon can be seen on the left hand side of the picture, with the smoke going up into the sky.  July 2012 wallpaper Out of the selection of pictures we had taken of the beacon and the sunset, we have chose this as the final one for the wallpaper.
We are offering two versions of this - one with a months calendar on it and one without, in varying different sizes. More details can be found on the fullersfolio freebie page and we hope you like them. It was pointed out to me by a friend with a mac that it may be wise to put some form of watermark on my digital images. I thought this would be a good thing to share as a blog for all those who do not know how to do this and would like to learn. The program I use to do this is Irfanview(If do not have Irfanview Get it here IrfanView and its plug-ins. Now install IrfanView. Then install the plug-ins. Very simple process.) Once Installed -  screenshot 1 Open Irfanview Go to file > Batch Conversion/Rename See screenshot 1 This opens the Batch Conversion Window  screenshot 2 Check output directory (suggest different directory to source) or have a backup copy of the images – just in case the output is not quite what is desired. See screenshot 2 Check the advanced box – top left hand side and press the advanced button  Screenshot 3 Tick add overlay text – near the bottom of the centre column Press the settings box This opens up a new box See Screenshot 3  Screenshot 4 Set the x and y (horizontal and vertical) coordinates for the starting port The position of the starting point (as you will see I have chosen the bottom right hand corner) Add the text you wish to have inserted on the image Then choose the font and font size Finally text alignment Press Ok See screenshot 4  Screenshot 5 The final task is to add the files that will be modified
Check that you have the right folder name Press add or add all Then start batch (and in my case I was really pleased that I had sent the output files to a separate directory as somehow in taking the screen shots etc I had ended up choosing the wrong set of files to convert so no damage was done!)  Rain Drops on Autumn Coloured Acer Leaves The other day we were out exploring the byways of the Borders enjoying the fantastic autumn colouring before all the leaves blew off – surprise surprise in the rain, when for a few minutes at least the rain stopped allowing me to take these three shots of rain washed leaves.  Oak Leaves Though the light was bad and the wind kept blowing making focusing very difficult I think they came out quite well. (There was a large number that got deleted as nothing was in focus, but that is the wonders of a digital camera, compared to film.)  Rain Covered Red Acer Leaves The leaves go their fantastic colours in some autumn trees results from the loss of chlorophyll simply unmasking the yellow carotinoids that were there all along. But red coloration comes from a pigment called anthocyanin, which has to be made afresh as autumn takes hold. Why trees would bother to spend energy doing this as things are winding down for the winter has been widely debated and no-one really seems to know. Still this does not stop us appreciating the Acer's lovely colour even if we don't really know why.
 An Acer in it's Autumn Glory A few days ago we were very fortunate to be able to go out and explore the Borders countryside, before the wind and the rain blew off all the golden colouring.  Golden Beech Tree Fortunately this beech tree still had the majority of its leaves  Golden Beech Leaves As can be seen by this close up of some of them.  The intense red colour of this Acer was almost unreal. It was just as if someone had got out a box of paints and daubed the leaves.
 Peacock Butterfly The other day I noticed this lovely peacock butterfly. When I came near it closed it's wings as can be seen here. As soon as I moved on it opened the wings back up again. Was it just being shy or recent research documented on he web seems to suggest that a butterfly closes it wings to signify “move off and leave me alone”. http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/13573037.  Peacock Butterfly After a few minutes wait the butterfly opened it wings back up again as can be seen here.  Regardless butterflies make fantastic subjects for images and some more recent shots can be seen here
 Winter Time at Kielder So after sending a very considerable amount of time looking at thousands of images that I have taken over the past few years, I have finally come up with a short list of various themes suitable for this folio collection. The first area that we have chosen to upload is the winter. Living in such a wild place the winter has a significant effect on our lives, which can hopefully be seen by these images. Each gallery will be uploaded at a time so some of the links will not work until that gallery has been uploaded and tested. I hope you enjoy these images.  |
Tim Fuller
Dyslexic doodles on photography, food (growing, cooking & of course eating), faith and other fascinating things. This is a personal blog expressing my views. Archives
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