A snap of sunset.

  Just a quick shot as I travelled home from the gallery. It just pays to have the camera to hand. I was hoping that the glow in the sky would last until I was out into the open countryside but just in case I took this shot through the passenger side window of the car. Just as well for by the time I was along the road the glorious colours were gone.
 And these are the actual colours. I'm afraid I'm not a big fan of enhancing colours of such a scene in Lightroom or Photoshop. To me the skill/luck is being at the right place at the right time.

Snow returns

 I ventured out with the dogs up onto Holwick Moor this morning. Fresh overnight snow covered the high ground and with a touch of mist in the valley bottom it was a wonderful day to be out. By the time I reached the top of the moor the sun was fully out, the air was still and there is definetely a touch of Spring about. Grouse were displaying and I saw the first Curlew and Golden Plover.

Holwick Moor, sun and snow.

Far and wide

  Following what was a fairly low key introduction of Andy Beck Images back in mid-December I have been really pleased with the response to the work. Visitors to the gallery give me a great feedback to the selection of framed work on display and the emails that I have had through the website and facebook have been very encouraging. More importantly is the fact that the prints are selling well. By far the most popular is the photograph, High Force in Hoar Frost.

  Up until the other day the prints from the series had been dispatched to as far afield as West Sussex but today I had to package up a copy of High Force which was being sent to Hong Kong. Teesdale is obviously more world wide appeal than I thought.

Signs of Spring

  A nice bright morning here in Barnard Castle and a walk though Flatts Wood just to the west of the town gave the dogs a good run before going to the gallery. It was nice to see the natural signs of Spring emerging from the undergrowth.

Snowdrops in Flatts Wood.

I have seen other posts of photos of snowdrops already but mostly early versions in gardens so it was nice to come across this clump, it really does lift the spirits.

The Tees in Spate.

 We have had a few days of heavy rain and high winds recently and as I went into Barney (Barnard Castle) yesterday I could see that the water was up in the river. Even though it was continuing to rain today I decided it would be worth a visit up to Bowlees to see the river in that area. It is only a short walk from there to Low Force and then by following the south bank upstream along part of the Pennine Way its not long before you get to the viewing point for High Force.
 It was certainly dramatic, I have seen it like this in the past perhaps even more in flood but even so it was still a awesome sight.

High Force.

After viewing the Force from the south bank I then went to the High Force Hotel from where its a short walk down to High Force and get another perspective of the falls. The problem today was the spray and rain on the camera lens. Not much I could do about that though as there was plenty of it about.

Heres a short video of the walk.

A quick walk to Goldsborough

  There was just a chance this afternoon that there may be a decent sunset. One of the places that I like to go which does give a good view out to the west is Goldsborough, a cap of rock that sits on the moor above Hury Reservoir. So it was that I set of with the dogs to get to the top of the mound (not really justified being called a hill) to see the sun go down. Sadly it wasn't to be, away to the horizon was a bank of cloud the only allowed a brief glint of the sun.

Last of the light.

I was still lucky enough to grab a shot or two and there will be plenty of other opportunities to re-vist this cracking viewpoint to watch the sun sink to the horizon.