16 x 10

I suppose we all have our quirks (our 'little ways' as my daughter calls them), like what mug we like to use for our morning cuppa or which is our 'favourite' gas ring on the stove! We rarely talk about them, but I guess we all have some. One of mine, I realised, is that when it comes to my photos, I very rarely use a 'standard' sizing. I tend to crop them to suit the image itself. That's fine, of course, until you want to enter a competition or print one, when standard aspect ratios tend to be required. 

Occasionally I have found it stimulating to choose beforehand what I'm going to do - like when I went to Grassington lead mines and chose only to take square photos. It made me see things differently and I was pleased with the results. 

The photos here were all taken along the riverside in Bingley, on a recent walk. I've chosen to crop them all to a 16 x10 aspect ratio, just because I think it suits the scenes. It makes for neater looking blog posts too - but I'm not too fussed about that most of the time! 

These are surprisingly tranquil scenes, I think you will agree, given that Bingley high street is only a couple of minutes walk from here. In the top photo, looking north upstream, you can perhaps just see the mill chimney of the Damart factory. Damart, manufacturer of thermal underwear (worn, I gather, by the late Princess Diana as well as me!) has had its UK HQ here since 1967. The second photo is Bingley's Myrtle Park, which has a beautiful open space alongside the river, as well as a more formal park on the upper level nearer the town centre. There are still a few leaves hanging on on some of our trees. They won't last much longer now the weather has turned colder. 

I was a little puzzled by the swan gliding along (below), apparently in the trees well above the river - until I realised that there is a fishing lake hidden in the woods

Leaning over Ireland Bridge, there is a pleasant view of the weir and the backs of the very old properties clustered around the church on Bingley's Old Main Street.