A lonely cloud

Clouds have been something of a rarity over recent weeks. This one, though present, was certainly 'wandering lonely', though I thought it made a nice composition. I'm very much getting to the point where I want to see actual rainclouds - and it's not often you feel like that in this country! 

Seeing the sea

Fife holiday 2026 #18

I could have spent an entire day just gazing at the sea! It's an environment in which I'm only able to spend  time infrequently, and it's an enticing one, I think, because it changes all the time. When I was able to sit and stare I tried hard to really see it and understand what aspects were attracting my attention. (Maybe it's simply because it's mainly blue... my favourite colour! 😂 ) I enjoyed making photos of it. 

Venus in Blue Jeans

Another evening sky, from my balcony. At a quarter to eleven at night, it was still quite light and the sky really was the most extraordinary shade of blue. You won't be able to see it on a small screen but, just above the third 'E' in my jennyfreckles watermark, Venus is shining brightly, a tiny pinprick steadily sinking below the horizon. 

It reminded me of a long-forgotten pop song, 'Venus in Blue Jeans', which reached no.4 in the British charts in 1962, a recording by Mark Wynter. Given that I was only ten, the fact that I can still remember the lyrics amazes me!  

'She's Venus in blue jeans,
Mona Lisa with a ponytail,
She's a walkin' talkin' work of art
She's the girl who stole my heart.'

Be astonished

'Instructions for living a life.
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.'

Mary Oliver

Living here in my west-facing flat, I do pay attention to the evening skies and sunsets, which are always unique, sometimes unremarkable and occasionally stunning. I am often astonished, often exhilarated. I do like to tell about them - I think we all enjoy a good sky. So here's another, taken at 9.30pm one warm summer evening. 

Look up at the heavens and see; gaze at the clouds so high above you. 

Job 35:5

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 

Psalm 19:1-2

Our last evening

Fife holiday 2026 #15

So we came to our last evening on the Fife coast - fitter, perhaps fatter (good food and plenty of coffee and cake!) and I think all of us very happy with our holiday and the lovely group we were privileged to share it with. We enjoyed dinner together in the Golf Hotel in Crail and then most of us went for a final walk around the village.

We were intrigued by the beam of sunshine finding its way through a hole in the cloud. It neatly illuminated some of the wind turbines out in the Firth of Forth. As we watched, we were suddenly treated to a fleeting burst of rainbow colours - though you couldn't really call it a rainbow and it didn't seem to have the full spectrum of colours. I've never seen this phenomenon before and I'm not sure if it has a proper title. It was really beautiful and exciting to see. 

It was a final, ephemeral gift from the Scottish coast that had provided us with a wonderful and memorable holiday - and perhaps a blessing for us too. 

Many, many thanks to all my fellow travellers, who were truly wonderful, each in their own way. Together we made a community and to be part of it was a joy.   

(Readers, if you're thinking that's the last of my holiday photos - maybe thinking 'hurrah' or maybe even thinking that's sad - be assured there are some more to come, as I extended my time away with a short trip to Dundee. I'll post those images in a while. I've a few more thematic photos to share too... so you're not yet off the hook! I'll spread them out.) 

Solstice

Here we are at the mid-point of the year, the summer solstice. The seasons fly by these days! I love these light nights, and always mourn when we start the downward path to darkness again. 

A couple of nights ago, at 10.30 pm, in the throes of England's first World Cup match (!), I got up to draw the curtains and I noticed the thinnest crescent moon - a waxing crescent - and the brightly shining Venus in very close conjunction. I found this rather thrilling! The match was rather thrilling too, it has to be said: England 4, Croatia 2. A good start to our campaign. 

Northcliffe blues

Can you bear to see more bluebells? These are in our local Northcliffe Park.

Bluebells and wild garlic together always look lovely: white stars in the foreground and a blue haze in the distance. 

The green walkway in the picture below is the bridge that golfers use to get from the Northcliffe clubhouse to the greens, across the narrow valley. 

My walk was somewhat spoiled by three large dogs, a golden retriever, a black labrador and some other large breed, that were cavorting around in the woods. The lab charged at me and jumped up, nearly knocking me over and scraping his claws down my thigh. It rather frightened me and I dread to think what would have happened if it had rushed at a child. Their owners?... Nowhere to be seen. Grr. 

On my way home the sky turned dark as clouds came over and, just after I came inside, there was a sharp, squally shower. I was glad to miss that! So it turned out to be a walk full of blues, in more ways than one. 

A different kind of rainbow

Many people locally have been excited at the appearance of extremely rare clouds known as nacreous clouds or 'mother of pearl' clouds. My Facebook feed was full of photos one morning and I was a bit frustrated that I'd missed them. I've said before that I can see hardly any expanse of sky from my current house and I hadn't been out anyway because of the wind and rain of storm Pia. Later in the day, towards sunset, I popped out to put some recycling in the bin and I glanced up. I thought I could see a bit of pink so I raced inside and grabbed my phone and took a few photos. On reviewing them on my phone, I couldn't see any colour so I concluded I'd stared at a bright spot and got one of those retinal smears that can temporarily happen. Excitement over. 

It was only later that I looked at the photos on a bigger screen - and - yes! There it is, unmistakably, a little patch of rainbow cloud. Wow! It feels like a real privilege to glimpse this, even such a small patch in such uninspiring surroundings. They are usually only seen in winter at higher latitudes in Scandinavia and northern Canada. The technical explanation is HERE on the Met Office page.  

It seems that even a storm can bring gifts with it. 

Dramatic sky

The sky looked quite dramatic as I walked down the hill towards Saltaire. Sunshine and showers weather; looked like it was raining over Ilkley way.  

Sunbeams

Walking back to Malham village down Gordale Lane, there was a really spectacular sky. The sun's rays were piercing through gaps in the cloud to illuminate the land and give that scattered, curtain effect. I've always thought these were 'crepuscular rays' and I think they are often loosely called that, though crepuscular properly relates only to sunrise and sunset when the sun is below the horizon. 

The effect was very clear to see but proves to be harder to capture in a photo. I've tried to process these images to emphasise them. 

Subtle beauty - and silhouettes

As the cloud cover increased towards the end of the afternoon around Malham, I was captivated both by the scenery, the sky and my camera's struggle to make sense of the changing light. 

Soft processing brings out some subtle, gentle colours in the scrubby vegetation (above), trees shallowly rooted in the thin, rocky soil. I also loved that line of molehills near the trees, imagining Mr Mole toiling along his tunnel, muttering under his breath. It must have been hard work! 

Looking up towards the bright sky tricked the camera into underexposure and created some evocative silhouettes of the scree-covered hillsides and trees:

A barefoot sunrise

I sometimes wonder how I ever managed to get myself to work on time for all those years... Certainly, in retirement, I have adopted a habit of going to bed quite late and consequently waking up quite late too. It's a pity really because, as a photographer, I could well benefit from getting out early occasionally to capture the sunrise - but that rarely happens. There was one morning recently when I had opened my curtains a crack as I got up and dressed. Glancing out as I put my socks on (!) I had to grab my phone to take this glorious sunrise sky, with the tracery of trees adding another layer to the scene. So this is a one-sock shot, a barefoot sunrise. 

Walking home

Warm autumn colours, the familiar (and, to me, almost comforting) monolith of Salts Mill chimney, standing guard over the mill and the village - and a lush, late afternoon sky.  Almost home, ready for a cup of tea... aah. 

Sunshine and showers

A break in the showers urged me out to stretch my legs with a brisk walk round the park but, halfway round, another sharp shower caught me out. The light was rather beautiful and then there was a rainbow - even the hint of a double rainbow - over the New Mill.  A pot of gold on top of the tower, perhaps? 

Dodging showers

A week or so of changeable, humid weather brought some very heavy showers and even some thunderstorms. Glued to Wimbledon and the Euro football, I haven't minded being indoors, but there was one day when I felt I just had to get out for a walk, rain or shine. I went up to Northcliffe Park and from that higher viewpoint I was treated to some astonishing cloud formations. You could see the rain in the distance over Bingley but I managed to get home without experiencing more than a few stray raindrops. 

I felt the drama of the sky was best suited to a mono treatment. 

(Probably sums up the national mood today too, after the night before. Losing on penalties again! Never mind, we can be so proud of our young footballing heroes.) 

Big skies

I live right in the valley bottom, surrounded by buildings and trees. It's fine but every now and then I realise how much I need and miss 'big skies'. The first time I ever visited Norfolk, with its flat fens and coast, it was the huge skies that excited me and made me feel suddenly so free. There, the sky goes 180° from your feet up over your head and back to your feet. In the valleys, you have to look up to see the sky. That's perhaps why I love the view from part way up the hillside near my home, looking down the valley through Shipley towards Leeds. So much more sky! On a day when there are some interesting clouds, it's even better. 

Goodbye blue sky

Of late, the most colourful skies have been at sunrise - and I'm rarely up and never ready to go out at that time of day, being an avowed night owl rather than a lark. I had a late walk around the park one evening. There wasn't much of a sunset but the sky was certainly interesting above the cricket field, with fluffy little clouds in a blue sky, settling into a band of heavier stuff and even a little rain shower happening, somewhere over Bingley way. It looked almost as though the sky was draining away down a plughole! 

Sky replacement

My updated photo processing software now comes with a nifty 'sky replacement tool' - so I thought I'd try it. You have always, of course, been able in theory to import a new sky into a photo but it was a fiddly process, impossible unless there were clean lines to the sky space and it usually looked plain daft. This new tool is actually pretty impressive in the way it uses algorithms and sliders to blend in the new sky. There are a few 'skies' provided but it feels pretty important to me to build up your own portfolio of skies to use if you're serious about making use of the tool. 

Having said that, for this trial I used one of the supplied images. I think it has worked reasonably effectively. Of course, you also have somehow to blend in the foreground too and, with the reflections, that proved a little more tricky. The 'before' image is below, with a blank grey sky. The 'after' is above. It perhaps looks a little more interesting but I'm not convinced it looks entirely realistic. I don't think it's something I'll use a lot. I'm not keen on 'doctoring' my photos and pretending it's real, though I do enjoy creative manipulation of images where that is a deliberate and obvious process. I know a lot of people really like heavily filtered images these days, as seen on social media. Each to his own. I suspect the debate will rage and we may see many more images where we wonder how 'real' it is. 

 

I've looked at clouds from both sides now

I've looked at clouds from both sides now

From up and down and still somehow

It's cloud's illusions I recall

I really don't know clouds at all

I was reminded of that song by Joni Mitchell recently, as I marvelled at the reflections of clouds in the water of the canal on a bright day. I'm not good at recognising cloud types, despite the best efforts of my beloved Geography teacher, who I recall, once took me outside on the way out of our morning assembly to look at a 'mackerel sky'. Well, I know this wasn't a mackerel sky. I think they might be cirrus clouds that presage a change in the weather. 

Spirit lifters

In these darkening days - both literally and figuratively - it is easy to feel a bit low and only to notice the negatives. Some days even a walk doesn't lift my mood so it is good to focus on the small things that do uplift my spirits - things like the wild clouds the other day that appeared to be streaming, like static, from this tree, almost as though the summer was flowing out of it and leaving it with autumn tints.   

Or the cloud that seemed to have brought Salts Mill chimney back to life, like the smoke that once issued from it in its heyday. 

I'm not one for kitsch, either in my home or in my garden and I'm not usually fond of garden ornaments, but this little guy seems to have wormed his way into my affections. I pass him quite regularly on my walks and he always waves and smiles. Such a cheerful little chap.