Whitby in Infra Red

I took the Infra Red camera with me to Whitby, so the Abbey and St Mary's Church were ideal places to use it.  The Abbey now has a shiny new visitors' centre, created from a building which has been a burned-out shell for as long as I can remember.  It now houses a museum, ticket office and obligatory gift shop, through which one exits (of course).

Carol, Dave, Isla and Barney, posing for their picture on the cliff top.  I'm convinced that the gravestones are significantly closer to the edge than last time I visited.

A vigilant boxer, just outside the new visitors' centre.

These two appeared to be involved in an iPhone-based photo shoot inside the Abbey.

Whitby Abbey has several stone coffins, and it's a tradition to photograph one's children lying down in them.  It least, it was in our family (which may have been slightly strange).  Carol decided that she was going to repeat the exercise with Barney, which turned out to be more difficult than expected.

 What's the old saying about never working with children or animals?

Whitby in Colour

At the beginning of August, Isla and I made the journey to God's Own County (TM) in order to visit my sister and brother-in-law.  The adventure included an outing to Whitby: a place I love, having visited it regularly since the mid-1960s.  The first occasion was by steam train.  No, not the North York Moors Railway, in fact, but the original coastline service from Scarborough (before Dr Beeching started to wield his axe).  It's been a regular holiday destination since then, although we haven't been there for a while.  Not much has changed, and "crabbing" is just as popular as ever.

The famous 199 steps up to the Abbey were no obstacle for a young, fit labrador, and she certainly helped to drag me up them at break-neck speed.  We then had to wait until Carol, Dave and Barney (the Airedale Terrier) ambled up at their own - rather slower - pace.

Visiting the Abbey is always a treat, and it's great that dogs are now allowed in too. 

After tea and ice cream, it was time for the obligatory walk along the pier.  Again, nothing much has changed on the West pier, but the East pier (where I used to go fishing, many moons ago) is currently closed for refurbishment.  It always was a bit rickety.

After a day playing tourist, the pups were getting a bit tired.  Still time to play while waiting for the train to arrive, though..

...until Barney crashed out, that is.

Wharfedale Hillside

Wharfedale Hillside was taken while driving through one of my favourite parts of the country having just had an excellent lunch at the Wensleydale Creamery in Hawes.  It was September and the sun was fairly high in the sky, so I decided to soften and lighten the image before printing it on a textured art paper.

This is the original image straight out of the camera.  There were a small number of boulders to be cloned out before blending the picture with a gently softened version of itself and adding "grain".  It was then down to good old-fashioned dodging and burning in order to emphasise the contours of the land and bring out the branches of the three trees.  Canon 50D, 100-400/4.5-5.6L, 1/500s @ f/8, ISO 400.

Breezy Bridlington

My parents moved to Bridlington after they retired, so it's somewhere I know quite well.  I can't say it's one of my favourite locations, but Izzi was keen to re-visit places hadn't been to since my mother died in 2005.  The whole of the North Promenade area is taken up with amusement arcades and fairground rides, all of which were a bit tatty and slightly sleazy.  Everything in Bridlington is done "on the cheap"...

We went onto the North Pier to avoid the noise of the arcades.  Bridlington is flat - much more so than the resorts just up the coast - so attracts the elderly and infirm.  As a result you need to be careful of people zooming around on disabled scooters.

There were various flavours of boats in the harbour, including two very different pleasure craft.

The people are always fascinating in seaside towns, and these two caught my eye.  The girl was very bored looking after an ice-cream stall, and nobody was buying anything because of the weather.  The chap with the camera kept leaning further and further back over the railings - what we photographers do for an ideal shot!

Two more scenes from the North Promenade, including the "road train" which takes families from Bridlington to Sewerby.  The building in the first picture - actually a leisure centre - was completely covered in seagull guano.  Seems to sum Bridlington up...

Finally, some pictures of Bridlington's shops.  Now you know where to go if you ever need smelly balls!!

...and then the sun came out

In the middle of the afternoon the clouds cleared and the sun came out.  That doesn't mean it was warm, of course (being Yorkshire) but everyone started behaving as though it was anyway.  We never did manage to get to the beer festival...

Because the middle of the town was heaving with people, Amber and I wandered onto the West Pier to escape the crowds.  This is a great place to observe traditional seaside behaviour on the beach below.

There were several pleasure boats steaming around the harbour, including an appropriately named speedboat and Whitby's old lifeboat which now gives pleasure rides.  The speedboat driver (pilot?) seemed to be in the middle of a late lunch, as I discovered when I looked at the pictures when I got home!

The pier itself is always a good place to watch the world go by.

The final two pictures from Whitby, looking back towards the town from the pier.  What a magical place...