click photo to enlarge
A run of days with blue skies, temperatures in the upper 20s Celsius, and a high sun during the main part of the day, all characteristic of July in eastern England, almost made me wish for the uncharacteristic, overcast, wet and changeable weather that marked much of spring and the first part of summer this year. Almost, but not quite. Family duties and other activities have forced me to draw upon a photograph from a couple of weeks ago for today's post. Such has been the very limited amount of time I've been able to devote to photography recently.My shot shows a view of the River Welland in Stamford, Lincolnshire. I took it from the Town Bridge looking west (upstream). The area of grass beyond the piece of exposed shore and the weeping willow is the start of the Town Meadows, an area of park-like open space in the middle of Stamford. On the left is the rear elevation of Lord Burghley's Hospital, almshouses founded in 1597 on the site of the medieval hospital of St John the Baptist and St Thomas the Martyr (founded 1170-80), by the lord of that name. Some twelfth century work remains visible here but most of what can be seen is of the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries.
I took this photograph because it seemed to sum up the weather of early July - cloudy skies, churned up rivers with heavy flows of water, and saturation. Not, in this case, we Britons, dripping under our damp clouds; rather the saturated greens of the grass and trees which at this time of year are usually showing a great deal more of summer's parched yellows and browns.
photograph and text (c) T. Boughen
Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 24mm
F No: f8
Shutter Speed: 1/40 sec
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.33 EV
Image Stabilisation: On
