Lane near Rathmell, North Yorkshire

Driving from Tosside to Rathmell via Long Gill (as the sign post has it) in early summer, near the end of June, we came upon this view.The road is flanked by bracken, dog rose, buttercups, elder flowers and hawthorn as well as drystone walls. The nearby fields are all pasture and meadows, the latter not so blitzed by chemicals that wild flowers cannot grow. Distant trees mark the course of a stream. On the right, in the far distance, the higher part of Settle can just be seen with the Craven limestone hills rising behind the town. The flat summit is Fountains Fell and farther left one of the Three Peaks, Penyghent, can be seen. Above the whole panorama is the kind of interesting sky that I love for photographs. No wonder I stopped to record the scene.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10     2016

Yorkshire Dales morning

I took this photograph on a footpath leading from Watery Lane just out of the market town of Settle, North Yorkshire. You won't find a lane of that name on the Ordnance Survey maps: there it is called Brockhole Lane. However, for the past several decades and perhaps longer I, and many other people native to the town, have styled it after the streams that regularly flow along its length. We had just left the lane and were heading up to Lodge Pond when the early morning mist began to clear and ahead of us, above the hillside and through the trees, the sun appeared. Such shots, where little preparation can be made, are a bit hit and miss, and often require some processing. So it was with this one.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Canon 5D2     2012

Smearsett Scar

The "scar" landscapes of the Yorkshire Dales (called "Karst landscape" in wider geological circles) are much loved walking areas. The grey outcropping rock and the short grass studded with wild thyme, mountain pansy, bird's-foot trefoil, rock rose, scabious and more are a magnet for those who enjoy exploring the uplands. Many consider them unspoilt and natural, but in fact they are artificial, the product of sheep grazing, and missing the much wider range of plant and animal life they would support if not so heavily cropped. The relative paucity of bird life on a recent walk taking in Settle, Giggleswick, Feizor, Stainforth and Langcliffe reminded me of what I used to see by way of birds in these areas fifty and more years ago. The change is dramatic and tragic.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Ribble Valley near Stackhouse

One of my earliest memories is living in a house in the group of buildings largely hidden by the trees in the centre of this photograph. It is a hamlet called Stackhouse, a small collection of houses and a farm. We were recently on the limestone scars above Stackhouse and I took this photograph to remind me of what my infant self considered to be the whole world. The mountain on the horizon is Penyghent, one of Yorkshire's "Three Peaks", and the flat-top on the right is Fountains Fell, named after its one time owners, the monks of Fountains Abbey.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Rosie and Jim

Rosie and Jim were, in the minds of most British children, two rag doll characters in a T.V. programme. They lived on a canal narrow boat called "Ragdoll" in Birmingham, and each episode centred on their travels. The first two series were written and introduced by John Cunliffe (author of "Postman Pat"). It's no accident that two of the canal boats belonging to an excursion company in Skipton have adopted the characters' names.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Narrow boats, Skipton

The Leeds - Liverpool Canal is, at 127 miles, the longest canal in Britain built as a single waterway. It came into being two hundred years ago and is today a typical, leisure-boat filled canal, with the towpaths used by walkers and cyclists. Its dimensions allow the passage of boats no larger than 62 feet long, 14 feet wide, 7 feet high, and with a draught of no more than 3 feet 7 inches. Most boats seen on the canal are of those whose design derives from the canal "narrow boat". Like those at Skipton, North Yorkshire, seen in the photograph, they are often brightly (and sometimes ornately) painted.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Knaresborough and the River Nidd

Many people know of the Yorkshire spa and conference town of Harrogate. Fewer know of its smaller, adjoining neighbour, Knaresborough. We visited this old, riverside town recently, and I re-acquainted myself with why I prefer it to the well-heeled Harrogate. The photograph gives a clue - Knaresborough is different, picturesque and has more interesting architecture. This view, of the River Nidd taken from near the ruined castle, is spectacular and, surprisingly, improved by the nineteenth century's addition of a railway viaduct (castellated and still in daily use).

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Talbot Arms at night

As with the previous photograph, the main subjects of this shot are the filament, LED and moon light that illuminate a building. In this instance it is the Talbot Arms pub in Settle, North Yorkshire. The pub's sign is also well lit and its clarity anong the surrounding pools of light suggested a focal point for a composition. The talbot was a type of large hunting hound, white or very pale in colour, with hanging ears and great powers of scent. It features reasonably commonly on coats of arms.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Moonlit market place, Settle

A few days in the North Yorkshire market town of Settle, the place of my upbringing, produced a couple of night-time photographs. A small settlement such as this isn't the obvious place to look for night-time shots - cities are much more popular - but the combination of street and property lights with a bright moon drew my eye. The Shambles, the arched building on the left is not only a combination of of the work of seventeenth century and Victorian builders, but also, it seems, a place of traditional filament and modern LED lighting. The building on the right is the town hall.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100