Hazy London view

Whether you are an analogue or a digital photographer you will probably know about and use filters with your camera. I loved a red filter with black and white photography to produce high contrast skies. I'm also partial to a vignette and a neutral density filter, and I've used polarising filters for decades. But sometimes I think weather is the best filter of all. Shooting against the light (contre jour) gives great silhouettes and contrast. Snow gives strong emphasis to line in a scene and fog mutes colour and gives the effect of layers of different shades. Haze offers some of the same qualities as fog, but less so. This photograph of Tower Bridge taken from London Bridge has muted colours and objects become less definite with distance. The distant towers of Canary Wharf are depicted almost as if painted by a water colourist.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Distant Ross on Wye

The winter hasn't been particularly cold in Herefordshire, and in my part of the county there has been no snow as yet. However, we have had some cold, frosty, clear days when mist has been a feature of the landscape. On a recent walk to the small village of Brampton Abott to see the church (disappointingly it was locked) we saw this view of misty Ross on Wye.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Hanging on to summer

With wife, oldest son and oldest grandaughter I climbed Sugar Loaf in the last week of October. We set off in the morning carrying jackets and as we ascended our exertions made us remove the outer layer leaving single, summer-weight garments. However, once we had clambered up to the summit, looked around and taken some photographs we replaced our discarded layer and donned jackets to eat our lunch. What had looked and felt like summer soon changed to autumn chill as the wind struck. The photograph shows nothing of this. Only the brown of the bracken and the tints of the trees give away the season.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Malverns weather

The weather man said dark cloud all day but thankfully got it wrong. Consequently our walk on the Malvern Hills to the summit of Worcestershire Beacon and beyond included a long spell of "interesting" weather. By that I mean the sun broke through the multi-level clouds and transformed the landscape, introducing pockets of light, long shadows and contrast in the sky. The effect was best seen as we strode up Summer Hill and looked back to the south.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Misty Town Bridge, Boston

I gave a talk about photography in our village recently and in it I emphasised how much I like the weather that many shun for the qualities that it brings to photographic images. There's nothing to beat snow, frost, showers, mist and fog (I exclude constant rain) for interesting photography. During January we've had quite a bit of fog and mist and this photograph of people crossing the Town Bridge in Boston, Lincolnshire exemplifies what I mean. The shot is made by the silhouettes, tones, different qualities of light, shadows, all of which was suffused in a soft mist that was lifting even as I raised my camera to my eye.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100