Interesting observation. It was one of those shots that just 'took itself' as soon as I looked in that direction. Maybe to do with the connecting road between the tree and barn.

Val Venosta

We are in that part of Italy where a good few people do not speak Italian. I had to get an adapter for my computer charger, as they use Austrian plugs here. But it is very pretty and the foreign food is good.

Here are a couple of snaps posted from my portable.

View from our hotel room. We are in Glorenza, a medieval walled city.

Lago di Muta, right below the overcrowded one with the steeple popping out of the water.

Lago di Resia

Glorenza

Sorry if I do not comment much this week.

Like those gigantic vessels...

Excellent shot.

I guess adding some clarity and contrast can fix photo bit but this vast are will lose details anyway due to atmospheric distortions.
Nice scenery, but I just watched travel documentary from Rio and got slight understanding about those favelas, sad to see people living in such conditions...

I like these dusk shots where natural and artificial lights mix.

Sunrise and sea can create nice colours, all these different gold tones are there to capture.

These are my favorites. First is nicely spotted, second is lovely scene, I especially like these cloud formations.

Mountains, water and blue sky, looks like dream.

Lovely part of the Alps. Interesting to see how the different culture (Austrian rather than Italian) affects architecture. I remember having trouble with languages up there. Locals insisted on speaking german to us (while chatting amongst themselves in italian), though we can only speak italian, french, english...

Once you see the face in the first you can't unsee it.
I like the Lago di Resia shot and the light in the last.

Yes, the favelas are saddening and everywhere. From the outside they do seem to have some rudimentary facilities compared to the South African townships, not that it's a competition. Either would be unimaginable to live in and a sobering reminder of how fortunate we are.

Drybones Woods

I've been itching to get into the woods with my camera for a while, but I've been struggling with very low energy levels and general weariness for quite some time which has made it much easier to just not bother and do something else instead (such as watching Youtube or sleeping, or both!).

After the prolonged dry spell we've had over summer, the heavens opened yesterday and it pelted it down pretty much all day and through the night, but I'd noticed the forecast indicated a fine day today (Sunday), so when I got up this morning and confirmed that it was indeed a fine day, I decided to forego my usual Sunday morning routine and head out with my camera.

My energy levels are still pretty awful and I didn't think I'd last more than an hour, so I went for the very easy option of Drybones Woods. This strip of woods wraps a section of the river Yarrow and sits adjacent to Yarrow Valley Park, a popular local park that's been built around the remains of Birkacre mill, well, specifically the lodges, the mill buildings themselves are long gone despite their place in history as the location of the first steam engine installed in a cotton mill, although probably not helped by the original mill being destroyed in the anti machinery riots of 1779, although I believe a larger mill was eventually built on the site and I remember several derelict buildings around the lodges when I was a child.

Anyway, local history aside, the location of Drybones Woods makes it very easy to get to (by car at least) and, seemingly, the dog walkers who frequent the park rarely venture beyond the weir at the far end of the lodges, which marks the start of the woods, so I mostly had the place to myself.

I specifically chose the Fujifilm GFX100S and my favourite combination of lenses for it (20-35 and 45-100) on this walk, using it mostly on a tripod.

Mist On The Water

Of course, having brought exactly the wrong camera (and certainly the wrong lenses) for bird photography, there was an interesting subject sat amongst the mist rising from the lodge. I'm not entirely sure what it is, I thought it was a Heron, but now that I look more carefully at it, it doesn't look a bit lacking in the long neck department.

Pathside Woodland

The light here caught my eye as I trudged along the path beside the reservoir.

Birch

Meanwhile, this isolated birch was in the shadows on the other side of the path.

Weir'd

I knew I was approaching the weir as the deep thunderous sound grew louder, but I wasn't prepared for just how heavily the water was flowing over it. A far cry from the gentle stream that's usually rolling over the top.

Frantic Fish Ladder

The fish ladder on the far side of the weir was also taking a battering (no pun intended). I can't see many fish making their way up that in these conditions.

The Weir In Detail

This is about as close as you can get to the weir. I find the weir difficult to photograph in a pleasing manner, the overgrown trees surrounding it tend to be more in the way than helping to provide nice framing elements and you can't safely reach some of the vantage points that might provide better images, but I've included these just to show how lively the river was.

Into Drybones

There's a single narrow trail running through the woods, adjacent to the river for the most part. For most of the walk, I was heading towards the sun, so many of these images are backlit, with a lot of the trees in heavy shadow.

Clear Skies

This bit of a clearing is actually a ford across the river that one of the local farmers uses to access the field on the far side. Not sure I'd want to be crossing that in my SUV, I assume the farmer has a much better one.

Murky Waters

The Yarrow originates high on Anglezarke moor, somewhere around the lower flanks of Standing Stones Hill (may not include standing stones) I believe. It's very quickly captured by a substantial reservoir chain, before being released back onto its natural course and allowed to flow through Duxbury Woods before it winds up here. As its source is in peatland, it has a natural brown colour, but I think most of this is mud and silt that's built up over summer and is finally being washed downstream.

Ivy in The Spotlight

I like the way this ivy seems to be reaching for the light breaking through the trees.

The Path Ahead

Not much to say about this. The original image was very contrasty (like most of these), so I've toned that down quite a lot and lifted part of the foreground a little to bring out its details, hopefully without destroying the drama of the shadows.

The Turnaround Point

I had planned to continue into Duxbury woods, but the river had burst its banks a little way beyond this point and I didn't fancy getting my feet wet trying to wade through it. The waters here were quite choppy and making a tremendous roar.

This bird seems to be cormorant, heron has long straight beak, this bird seems to have hook in the end of beak, also colours are of cormorant. Here cormorant is announced as bird of year, but it seems to cause quite lot of controversy with its fast population growth and effects to fish population and environment.

Clear skies and murky waters are fantastic photos, light is just magical.

In weir shots I think that bit faster shutter speed would have been better, right now water seems too milky.

That's a cormorant.
I like the waterfall shots a lot. I also like 'Clear Skies'.
I don't think I've seen a fish ladder like that. I've heard of some similar concepts. Have you ever seen fish on them?

Yes, definitely a cormorant. I always think they have a sort of prehistoric aura, enhanced nicely by the mist in this case.

The ivy actching the sun is nice.

When I tried DXO, it was good for editing, but I preferred LR. I especially like the cataloging options of LR.
The last one is my pick for this series.

It definitely gives a sense of infinity to me.