autofantasia's photos with the keyword: countryside

Well, not quite. This was actually shot close to Cod Beck Reservoir on the outskirts of Osmotherley, in North Yorkshire. Perhaps best viewed large on black. Also for Sight and Sound , a group I'm delighted to see is still going strong. youtu.be/u8MWb1FlODQ youtu.be/xUsQ9Qs2DQo youtu.be/qWXwqEGdWLc

For this week's Sunday Challenge which had the theme of green landscapes . As I've not been able to get out much with the camera this week I took a dip into the archives and came up with this shot, which was taken at Beamish Open Air Museum earlier in the year. The church you see here is, or at least was, St. Helen's the old Parish church of Eston, Middlesbrough, and it dates back to the 12th Century. However, by 1998, with the church having been disused for around 15 years and it having been partially demolished by local vandals it was in a very sorry state. So, despite it being a Grade II listed building, permission was granted for its demolition and it appeared then that its fate was sealed ... that was until Beamish stepped in at the last moment to rescue the church for preservation. They carefully deconstructed it stone by stone so that it could be rebuilt on the Museum site in County Durham next to Pockerley Old Hall, which can be seen behind the church high up on the hill. Some of the bricks still have numbers written on them, which I can only assume have been left to illustrate how the Beamish team were able to reconstruct the church exactly as it had been when it stood in Eston, albeit now fully refurbished and fitted out with replacement fittings including some beautiful Georgian pews. Please view on black for best effect. www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-21108837/church-moved-and-rebuilt-at-beamish-museum www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3315277/Vandalised-medieval-church-rebuilt-brick-brick-40-miles-away.html

Been wanting to try and get some shots of the oilseed rape that loads of farmers around here seem to be growing at the moment and finally got a chance yesterday. This was a field I came across on whilst exploring some of the small roads near to Kiplin Hall, North Yorkshire. I know many people hate it as a crop as it can play havoc with their hay fever, but is sure adds some colour to the landscape.

Contrary to what people often say and what this lamb obviously believes the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence. For HFF - Happy Fence Friday . Wishing everyone a good weekend and hoping that next week brings further news of the IMA takeover of ipernity. Oh, and in case you're wondering this shot was taken at the same time as I took the one of The Three Lambs as used for last week's Sunday Challenge .

Well, it appears that the wait is over as Christophe Ruelle, the President and CEO of Ipernity SA, has finally accepted the IMA proposals as announced in a brief update posted by William Sutherland. The next few days should see further announcements being made on both sides once they have finalised the logistics of the transfer. Got to be honest I'd almost given up hope that a deal could be struck and even today there's still a little voice inside my head saying "I'll believe it when it happens", but this isn't really a day to be negative ... it's a day to celebrate and to try and be as optimistic as we can be about the future. It's also a day to say a big thank you to those involved within the 'inner circle' of the IMA, and not just William although I suspect his part has been significant, for all they've done to get us to this stage. Thanks also to Christophe who it appears has finally showed us all that he does indeed still care about this great platform his team created all those years ago and the community that come to call it home.

Running late again, but for what it's worth here is my entry for this week's, or should that be last week's, Sunday Challenge . In keeping with recent challenges there were a few options around a central theme and I elected to go with a combination of Spring and New Growth . I had been hoping to use one of the shots I took whilst doing the Farndale Daffodil Walk , but in the end I wasn't all that happy with the shots I got on the day and so decided to look for inspiration elsewhere. As it happens, that was to be found much closer to home, in a small field on the outskirts of Northallerton that contained a few sheep along with their fairly young looking lambs. Initially, when I came upon them and moved in to try and get a close up shot there were only two lambs in my sights - the two in the foreground. However, once I'd started snapping away a third lamb came across and nuzzled in behind them. I guess he just didn't want to miss the opportunity of having his photo taken! Please view on black for best effect.

For this week's Sunday Challenge , for which the theme was twins or similarity . I remembered recently seeing two very dark coated sheep, almost black, up on the moors by Cod Beck Reservoir on the outskirts of Osmotherley and immediately thought they'd make a cool subject. Sadly, when I went back up there last week with my camera I was unable to get close enough to them due to the fact that they were grazing on the wetter boggier parts of the moor. However, I did manage after several cautious attempts to get close enough to these two. Not sure if they're twins, but ewe wouldn't be surprised. Also for Sight and Sound . Who remembers Sam The Sham & Pharaohs singing 'Wooly Bully' ... youtu.be/K6P7g_qz2OU youtu.be/uE_MpQhgtQ8 youtu.be/GzNNE8JKX10

The view from Sutton Bank looking west towards Thirsk. Created from 10 separate images stitched together in Photoshop, a technique I'm still experimenting with, but I think this one works okay. For those that may not be familiar with this Yorkshire landmark, Sutton Bank (also known as Roulston Scar) is in the Hambleton District of the North York Moors National Park. The A170 road runs nearby with a maximum gradient of 1 in 4 (25%), and including a hairpin bend. Not surprisingly then vehicles have to keep in low gear whist travelling up or down the bank and caravans are banned from using this section of the road. At the foot of Sutton Bank lies the little village of Sutton-under-Whitestonecliffe, which at 27 letters long has (according to Wikipedia) the longest hyphenated place name in England. For the Sight and Sound group, what else, but Dire Straits ... So Far Away So Far Away Please view large on black for best effect.

So here's the last of the 'nearly made it' shots for this week's Sunday Challenge which had the theme of trees . This is one I took last summer not far from Roseberry Topping whilst conducting a reconnaissance mission for my first attempts at shooting sunsets.

Since visiting the water tower located at Lovesome Hill for a recent shoot, I've discovered that it actually features in a track by Rebekah Findlay: a singer songwriter based in North Yorkshire. The song, not surprisinly, is entitled "Lovesome Hill" and appears on her second album "Improvising Around The Sun". It's a rather sinister tale, which apparently takes its inspiration from a rumour that a murderer did actually live at Lovesome Hill for many years before being caught. I don't know how true this is, but he was apparently known as 'The Mechanic' and it's also claimed his ghost can often be seen stood by or even atop the tower. Not sure I'll go back up there again! Now, if I've not scared you off with that tale and you want to know more ... This creation was produced for The Sunday Challenge and published on 26 October to try and satisfy the theme of Spooky/Halloween . www.ipernity.com/group/305069 Apparently, when Rebekah was recording her first album she would pass this place every time on the way to the studio. The actual song "Lovesome Hill" was written behind the steering wheel developing over a few months of journeys back and forth. www.rebekahfindlay.co.uk The main image of the tower as seen in the shot was taken by me. However, I deleted the grey sky, which surrounded it that day as I wanted something a little more dramatic. I also flipped the tower horizontally and repositioned it somewhat to give me a little more space above. Here's the original image pretty much as it came out the camera. The only changes being that I've resized it and added my watermark and a fine line border. www.ipernity.com/doc/autofantasia/35625607 The lightning background I've used to gve the scene a sense of drama was taken by Mathias Krumbholz. Entitled "Thunderstorm near Pritzerbe (Germany)" it needs to be attributed as: "Lightning Pritzerbe 01 (MK)" by Mathias Krumbholz - Own work. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lightning_Pritzerbe_01_(MK).jpg#mediaviewer/File:Lightning_Pritzerbe_01_(MK).jpg You can see more of his work by following the link below: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Photos_by_Leviathan1983 Finally, the rain texture was developed by me from an image I found online entitled "misc rain element png by dbszabo1". Check it out here ... dbszabo1.deviantart.com/art/misc-rain-element-png-309954950 I took his original work and produced a new image using several copies of it merged together, but smaller in size and with another layer produced going in the other direction to give the effect of a blustery night. And there you go, that's how it was done. What's that you say, what about 'The Mechanic' ... well all I can say is he wasn't on the shot when I uploaded it!

Here's another shot of the strange looking water tower located at Lovesome Hill on the outskirts of Northallerton. This was taken for the recent Sunday Challenge , which had the theme of grey , but in the end I opted for a different shot.

This week's Sunday Challenge was the colour grey/gray. I took it that it was okay to have some colour in the shot as long as either the subject was grey or the overall look of the image as a whole was grey, hence the fact that there's some green in the foreground of the shot I decided to use. This tower is somewhat of a mystery, to me at least. It stands in a field just a few hundred yards away from the A167 between Northallerton and Darlington, but I have no idea what it is. I've often passed it whilst driving, but from the road you can only see the top third or so of it and it is quite difficult to judge the scale of it. However, as you can see from this shot it is rather large and the fact that there's a door on the far side and windows on the central structure would suggest that access to the top is possible, most likely via a spiral staircase. And it appears to be made from almost entirely concrete, hence the predominantly grey tones, but as I say I've absolutely no idea what its purpose is. EDIT: Now identified as the Lovesome Hill water tower ... thanks Ann!

When we first moved to Guisborough in 1993, I immediately fell under the spell of Roseberry Topping, a distinctive and iconic landmark with fine views across North Yorkshire and Cleveland, that is situated just a few miles away. At just 1,049 feet (320 m) high, it may not be the biggest hill you'll ever see, but it will certainly be one of the most distinctive. Its shape, caused by the combination of a geological fault and a mining collapse in 1912 has made the hill the most beloved landmark in the Tees Valley area. One of the few framed photographs we own is actually of a sunset at Roseberry Topping, so when I saw that the Sunday Challenge for this week was sunsets I immediately thought of using that as a subject. I spent a few hours one afternoon walking the area around it to try and find a vantage point similar to said framed photo and, having done that, returned just before sunset to set up operations. This is my first real attempt at shooting a sunset and that combined with an absence of much in the way of clouds meant that the finished product wasn't as colourful as I might have liked. So, I guess Joe Cornish won't be losing any sleep over my efforts. Some were too light, some too dark and many were spoiled by an abundance of noise, so I obviously have much to learn. However, I did get a few that I liked and this is possibly my favourite.

And yes, there's not a single car in sight! This if you like is the other side of me and the view is one of looking towards Roseberry Topping in North Yorkshire. I used to see this landmark most evenings on the way home to Guisborough where we lived many years ago. Thankfully, we've recently moved nearer to it once again and it remains one of my favourite sights. Hope you like it too ... have a good weekend folks! PAUL