Monday 16 November 2009

Peace and riot

It was one of those days.

When the sky seemed to be brushing the top of your head.

When the wind screamed like a jet engine and tore at your clothes.

One of those days when you wore two hoods and wondered about Paramo.

When you realise how difficult it is to carry out the simplest tasks when wearing gloves.

When the crowds stayed away from the hills.

And when, despite the cold, the wind and the mud, you feel alive.

12 comments:

Unknown said...

Excellent. Fabulous photographs.

Nielsen Brown said...

Fantastic photos, and being able to get out in the hills far from the maddening crowd is always nice, pity it has to be when the weather is less than perfect. Love the photo of Bergen

Joe Newton said...

Hendrik - thank you. My photography technique is simple. Leave it in full auto and shoot lots. A couple have got to come out ok, it's the law of averages!

Roger - thanks, the weather really made the shots on that day. It's great having the hills so close to my home although Ulriken can get really busy when the weather is nice.

kate said...

great post-a two hood day. i like it :)

Martin Rye said...

Paramo would be good and the photos are very good. What camera was used? Almost look like they had the HDR treatment :)

Joe Newton said...

Kate - I can see Michael Fish cottoning on to that phrase "Tomorrow will a two-hooder of a day in the north".

Martin - I'm still on the fence with Paramo/Furtech. On one hand they seem perfect for days like Sunday but then you read about short sleeves and baggy cuts and it puts me off, especially at that price. It would be nice to 'try-before-you-buy. If I made the jump it'd probably be a Third Element or the new Quito.

The camera is a Lumix TZ4. Pretty basic but the lens is good and nature provided the eerie lighting. Funnily enough I read Trey Ratcliff's HDR tutorial this morning, fascinating stuff but a little too involved for me.

Martin Rye said...

Snow hole course would be fun stuff. 3rd Element has long sleeves and a good cut. I am 6'2 and its fine on me. I got it as it had a better cut to the other Paramo stuff. HDR is OK if it tries to capture what was seen in my view. Some of the HDR I see is not real looking. i-CJW in Japan looks real with his HDR shots, It has its place as some photos get so photoshopped I wonder if it was really like what was originally seen.

Ben said...

Excellent photos, beautiful clouds. I am looking for somewhere near by I can try Paramo 3rd element. I guess it even more difficult in Norway?

Dave Hollin said...

when in those kind of conditions, you always feel alive. Brilliant

Joe Newton said...

Ben - thank you. I don't think I've seen ANY Paramo here. I would love to try it out for a day or two before committing £200.

Dave - It was great. Walking into the teeth of it up over the first ridge was a shock to the system but once I battened-down-the-hatches it was great fun.

James Boulter said...

Stunning photos there

Joe Newton said...

James - thanks, mother nature made it easy for me that day.