This little church on a hill in the heart of Northumberland is a gem of a place to visit and I have done so twice this week! The first was on the Sunday, yes I know, me, going to church on a Sunday however, it was to check out the location in the hope I would be able to return to capture a sunset some time. Two days later, I found myself doing just that as the evening seemed like it may offer such a sunset already. The clouds were moving quick across the landscape and were quite broken which I hoped would allow for some dramatic light as the sun went down for the day. Strangely, there wasn't even a breeze on the hill even thought those clouds were speeding across the sky. I was the only one in the graveyard that evening, or at least I was the most 'lively' one anyway and it was a very peaceful experience.

I had already decided on the main composition I wanted due to my visit on the Sunday but I also used the time to take a few alternative shots as the sun went down including a view across the grass land towards the church and one across the valley to the distant hills as the sun cast an orange light into the haze.
Even though it wasn't the most dramatic of sunsets, I feel I came back down the hill with one or two 'keepers' on the memory card. Hopefully you do too.

Another visit to my default location for the sunset last night, the Angel of the North. It didn't really get to much so packed up and started back to the car when I bumped into a guy called Jay setting up a Chinese lantern in memory of his mother who had passed away a few years earlier. I decided to set my camera back up to capture the occasion and agreed to send the image to Jay for his memory. I took a few as the lantern floated past the Angel but I like this one the most as the lantern has timed itself nicely to be right where the heart of the Angel would be. A fitting image in memory of Jays mother I'm sure the image will look great on his wall in the coming weeks.

On another note, the meeting with Jay also seen my Facebook page reach 500 likes as he did the honours and did the click. 

So a big thank you to Jay for that 500th like and a big thank you for everyone else who has supported my page and my photography over the years.  Heres to the next 500 likes!

Whilst driving around the quiet country roads in North Yorkshire on the weekend, I spotted this scene and quickly pulled over to the gateway of the field to get it before the sheep trotted off away from the mad human with a camera! The curve of the hill reminded me of the standard old Windows XP desktop image a little and the addition of the sheep made it a little more interesting. 
#xpsheep #windowsxp #screensaver #summergreen#davidfletcherphotography #dfp0156

On Friday evening I had a mad dash up to the Angel of the North as the sky looked like it would give a fantastic display of colour. Unfortunately, it just faded away to nothing and I didnt even get the camera out of the bag. So on Saturday evening when I once again thought the sky would give me that colour I was after, I really did feel like just staying in doors and forgetting about it as it would probably be a re-run of the night before. But something urged me to just go out and see what I could get. After all its only 10 minutes from my front door, not a big loss if nothing happens. As I drove there, beams of light started to spill over the clouds and I thought I had missed the best of it due to my umming and erring. I tried to get as high as I could to at least get some of the light and walked to the top of the fields edge. It was then I noticed all the daisies in the over grown weeds by the trees and thought this would make a great foreground and a different photo to the norm. I just managed to get set up and beams of light spilled from the distant clouds. My camera clicked away like this would be the last ever sunset! This is the result. Hopefully there will be endless more sunsets and some of them will be epic.
#angelofthenorth #sunset #northeastengland #gateshead #heavenlylight#dfp9956 #davidfletcherphotography

Traveling back from photographing the Flowers at Bamburgh yesterday, I thought I would check out a well photographed old windmill at Cramlington as it was, more or less, on my way home. I took a number of images in colour but found the lighting conditions just didn't work for it so went for the mono. Looking forward to getting back here when the sun is setting and the fields are golden rather than green. Stay tuned folks! 



#oldwindmill #cramlington #plessy #davidfletcherphotography #dfp9551

Wild flowers, Bamburgh, Northumberland.
It seems to be a weekend of flowers at Bamburgh for me! After Fridays quick trip to photograph the poppies near the castle, today seen us take in the Red Campion growing in the field near the golf course. It was a little breezy but the blur seems to add something to the image. I have seen images taken of this spot during sunrise and sunset times and they look fantastic. Unfortunately for me midday light was all I could manage this time but I still think the scene looks beautiful.

#Bamburghflowers #Northumberland #wildflowers #meadow #campion#dfp9483

Last Sunday I learnt a valuable lesson when I left a location after the sun had set and I thought it was all over. Then the sky exploded in colour as I drove home. Last night was a similar situation. I had heard that there were a good collection of Poppies on the sand dunes next to Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland and since my favourite sunset prediction website indicated that there maybe a possibility of a nice sunset, I decided to make the 1 hour drive to try and capture the colour in the sky and the poppies too. I found the poppies ok but the sky was rather grey and uninteresting. Still, the sunset website had indicated that it would show colour so I wasn't going to give up. I'm glad I stayed as about 10 minutes after the sun had sunk below the horizon, a small bit of colour lit up the high clouds, and then it grew bigger and brighter, filling the LCD screen on my camera with colour. Couple that with the reds of the poppies and there you have it. I'm so glad I stayed that bit longer. Even when I drove home the colour didn't vanish from the horizon till well after 11pm. Mission accomplished. ​

#poppiesatbamburgh #red #bamburghcastle #Northumberland#davidfletcherphotography #dfp9426

Sometimes you have to visit a location a number of times to get the photo you  are after. This is one such location. I have been past the Presser Water Pumping station near Blanchland on a good few occasions over the years but never purposely set out to get a decent photo of it. Whilst looking for somewhere different to get a sunset photo, I checked out the station on my sunset app and found that the sun was going down in almost the perfect direction. The weather also seemed to be playing ball so I headed off on the 50 minute journey full of hope. There was some lovely light over the moors on the way and I managed to stop off a few times to capture a few of its rays in my camera. However, the closer I got to my chosen location, the quicker a thick bank of cloud seemed to move in and sure enough it sucked all the potential colour out of the sunset. Off I went home, tired and disappointed. I didn't even bother to post any images from the pumping station as they just looked, well, grey. A week later and the chance to revisit the location surfaced when the SunsetWX website indicated the possibility of a great sunset across the North East of England. I set off hours before the event in order to take full advantage of the fabulous evening light once again. This time it really looked promising, no thick cloud bank and lovely wispy clouds. Almost perfect. As I sat and waited for the to sun set behind the hills, it was  wonderful listening to the bleating lambs, Curlew, Lapwings and even the odd call of a Cuckoo in the  distance. The colour started to fade and I went back to the car happy and sure I had an image I would like to share with you. However, as I drove home over the moors I realised the big mistake I had made as I looked in my rearview mirror. That sunset just wasn't finished just yet and I cursed myself as it soaked the sky with evening colour!  If only I had waited 10 more minutes before heading home ,Agh! Still I did get even closer to the image I wanted. Next time, I WILL stay that bit longer...

#sunset #Ramshaw #Presserpumpstation #oldfence #eveninglight #davidfletcherphotography #dfp9224

4.15am isn't a great time to get up on a Saturday but thats what I did so I could make the sort trip to Durham for the early morning hot air Balloon Festival flight. Getting to the carpark at 5.45 also gave me a great choice of parking as I was the second car there! All was quiet on the field and not a balloon in sight but that quickly changed as the pilots and their crews turned up. The field speedily filled up with fantastic looking balloons and off they went into the seemingly perfect flying conditions. Well worth getting up for! The festival is on all weekend with more morning and evening flights planned as long as the weather permits. Its predicted to be very busy so if you are going good luck with the parking!
#durhamballoonfestival #balloon #hotair #IloveDurham # #DurhamBid#BalloonsinDurham  #DavidFletcherPhotography #dfp8536

Its been a very damp day today here in the North East of England so I thought I would post this image of Aytons Wood near Penshaw which I took last week, just to warm things up a little. Please feel free to like comment and share my work with your friends. Its much appreciated! Enjoy your evening ;)
#aytonswood #penshaw #davidfletcherphotography #dfp7927#Englishwoodland #bluebells #ramsons