CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

Wednesday was perfect drone flying weather so I packed the DJI Mavic Pro and headed out to Hailes Castle on the bank of the River Tyne near East Linton (no, not the River Tyne in the North East of England in Newcastle) to shoot the next promo video for the MacLean Photographic workshops. I did several passes of the castle from varying heights and also took some video clips using the new Fujifilm X-H1. On Thursday I was hosting a 'Beaches and Castles' workshop and we decided to head up to Hailes Castle for the afternoon.  Unfortunately the weather had clouded over so we shot long exposure images of the waterfall and some shots of the snowdrops in the trees. All of the shots below were shot on the Fujifilm X-H1 with the 10-24mm f4 or 50-140mm f2.8 lenses. For more information on the MacLean Photographic workshops CLICK HERE For more information on the history of Hailes Castle CLICK HERE -----------------------------------------------...

This afternoon we took a trip out to Hailes Castle to see the display of snowdrops that surround the ruins on the bank of the River Tyne. Snowdrops are a wild woodland flower than comes into bloom at the end of winter.  With the mild weather of late, the carpet of snowdrops at Hailes Castle is earlier this year. Galanthus (snowdrop; Greek gála "milk", ánthos "flower") is a small genus of about 20 species of bulbous perennial herbaceous plants in the family Amaryllidaceae. The plants have two linear leaves and a single small white drooping bell shaped flower with six petal-like (petaloid) tepals in two circles (whorls). The smaller inner petals have green markings.   Snowdrops have been known since the earliest times under various names but were named Galanthus in 1753.  Here are some of the shots I took this morning on the Fujifilm X-T2 with either the XF35mm f1.4, with extension rings fitted to enable closer focusing, or the XF10-24mm f4 wide angl...

A break in the grey weather that has been sat over East Lothian for the past few days had me grabbing my camera bag to try and find some snowdrops for my stock library files before I head to the South of France on Saturday for eight days.   With it getting late in the season the chances of any snowdrops being left by the time I got back from Marseilles were slim at best, so I took the opportunity to get an early start and head up to Hailes Castle near East Linton. When I parked up and walked through the gate I was pleased to see that the bank in front of the wall was still covered in snowdrops, so I set to work to capture the dew covered flowers without treading on any in the process.  Just as I completed my first set of images the sun broke through the clouds behind me transforming the red sandstone walls of Hailes Castle, so I continued to shoot from a low point. Moving down the slope that runs down to the River Tyne, I continued to shoot the little white f...

Last week, before I went to Italy, I took an early morning walk up by Hailes Castle in the glorious spring sunshine.  I had been up to Hailes on one previous occasion just after we moved to East Lothian but I hadn't been back since. The ruins of Hailes Castle sits on the edge of the River Tyne near East Linton and there is a really nice walk near the river with lots of wild flowers at the this time of year ( CLICK HERE for the blog on this walk), I had decided to revisit the castle to take more shots of the ruins and also see if I could come up with a better view of the ruins as it is difficult to get a good composition due to its proximity to the river.  However on this morning I think I have found a better view for a morning visit. Here are some of the shots from the latest visit to Hailes Castle CLICK HERE for the previous blog on Hailes Castle (21 August 2013), which includes the dramatic history of this ruin. ...

On Tuesday morning I went for a very early (06:30) walk down by Hailes Castle. The sky was blue, the sun was in the sky and the birds were singing - it was one of those 'great-to-be-alive' days.   I was there to carry out a recce for a project that I am working on (more on this in the next couple of months) and with so many wild flowers and insects lit by the bright sunshine streaming through the branches, I decided to get the Fujinon 60mm macro out of the bag. Out of the five Fujinon lenses I have, the 60mm f2.4 is the lens I use the least.  This isn't to say it is a bad lens, it isn't!  It is a superb lens but since I got to 55-200mm zoom I have found myself leaving the 60mm in the bag or back at the office.  However on this morning I reminded myself why I bought this lens and what a great macro performer it is. Let's get one thing straight from the start, the 60mm f2.4 isn't a true macro lens. The magnification ratio is 1:2 on the Fujinon and all ...

In the trees just off the A1 near East Linton near Dunbar lies the ruined 13th century castle of Hailes which is open to visitors all year round for free.  The extensive ruin lies on the banks of the River Tyne, which flows past the castle on its way to the North Sea. Built in 1240 by the Gourlay family, Hailes Castle has featured heavily in the turbulent history of Scotland.  Most notably Hailes was home to Mary Queen of Scots just before her ill fated marriage to James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell.   The Queen also stayed at Hailes years before when Henry VIII sent a a small army north to occupy Hailes to force seven year old Mary to marry his son Edward. Hailes once again came under attack by an English army in 1650 when Oliver Cromwell's troop severely damaged the fortifications.  Later in the 17th century Hailes was bought by the Dalrymple family but they abandoned the castle in favour of a country house. Hailes Castle is now maintained by Historic Scotl...