Best of the West

Recent Work

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  Chain ferry docking by Paulette x

  The Swanage to Poole Chain Ferry or ‘Sandbanks’ Ferry, Dorset, England. A wonderful sight with the topless double decker bus onboard. The Sandbanks Ferry has run between Sandbanks and Studland since 1926 and is for many people, a “must do” on their visit to Poole. The chain ferry operates daily, carrying all manner of traffic across the mouth of Poole Harbour, cutting out the long journey time to places like Corfe Castle and Swanage from Poole by taking the direct route. Canon EOS 400D, 18-55 mm lens, HDR & photoshop edit. Featured in the ‘Live, Love, Dream’ group December ‘08. With thanks! / Featured in the ‘Selective colouring’ group December ‘08 with thanks! / Featured in the ‘Dorset England’ group December ‘08 with thanks again!

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  West Bay Sunset by Sara Hasted

  Taken in West Bay, Dorset is the Golden Gateway to the Jurassic Coast. West Bay is south of Bridport, between Eype with Seatown to the west and Freshwater with Burton Bradstock to the east. Situated at the western end of Chesil Beach / Chesil Bank, the area forms part of the Dorset Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site within Lyme Bay. West Bay, Dorset is a wonderful seaside location for family holidays. Picture was taken August 2008 Map of location

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  Exeter Cathedral. UK by Irene Burdell

  Best viewed larger. The site of Exeter Cathedral has a long and illustrious history. The Roman II Augusta Legion camped here and it was occupied by Britons, Saxons, Danes, and Normans. The English St. Boniface, who converted northern Germany to Christianity, was trained here in 690 AD. A Saxon minster dedicated to St. Mary and St. Peter was the main church of Exeter at the time. In 1050, the minster became a cathedral when the seat of the bishop of Devon and Cornwall was transferred from Crediton because of a fear of sea-raids. The minster was used by Bishop Leofric as his seat, but services were often held out of doors, close to the site of the present cathedral building. In 1107, William Warelwast, a nephew of William the Conqueror, was appointed bishop, and this was the catalyst for the building of a new cathedral in the Norman style. Construction began in 1112 and its official foundation was in 1133, but it took many more years to complete. Exeter Cathedral was rebuilt beginning in the 13th century, but this was not necessitated by any disaster. Unlike many other English cathedrals, the strong Norman towers had not fallen and there was no fire. The rebuilding was the result of successive enterprising bishops who wished to make their cathedral more up-to-date and more beautiful. Rebuilding began in about 1275 under Bishop Walter Bronescombe and took less than a century to complete. Made entirely of local stone, including Purbeck marble, the new and improved Exeter Cathedral was complete in 1369. The Norman towers and some of the nave walls were retained, but it was otherwise entirely rebuilt with a uniform design at the height of the Decorated Gothic style. Exeter Cathedral is thus the most stylistically consistent medieval cathedral in England besides nearby Salisbury Cathedral, which was Exeter’s model. Exeter Cathedral suffered some damage during the English Civil War and the Puritans destroyed the cathedral cloisters in 1655. During the Victorian era, some refurbishment was carried out by George Gilbert Scott. The German bombing of the city on May 1942 during World War II caused considerable damage to the cathedral, including the loss of most of the stained glass and the demolition of the twin Chapels of St. James and St. Thomas. Subsequent repairs and the clearance of the area around the western end of the building uncovered portions of earlier structures, including remains of the Roman city and of the original Norman cathedral.

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  Beech Avenue - Print by Andrew Doggett

  It’s noon in October and I’m glancing out of the window from my house in Bath, looking at the sky. There isn’t a cloud in sight; no good for a landscape shot; there is no drama; no mood. But that’s okay; I’ve been waiting for a day like today for two weeks now; guaranteed light at sunset filtering through the trees of a beech avenue I remember from my childhood. As it turns out the only difficulty with this shot is getting a clear road; a little more patience required; I’m not known for being patient, but when outdoors I guess I’m a different person. I’m using a polarising filter to saturate the autumnal colours. Wth perfect side lighting twenty minutes before sunset, it’s an agonising six second exposure; will a car ruin the magical tranquility of the shot. No. Not this time anyway. Et voila… Technical Details: Aperture – F16.0 / Exposure – 6 Secs / Focal Length – 82 mm / Camera – Canon EOS 40D / Lens – Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0 L USM / Filter – Polariser / Location – Wimborne, Dorset

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  Portland Bill Lighthouse by bubblebat

  Portland Bill Lighthouse, Portland, Dorset, England. Technical Data / Date : 22 October 2008 12:52 / Camera : Nikon D300 / Lens : Nikon 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5 / Focal Length : 18mm / Shutter Speed : 1/400 / Aperture : f/10 / ISO : 200 / Mode : Raw / Post Processing : Photoshop CS3 Map of location More images of this location /

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  The Dolphin. by linsads

  I have thought long and hard about what sort of image to send in to this group - it is a great honour to be invited to join so thank you Richard and Catherine. / the image of ‘The Dolphin’ in Plymouth is an image i knew even before moving to beautiful Devon. Being an artist i have known of Beryl Cook and her wonderful paintings for a long time, and as she used the Dolphin not only in her paintings but as her local i think it is an apt picture to sum up this amazing area. / It was taken in November and it was a little dull and very cold the time was around 12.30pm. / Camera Nikon D80 / lens 18mm – 135mm / focal length 35.0mm / exposure time F/5.0 / ISO 200 / image quality large / The image has been very slightly cropped to hide an Advertising Board. / I hope you like it enough to include it in the group.

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  More Reflections of the Past by rodsfotos

  I went over to my former home town of Totnes in South Devon UK.,this morning having checked that high tide was at 09,56 and all was still with the River Dart like a mirror and beautiful lateral warm light. A similar scene to my earlier Reflections of the Past image that was taken with my trusty old Nikon D100. Still getting accustomed to all the features on my recently purchased Nikon D300 but was more than pleased with the results of the images I took this morning, this one having little editing, just a slight perspective crop and a little sharpening. Nikon D300 / 18 – 70 @ 29mm / AP F16 for 1/13sec / CP Filter

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  Bude Castle by imageworld

  Bude castle & heritage centre in bude,

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  Sea Defences by stephen foote

  Kimmeridge Dorset UK On the East side of Kimmeridge bay, are some rudimentary sea defences, made from local stone. Presumably placed there to stop the erosion of the cliff behind where this picture was taken from. The Clavell Tower – a Victorian folly, sits on this cliff, and was recently moved some 100 metres inland to stop it from toppling into the sea. Timed exposure of approximately 10 seconds, using polarising filter and ND 1.2 graduated filter. Nikon D300

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  Branscombe Fishing Boat by SWEEPER

  What more could you want , a bright sunny day , a pebble beach , and a nice red boat all on its own ! Canon 10d + Tamron 17-44 +polariser .

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  Twelve Mens Moor, Bodmin Moor by WilliamtheIVth

  Set on one of the highest parts of Cornwall, the Twelve Mens Moor lies below Kilmar Tor on the East Moor, near North Hill. Its dramatic background of jagged granite ridge with its prominent Jacob’s Ladder make this Tor an outstanding feature of the physical nature of this part of the County. / Below this fine ridge lie several Bronze Age relics, one of which the stone ‘kist vaen’, or ‘stone chest’ is the most fascinating. A small sunken ‘chest’ of granite walls creates all sorts of imaginative thoughts in young minds; ‘the tribal chief buried here’; ‘can I fit in it?’. This chest was capped with a granite slab then covered completely over with earth to form a mound or cairn. It was, indeed, the burial place of a clan elder. This elder, after his death, was left out on the open Moor to decompose after which time his skeleton was then set in the foetal position and installed in the chest, possiblt with a few of his belongings then covered over. Over recent times graves and cairns like this have been broken inot and any artefacts removed; all that’s left here is the silent granite and one’s own imagination. / Twelve Mens Moor was also a setting used by Daphne du Maurier in her ‘Jamaica Inn’. The notorious Trewortha Marsh, still a present day danger, helped create the eery atmosphere in her book and subsequent film. It was the place where Joss Merlyn, landlord of the Jamaica Inn was born and where his younger brother lived. On a cold wild winter’s night it leaves no doubt about its suitability for this role in the story. However, on a sultry summer’s evening, when I took this picture, it takes on a completely different outlook; it is so beautiful, calm and serene

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  Hugh Town by cappa

  a view looking towards hugh town along town beach from Carn Thomas at night on St Mary’s, Isles of Scilly, Cornwall