I was saddened to learn of the death of Hannu Mikkola who died on 26 February 2021 of cancer at the age of 78. He was one of my rallying heroes through the 1970s and 80s. I saw him in action many times here in Ireland and in the RAC and Scottish rallies. A quiet gentleman who brought 4 wheel drive it's early success in rallying in the form of the Audi Quattro and was crowned World Rally Champion in 1983 in the Quattro. Below is a selection of my images of him over the years.
Click on the images to see a much larger version. All images copyright Leslie Ashe
The forecast was for 100% cloud cover at sunrise so I thought there was little point in setting an alarm. Wrong! I happened to waken just after 7am to find quite thick mist. Hurriedly gathered the gear together and got out before it disappeared as the sun rose above the clouds. Where to go close by?
I immediately thought of several images I made of some trees in the Clandeboye Estate and as it was only 10 minutes drive away I hoped the mist would linger long enough to enable me to add to my set showing the trees in different seasons and conditions. The mist was thinning quite fast and with a half mile walk from the car to the trees it was touch and go.
It wasn't as good as I had hoped but a pleasing image nonetheless with the bare branches in complete contrast with the 3 previous shots from the same location:
This is work in progress and I need to do this shot again with a hard frost and or snow.
I managed a couple more as I wandered around before heading home for breakfast:
Click on the images to see a much larger version. All images copyright Leslie Ashe
With Covid-19 travel restrictions limiting us to an advisory 10 mile limit I have restricted myself to keeping to this (more or less). The prospect of 30-40% cloud cover at sunrise seemed like an opportunity to try get one of those (elusive) spectacular skies.
Sadly the cloud cover was much less than forecast and mainly limited (again) to the area just above the horizon. Cloud on the horizon isn’t always a bad thing, especially if it is low cloud and allows the pre-sunrise light to illuminate any high cloud.
This morning there was a lovely patch of thin wispy cloud over the middle distance but unfortunately the wind was dispersing it and by the time the good light appeared it was only a pale imitation of what it had been.
The other issue was that the tide was higher than I expected at my location and I was limited to using a few small rocks and associated pools on the beach as foreground.
Click on an image to see a larger version. All images copyright Leslie Ashe.
Back to the coast on Sunday morning. Again the bank of cloud on the horizon prevented any decent colour in the wispy clouds at sunrise. The tide was ebbing when I arrived leaving some beautiful pristine sand. First location was the diagonal rocks which I have photographed many times. However, while waiting for the light to build and maybe get some strong colour a dog walker passed behind me. Pity the dog didn’t and it completely spoiled the sand in the foreground. Anyway the owner apologised but the damage was done.
I made my way further along the beach to another rocky outcrop. The first attempt didn’t really work but I’ve included it here for the record. Part of the problem was that my 3-stop graduated filter wasn't clean resulting in flare on the rocks and a general softening of the image directly below the sun. All cleaned properly when I returned home.
Just on the other side of this outcrop was another small isolated one with beautiful ripples in the sand where water was running down from a pool. I wanted to include them as they were catching the light but to maintain a clean horizon (omitting the south side of the bay) I had to place the rock and the sun in the centre of the frame. The overall effect isn’t the greatest composition but the reflections and the subtle colour palette made quite a pleasing image. No flare problems with this one. It was worth making the effort of getting out of bed early.
Click on an image to see a larger version. All images copyright Leslie Ashe.
Yesterday morning I headed to the beach for sunrise. The tide was well out and there were rocks exposed that I hadn't seen before. Unfortunately there was a band of thick cloud on the horizon and it was a good half-hour after sunrise before there was any colour in the sky.
With the tide out there was plenty of space on the beach and so I was less troubled by dogs running across my foreground and disturbing the pristine sand than on previous occasions.
I tried a number of compositions but they weren't working as there was no real colour so I converted some of them to black and white.
Click on an image to see a larger version. All images copyright Leslie Ashe.
A high tide and a strong south-easterly wind saw me in Donaghadee at lunchtime to see if there might be any good waves breaking over the lighthouse.
It was a bit disappointing but I was pleased to get some waves breaking and also to include the Lifeboat Saxon which has been the lifeboat here since 2003.
Saxon returning to harbour in January 2014.
I was invited to the commissioning ceremony for this lifeboat - the husband of a former colleague in work is a crew member. I had taken several pictures of the boat when it first arrived and one was used as the basis for the logo on clothing for the crew. Earlier pictures of the lifeboat were shot on film and I don’t have digital copies - I should do a search for the negatives/transparencies.
Click on an image to see a larger version. All images copyright Leslie Ashe.
A look at the weather forecast for the week ahead showed that today was going to be the best day for broken cloud at sunrise. The rest of the period was looking like 100% cover.
A 25 minute drive brought me to the beach and I admit I sat for a while drumming up the courage to go out into the teeth of the wind. With wind chill the temperature would feel like -6. Having made the effort of dragging myself out of my warm bed I resolved that I had to get out!
First location was at a pool beside a rock outcrop that I have photographed many times but with the tide well out. This time I had a fast rising tide which was beginning to sweep past the rock and into the pool. I took a couple of images before the shape of the pool disappeared completely.
I wandered further along the beach to another favoured rock outcrop.
The final image was taken half an hour later. By this time the sun was up but hidden behind the clouds on the horizon. Patience was rewarded when the broken clouds to the north-east started to take on some colour and with a change of position it was just a matter of waiting for the clouds to arrange themselves to provide a balanced composition. If you look at the larger versions of the final 2 images you can see the remains of ice which had formed on the beach overnight.
I returned to the car with numb fingers from operating the camera but with a warm glow that it had been worth the effort. And breakfast never tastes better when I get home after a morning's photography!
With the ongoing restrictions I haven't been out with the camera until yesterday morning when I braved the biting wind for a sunrise over the Irish Sea. This was the best of the bunch - I was trying different exposure times to get the right movement in the water as it retreated but at the same time kept some of the structure of the advancing waves.
Previously I had been reworking a couple of images from my last visit to Iceland. This time in black and white which I think worked quite well. Both images were at the same location - the second one was looking at 90 degrees to the left of the first.
