Last night I spotted the moon low on the horizon and noticed how large and red it was. I missed the full moon of August a few days ago, and according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, it is sometimes known as the Sturgeon Moon, the name likely given by both colonists and Algonquian-speaking people in northeastern North America, as sturgeon are native to both Europe and the Americas.
I have a thing about clouds and how their formations pull on the imagination. I see a mighty horse rearing up and trying to pull itself free from the clouds, being born of the elements.
© Peter Hillman ♦ 3rd August 2016 ♦ Bournemoth, Dorset ♦ Nikon D3200
It’s a wonder to think that when I look upon the glowing, ethereal face of the moon in awe, people from the past and ancient times looked upon that same glowing, ethereal face with the same feeling; and the present and the past are then the same moment.
© Peter Hillman ♦ 4th April 2020 ♦ From rear garden, Staffordshire ♦ Nikon D7200
I have a thing for shafts of sunlight as they break through cloud. It can happen and change so quickly the moment is over all too soon. And as the old saying goes, considering the goings-on around the world at present, ‘every cloud has a silver lining’.
Copyright: Peter Hillman
Camera used: Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ38
Date taken: 21st April 2011
Place: West Shore Beach, Llandudno, Wales
These were taken back in the autumn of 2017. I enjoyed the mysterious mood of the early morning mist as it steadily rose from the landscape with a bluish tinge.
Copyright: Peter Hillman
Camera used: Nikon D7200
Date taken: 28th September 2017
Place: Staffordshire
I took this a few years ago one early summer morning. There is no post-processing here. Nature is the artist, painting the clouds and the dawn light.
Copyright: Peter Hillman
Camera used: Nikon D7200
Date taken: 8th July 2017
Place: From rear garden, Staffordshire
This monster of a cloud formation which dwarfed the land below as storms roamed the area at the time, is a form of cumulus cloud called cumulus congestus.
Copyright: Peter Hillman
Camera used: Nikon D7200
Date taken: 20th May 2017
Place: From rear garden, Staffordshire
These two photographs show the same stunning autumn rainbow which appeared as a part of a ‘double rainbow’ … there was a fainter one above this one. Unfortunately I had my macro lens on at the time, and I know how quickly rainbows can fade. So I grabbed my camera and took what I could. I wish I could have got the whole arching rainbow in all its magnificence … and even the one one above it, but at least I have these.
Copyright: Peter Hillman
Camera used: Nikon D7200
Date taken: 17th October 2019
Place: Rear garden, Staffordshire
June 2019, Staffordshire, England. © Pete Hillman.
June 2019, Staffordshire, England. © Pete Hillman.
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After a heavy night’s rain throw my patio windowpane. June 2019, Staffordshire, England. © Pete Hillman.
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Hardy geranium. June 2019, rear garden, Staffordshire, England. © Pete Hillman.
This mysterious sea mist drifted in from Luccombe Bay. As soon as it appeared it disappeared. Memories of John Carpenter’s ‘The Fog’ came to mind. It had quite an eerie quality to it.
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Isle of Wight, England, August 2018 © Pete Hillman.
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July 2018, rear garden, Staffordshire, England. © Pete Hillman.
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July 2018, rear garden, Staffordshire, England. © Pete Hillman.
Last evening’s full moon.
June 2018, rear garden, Staffordshire, England. © Pete Hillman.
June 2018, rear garden, Staffordshire, England. © Pete Hillman.
I love dramatic skies, especially as storms are looming or lumbering past. I love the way you can see the silver linings on clouds and the peeking sun and reflecting light amidst these huge and dark, floating behemoths.
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June 2018, rear garden, Staffordshire, England. © Pete Hillman.
Mine was just grey aroudn teatime here. But it was still a super site to witness, especially when one considers the last one was 150 years ago.
January 2018, from rear garden, Staffordshire, England.
December 2017, Staffordshire, England.
Today I had my late birthday present come. My first speedligh flash unit, the Nikon SB-700. The weather has been rather dismal, and I thought I had been transported to autumn it has been so damp and cold here. However, between showers I manged to get a few shots in to play with my new toy. I guess I have some learning to do to get the best out of it. But it come with a nice case, some filters, a diffuser and a bounce card. I just need to get the experience to go with it.
Rear garden, Staffordshire, England in the rain, again. June 2017.
Rear garden, Staffordshire, England. June 2017.
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Photograph taken December 2016, local woods, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Nikon 18-55mm lens.
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Photograph taken December 2016, local woods, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Nikon 18-55mm lens.
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The past couple of nights we have had some pretty heavy frosts here, and the rose blooms that were tempted to come out in the milder weather and which had begun to decay in the damp atmosphere now look like they have just come out the refrigerator. Frozen popsicles they may be, but they are also frozen little wonders.
Photographs taken December 2016, rear garden, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Sigma 105mm macro lens.
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Photograph taken December 2016, local woods, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Nikon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens.
Photograph taken December 2010, front garden, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2010. Camera used Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ38.
Higher in the sky now, and appearing a tad smaller than when it was rising, and more like its usual colour. So what really is a ‘supermoon’? This moon is not only the biggest and brightest supermoon of the year, but it is the closest supermoon since 26th January 1948, almost 69 years ago. I hope you got or get to see it. If not you will have to wait 18 years to see the next one on 25th November 2034.
Photograph taken November 2016, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Nikon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens.
I was lucky to catch site of this ‘Supermoon’ as the clouds parted. I caught it as it was just rising low on the horizon, and as the sun was slipping down on the opposite side of the planet, hence this odd colour. Not as sharp as I would have liked it, but the clouds were coming again.
Photograph taken November 2016, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Nikon 70-300mm telephoto zoom lens.
I always look forward to the weekends so I can try to get out and take a few photographs, especially as the evenings here are drawing in so quickly now. But again another Saturday is dark and damp, the rain drizzling down, not a break in site. But I managed to dodge a few raindrops earlier, and how beautiful the rain can be, splashing and deepening the colours, making everying fresh and vibrant.
Photograph of Pedunculate Oak (Quercus robur) leaves taken October 2016, rear garden, Staffordshire. © Pete Hillman 2016. Camera used Nikon D7200, with Sigma 105mm macro lens. ISO 500. 1/30 sec. f/7.1.
This is one of my favourite garden flowers, Montbretia (Crocosmia). The blossoms are so bright and vibrant, and even more so after rain.
Sweet peas appear sweeter after the rain. They almost look like they are made of frosted glass.
A spider’s world view after the rain.
We actually needed some rain for the garden, and this morning, between showers, I popped out into the garden with camera in hand to take a few shots of the magic the rain had left in its wake.
These tiny raindrops filled with light were taken on the long slender leaves of my Montbretia (Crocosmia) plants, which had suffered to varied degrees during the exceptional hot weather of late.
I love to see the water droplets on vegetation after the rain has fallen. Everything appears fresh and reinvigorated, so much more alive. The reflections of light in the tiny spheres can be quite magical.
Photographs taken June and December 2015, rear garden, Staffordshire.
Nature Journeys 