England, Wales and Holland

mountainhouse

The trip consisted of passing through London, and then Bath (2 nights), Devon (2 nights), Cotswolds (2 nights), Northern Wales (2 nights), York (2 nights), London (4 nights) and then staying with family in eastern part of The Netherlands. We drove in the rural areas, which worked well (Bath to Wales). Then took the train to York and back to London.

Was wondering if others struggle with finding time for photography on trips. On this trip, we covered a lot, and I felt as though I was taking photos on the run much of the time. My best photography is clearly when I can dedicate some time.

Any suggestions for improvements would be appreciated. My post processing skills have quite a ways to go. Still working through the PS tutorials here on the site. Anyway, here's a sampling of shots:

A couple of my first attempts at HDR in Bath. Abbey in Bath:



Royal Crescent at sunset (HDR):



Wild horse in Dartmoor National Park:



Conwy Castle in Wales (HDR):



Wonderful town of Beddgelert (pronounced "beth-gell-airt"), Wales:



York Minster:



York Minster:



Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park, London:



Giethoorn in The Netherlands:


My Europe 2008 Gallery

Moogle Pepper

Very nice!! I like the photos of the food you took in england! Making me hungry, well even though it isn't vegetarian.

MrBook2

Great series. That first picture of the York Minster ceiling is fantastic.

--Aaron

swintonphoto

Lovely job. I love Bath. I have tried to get some great shots at the royal crescent, but you outdid all my attempts.
I also love the ceiling image from York.

VersusNYC

1 and 3 are my favorite. I like how much detail you brought out in your shots without having that " hdr " look. What do you use to render your HDRs?

mountainhouse

Thanks for all the kind words.

VersusNYC - I use Photomatix Pro 3.0. There's a bit of a "dreamy" look in the Conwy Castle shot. Is that what you're referring to?

Qarik

excellent captures.

Kirk Watts

Beautiful
Beautiful photographs mountainhouse, my favourite is Beddgelert.

Do you come from the UK or perhaps the USA?

mountainhouse

Thank you both. Kirk - Sorry, I need to get my location on my posts. Born in the Netherlands, and immigrated to the US when I was 4. American for all practical purposes, but for some reason I feel really comfortable in Europe, especially the Netherlands.

Kirk Watts

mountainhouse wrote:

Thank you both. Kirk - Sorry, I need to get my location on my posts. Born in the Netherlands, and immigrated to the US when I was 4. American for all practical purposes, but for some reason I feel really comfortable in Europe, especially the Netherlands.

Cool . The reason I asked was unfortunately the only place many visitors to the UK see is London, and really (in my opinion anyway!), the most beautiful places are in the rest of the country, although London does have its charms. It's great to see you ventured all over the UK. You really went to some of the best places to visit, so good on you! .

I hope you don't mind, but I had a quick look at your gallery and I see you also went to Lacock and Bourton-on-the-Water! They're really lovely little places and it's great to see you made your way to them.

I'm based in Bristol, so kinda sandwiched between all of the places you visited. You've really done them justice, well done to you and I hope you enjoyed the trip.

I can't wait to go to the Netherlands, the architecture there looks wonderful.

Edit: Looks like you went to Wagamama too! I love Wagamama! If I'm not mistaken, that's the Bath Wagamama? .

manda

Love the photos, especially York. I have similar roller coaster visits when I return to the homelands (live in Sg; raised in the UK). Its always a difficult balance between being with the folks and wanting to get some serious shots in. I looks like you have complete mastery of your equipment to get such fine shots.

Darren Troy C

Fantastic images! I could really see myself right there in the Netherlands house by the stream!

mountainhouse

Thanks all!

Kirk - I thought we were hitting the touristy spots, but in hindsight, most of the travelers we met, outside London and Bath, were from England. We kept London to the last because the guidebooks said it would be the highlight. London was good, but liked everything else better.... especially the Cotswolds! I would love to spend a couple of weeks hiking there!

In Bath, we stayed in the Travel Lodge co-located with Wagamama. Went there the first night as a bit of a cop-out. Ventured into a lot of pubs after we got settled - what fun!

You have a beautiful country with gracious and friendly folks! My wife says if she was forced to vacation only in England from now on out, it would be fine. Thanks and take care.

Awais Yaqub

Beautiful work
great architecture !

dadwtwins

I really love the variety of pics you shared with us, well done