Cotton Town Photography

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WELCOME TO MY BLOG

Cotton Town: This is my town; founded on coal, cotton spinning, weaving, and distinctively northern. Here, resplendent against a mottled East Lancashire sky, is our Town Hall.

Cotton Town Photography is my Digital Photography page showcasing the town I call home and the surrounding area of East Lancashire, UK where I live. Occasionally I also get inspired by other horizons as I travel around supporting my professional photographer husband. I shoot mainly in Black and White, occasionally in colour. This is one of two photographic blogs I own.

My other blog; Analogue Magic features my 35mm film work! Click on the link to learn more:

Jane's Analogue Photography

Photo note: All shots are made on one of two 'spares and repairs' cameras Canon 350D and Canon 400D), both gifted to me by my professional photographer husband who picked them up for next to nothing. His intention was to help me learn photography. I use two well worn 'spares and repairs' lenses an EF 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 IS STM II and an EF 10-18mm f4.5-5.6 IS STM. I shoot RAW files and edit them using Canon DPP 4.

VIEWING NOTE: This blog is for absolutely everyone and has a universal appeal regardless of age. NONE of the content in this photographic blog is Mature, Sexually themed, violent or relates to drugs. Tumblr however does tend to go overboard with its bots, misclassifying content. If you want to view ALL the content on here, you might need to turn on Mature content (Apologies therefore if you are under 18 and trying to view this blog because you love photography).

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Crookrise Crag

To the East of Skipton in the Historic West Riding of Yorkshire, stands the little hill village of Embsay. It lies towards the top of Airedale. This is the terminus of the steam railway to Bolton Abbey in Wharfedale. Above the village the land rises steeply to a little lake: Embsay Reservoir, where people often sail. Many people walk around the lake with their dogs or even adventure up to the summit of Embsay Crag. Few people head the other way up to Crookrise.

On the steep walk up to the summit, you pass a curious face carved into one of the huge boulders which abound here. It has been here as long as I can remember.

Topped with one of the Ordnance Survey's triangulation pillars, the summit stands at about 1361 feet above sea level It lies high above conifer woods, with the wild heather expanse of Barden Moor behind you. Below lies the valley which leads up to Rylstone and beyond.

To the north lies Rylstone Fell; immortalised in Wordsworth's narrative poem, 'The White Doe of Rylstone':

"High on a point of rugged ground Among the wastes of Rylstone Fell Above the loftiest ridge or mound Where foresters or shepherds dwell..."

Photo notes: shots all made on an old Canon EOS 400D and a scrap 18-55 f3.5-4.5 IS STM lens. Monochrome RAW images were edited down to jpegs using Canon's (free) DPP 4 software and their Zoom Browser EX (free) program.

Jane xx

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Windrows, Habergham Eaves, Lancashire, England

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Mown Hay Meadow, Habergham Eaves, Lancashire, England.

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Towneley Station House and Level Crossing, Burnley Wood, Lancashire, England.

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Burnley Wood Village, Lancashire, England

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A Walk in the Country

This isn't the countryside you would expect. This is simply the Lancashire countryside accessible by foot from my back door; the wooded slopes between the top of the village and the next village of Habergham Eaves.

It is High Summer right now and here it is warm indeed for the South Pennines. We have enjoyed the most amazing skies of very deep blue and the sort of fluffy clouds we scarcely ever see up here. Here's my view looking from the back door of my house. The geraniums are the ones in my window boxes.

Walking up Hufling Lane to the top of the village, you come to the railway level crossing. Trains crossing here are often the old ones built in the 1980s, bound for either Wigan Wallgate or Headbolt Lane. This building is what remains of our once busy village railway station.

Up by the Wild Wood, the meadow has been mown for the first time this year and the hay baled. Before, it lay out in the hot sun as windrows to dry.

The nettles by the wayside are in full flower now.

Underneath the Alder trees in the Wild Wood, it is still lovely and cool. You can look out over the meadow to the hills of the Lancashire Calder Valley beyond.

The Wild Wood isn't intensively managed. The wind felled trees from the Spring storms still lie on the woodland floor. Here you see treecreepers and nuthatches as well as hearing the occasional woodpecker. Fallow deer roam wild here too.

Photo notes: shots all made on an old Canon EOS 400D and a scrap 18-55 f3.5-4.5 IS STM lens. Monochrome RAW images were edited down to jpegs using Canon's (free) DPP 4 software and their Zoom Browser EX (free) program.

Jane xx

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Sir y Fflint - Flintshire

Sir y Fflint (Flintshire) is a maritime county of Cymru (Wales) and faces the separate country of England across the Afon Dyfrdwy (River Dee). Though Cymru offers many tourist destinations, few people consider here, rushing past to the high mountains of Eryri, further along the coast. It is a mistake because this beautiful county has so much to offer.

These are the historically disputed borderlands of the Gororau (Welsh Marches). The place names and ancient culture are Welsh, the modern history English. Inland the land rises rapidly toward the South and West, giving rise to the Clywydian Hills. Here on the coast are neglected little seaports by the treacherous sands of the Afon Dyfrdwy; a sea estuary. They are backed by dunes and farmland lower than the high water mark. Maritime plants and flowers abound. This is the Netherlands of Wales.

A little inland near Treffynnon, lie the ruins Basingwerk Abbey; a Savignac, later a Cistercian monastery.

Fflint is the little former seaport that gives the county its name. It has a lifeboat station overlooking the salt marshes and the castle. The sculpture of a lifeboatman stands guard, eternal watching the shifting sands.

At Wepre, the channel of the Dyfrdwy narrows and a former steelworks stands on the opposite shore. A Power Station stands on the horizon and the tower of the new Dee crossing; a high suspension bridge across the tidal waters. A old anchor lies on the ground and a former starboard hand marker stands guard.

Well made signposts show the way for walkers and cyclists and a steelworks crucible now grows plants. A guy in a Sinclair C5 whizzed past me on the cycleway which runs on for miles along the coastline.

Someone has painted a monochrome mural on the factory wall facing the quayside. It celebrates the transport and commerce of this area and the fierce plants that reclaimed it!

This place is well worth a visit. See it by bicycle, journeying effortlessly for miles along the well paved Wales Coast path. It tends to hide its gems from the motorist hurtling along the busy coast road.

Photo Notes: All shots were made on the 'scrap' Canon EOS 350D with its scrap EF-S 10-18 f4.5-5.6 IS STM lens. Images were shot in Monochrome RAW and rendered to jpegs using Canon DPP 4. A red filter was used for many of the shots to add drama.

Jane xx

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Wepre Riverside, Flintshire, Wales

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Abbaty Basingwerk, Trefynnon, Sir y Fflint, Cymru

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Dee Estuary, Flintshire, Wales

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Padiham on Parade.

This wonderful 1940's festival is in its 10th year now and is a must attend for trad wives (and photographers) like me. This year was wonderful, with beautiful fine weather to boot. Pride of place was an actual P51 Mustang!

There were also some great WWII historic vehicles, a Jeep and a Morris 8.

Which service would you have joined hard you been around then? Land Girls were very much needed.

In front of the Town Hall, there was some great dancing going on in period costumes.

Padiham lies close to my own home in the English County of Lancashire. This historic town is part of East Lancashire's scenic Calder Valley. If you want to know more about this great event, here's the link:

Looking forward to seeing you there next year!

Photo notes: All shots were made on an old Canon EOS 400D gifted to me by my pro photographer husband. The lens is a heavily used Canon EF-S 18-55 f3.5-4.5 IS STM (£18 from MPB). The images were shot in monochrome RAW and edited to jpegs using Canon's DPP 4 (free download)

Jane xx

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SPITFIRE PRELUDE AND FUGUE

If you grew up in the 1970’s or even the 80’s this piece of music by William Walton will maybe conjure up images of old war movies; memories passed on by grandparents or the air shows of bygone years. Maybe your Dad looking up at criss-cross aircraft  trails referred to them as a 'Battle of Britain sky’ (then went on to talk about spitfires.

This iconic British airplane took part in it. The aircraft and its brave pilots played an important part in the second world war; 1939-45 yet the last mission by a Spitfire was actually flown as late as 1954. Yesterday, we got to look at a full size replica up close.

An armed forces day here in the grounds of Burnley’s Towneley Hall, included two aircraft: a Supermarine Spitfire and a World War One bi-plane an SE5a.

My maternal grandfather, over 30 years older than my grandmother had served with the Royal Flying Corps.  This group of early military aviators were to become the Royal Air Force in later years.  My grandfather’s discharge papers to RAF reserve duty, described him as a rigger. Here he is, pictured below.

He had been a master joiner by profession.  These aircraft were built using canvas stretched over a wooden frame.

The SE5a was a biplane with two wings, stayed with struts and wire cables.  The concept (the slot effect) is familiar to me as a sailing helm: Two aerofoils together create additional lift.

My grandfather, on active duty, is pictured below, second from the right with 3 others.

We talked to the guys from War and Peace, the organisation based in Dover, Kent, which had brought the aircraft up to Lancashire.  It was fascinating to hear about their use in wartime.  Sometimes referred to as the WWI Spitfire; the SE5 was armed with two machine guns, a wing mounted Lewis gun and a Vickers .303 inch calibre synchronised with the propeller, fired directly through its rotational arc.

Most of the tiny cockpit apparently was taken up with spare magazines! This small plane was one of the fastest and most maneuverable, capable of 138 mph and with a service ceiling up to 20,000 ft!

If you ever get to see one of these up close, take the opportunity. They are an incredible piece of British history.

All recent images were taken using a 'scrap' Canon EOS 400D with a heavily used Canon EF 18-55 f3.5-5.6 IS STM lens. Images were edited using Canon Zoom Browser EX and DPP4. The older images, property of my grandfather were shot by unknown photographers.

Jane xx

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By the Springs Branch, Skipton, North Yorkshire, England

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Springs Branch, Leeds and Liverpool Canal, Skipton, Yorkshire

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In Skipton Castle Woods, Skipton, Yorkshire, England

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Cobbles and Backs, Skipton, Yorkshire, England