October 2009    Photographers Resource - Monthly    Edition 70

Fords, Wet Roads and Tidal Roads

• Editorial

• Feature - Fords, Wet Roads and Tidal Roads

• Photographic Feature - Getting Into DSLR Photography

• Photographers Diary

• Autumn Colours

This month we take a look at fords, wet roads and tidal roads, plus for our photography feature we go back to the beginning considering how people can get into quality DSLR photography, understanding the skills and how to stretch themselves.

As we move towards winter we can already see many of the tress changing colour and it would appear that we could have another spectacular set of autumn colours this year.

Feature

Fords, Wet Roads and Tidal Roads

main road.  Most fords have foot bridges allowing you to get a view from both sides without having to drive through them. In some cases the old bridge is a clapper bridge or similar a little way away from the ford, making unexpected opportunities available. These are the ones of most interest to most of us and if you don't photograph them now you may not get the chance in the future.

Tidal roads exist with routes to a number of islands but also in some coastal areas, in most cases these roads are only able to be used when the tide is out.

Wet Roads are an interesting historic feature that still exist in some places, there are two for example in Gloucestershire where the road and a stream share the same space for some distance, historically they provided a chance to wash off the cart wheels before entering villages and towns. In some other places fords are arranged to run diagonally across a river or other means is provided to achieve the same objective. Most wet roads are not a part of the highway, and are very often not mentioned, marked or signposted making them difficult to discover.

The project we have been undertaking has been to attempt to list all Fords in the UK that still remain, together with wet roads and tidal roads, and to identify which of these are on roads as opposed to tracks, and are suitable for modern use and grade them from a photogenic point of view or historic interest. The only similar project we could find was for extreme 4x4 enthusiasts who wanted to get their seats wet, and therefore rated them by their size and challenge.

We have rated the fords and wet roads from 5 the highest rating, down to 1 the lowest, we have been quite critical so there are few 5's, and many rated 4 are well worth a visit. At the opposite end some of the places rated 1 are only wet after rain and the water level in the stream is higher, at other times it passes beneath the road. Often the only thing to see routinely at these locations is a depth board that shows the water depth when the road is flooded and therefore a ford. A few we visited were only a puddle on a mud track, while others have been real photo opportunities. Many we have not visited yet. There are probably many more and particularly older people in your community may remember where others were and may still exist beside a modern road, or down a back way into a village or town. There are others, some shown on Ordnance Survey maps across moors, or agricultural land used by framers where there is no routine access or just access by a footpath, and we have not attempted to include these at this point.  There are other fording points that are not fords as such, used by those on horseback, and we have likewise not included these, unless they were at one point a part of the road system.  Like all our projects and listing exercises we welcome feedback from you, correcting what we have, or suggesting new entries.

In the future the number of Fords that survive is likely to be very small, they are not listed, protected, and rarely valued, so this is a part of our heritage that can be seen and photographed now, but is likely to disappear within the next few years, not all at once but one by one at a quickening pace until only a very small number remain.

The articles we have are:-

• Fords Explained

• Finding Fords

• Safety at Fords

• How to Photograph Fords

Listings are:-

• Featured 5 Star Fords and Wet Lanes

• Fords in England

• Fords in Scotland

• Fords in Wales

• Isle of Man Fords

Location Guides of Fords and Wet Lanes:-

• Kersey Village Ford, Suffolk

• Eynsford Ford, Kent

• Lacock Ford/Wet Road, Wiltshire

• Blockley Ford, Gloucestershire

• Broadwell Village Ford, Gloucestershire

• Upper Slaughter Ford, Gloucestershire

• Charlton Kings Ford, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire

• Middle Duntisbourne Ford, Gloucestershire

• Duntisbourne Leer Ford, Gloucestershire

• Duntisbourne Wet Lane, Gloucestershire

Getting into DSLR photography

We can expect to have some readers who find that while we have been covering much of the advanced material often not covered elsewhere, it has been difficult to see where they should start. Many others will have a level of knowledge but perhaps feel that a lot may have been missed out along the way, particularly when gaining their skills from magazines or attending group courses.

In the article Introduction To DSLR Photography   we have an introduction that is linked to a very large number of other articles, allowing not only a basic understanding to be obtained but also through the links to provide a ramping up of knowledge, allowing access to a growing amount of other information. If you are new to DSLR photography then read this the first time without visiting all the links, and then read it again taking a look at the articles linked. If you have more knowledge then you may find this useful in helping you to identify the areas that you need to look at in more detail and pointers to these areas.

The second article Teaching Yourself Photography  looks at how you can go about picking up the experience as well as the technical knowledge. This is not linked to a very large number of other articles, but we hope having read it, you will be inclined to use the topic index and some of our other indexes to search out more information of interest to you.

The point made in both of these articles is that the first requirement is to get out and take photos, without getting out and actually taking images you are not going to gain the experience, confidence and have the chance to be in the right place at the right time to get even more opportunities.  Photography can be undertaken throughout the year, and right now we have loads of opportunities coming up, with autumn colours and not long now until we enter the fire festival seasons, with fireworks, some major illuminated carnivals and more.

We are now into October the real onset of Autumn and there should be plenty of opportunities to visit places around the country where you can capture autumn colours. Take a look at our woodland lists below to find  your local woodland or contact your local Woodland Trust for any activities they are organising. Still on the subject of trees the World Conker championships are taking place on the 11th October, but note the new venue this year.

From the 3rd to 11th October it is Red Squirrel Week, there are only thought to be around 160,000 currently in the UK and over the past year in some locations numbers have been dropping slightly due to a virus, so try and get to out and see them before it's too late. This time of year they are in their full winter coat colours with the little tufts on their ears. See our Red Squirrels - Where to photograph   list for somewhere to see them, although Brownsea Island in Dorset and Formby Point in Merseyside are two good places to start.

There are many activities this month based around the annual Halloween festival and taking a look at our diary will give you a selection of these from Pumpkin Festivals, to fire festivals and firework displays.

Don't forget that the British Summer Time also ends this month, and you should put your clocks BACK one hour on the 25th.

The November diary has been added. Some of the Highlights for November is of course the firework displays and festivals that take place around Bonfire Night, 5th November, including the annual rolling/carrying of the Tar Barrels at Ottery St Mary in Devon. Some pomp and ceremony events include the State Opening of Parliament with a procession taking the Queen to the Palace of Westminster on the 18th November and the Lord Mayors Show, celebrating the inauguration of the new mayor on the 14th November. Some evening events for those who want to brush up on their night time photography including a number of outdoor ice rinks like those at Somerset House in London, we have some listed in the diary but have also updated our Ice Rinks list with those that are available for the 2009-2010 season. It appears that many have been cancelled or abandoned this year, so check out the one you are interested in before setting out and if you know of any others not listed please let us know. There are also some Enchanted Woodlands, such as the annual Westonbirt Arboretum event that have been decorated in lights.

At the beginning of November there are the Somerset Illuminated Carnivals of which Bridgewater Carnival, in Somerset is the best known. These have very long elaborate floats, some over 100ft long and many containing thousands of light bulbs, each towing a giant generator. If you have been before, then you will relish the opportunity perhaps to visit again, if not then this is the one carnival of the year that everyone in Britain should say they have seen.

Articles that you may like to take a look at now, so you can plan ahead for some of these include:- Photographing Fireworks Carnivals with Lights  Fun Fairs  Streets at Night Illuminated Forests

Bridgwater Carnival

On the nature and wildlife front this is the time of year when our trees start to change colour, see the autumn colour piece below, and our wild deer start to think about next years offspring. Several types of deer are either now in the rutting season or about to enter it,  in the article Photographing Deer, we covered everything from how they come to be here, the different types and how to find them. We also have a listing of major places throughout the UK Where you can go to Photograph Deer and be nearly sure of being able to get something, this includes deer parks and areas of woodland where they are likely to be able to be seen. Plus we have some location guides on some of the places listed, giving far more details.  We also have individual pages on each of the 6 deer species found in the wild within the UK.  To tie all this and a range of other articles from camouflage to wildlife photography that may be of relevance to photographing deer we have an overall topic page on Deer.

Red Deer Stag

For more wildlife to photograph this month take a look at our new article Wildlife Photography in October. As well as the wildlife to look out for, it also covers what plants are still around this time of year as well as if you take time to forage in the woodland floors, whilst out taking the Autumn Colours, you may also come across the plethora of fungi which is active this time of year.

Autumn Colours There are a small number of places in the world that have really good autumn colour displays, this includes a strip of North America, around the Canadian border running east from Niagara Falls, known as the New England region and the UK. In the UK we have the ideal conditions to have these displays and in addition to this many of the large house estates have designed and planted their parks, intending to make the most of this. Usually the autumn colours start in the north and develop towards the south, often not at a consistent rate, so you get one area developing displays before another. However there is information available allowing you to check the current position in hundreds of woodland and forestry areas. The following articles cover the autumn theme and may help you decide where, what and how to go about photographing these spectacular colour scenes. Autumn Colours Introduction   This looks at the overall topic, explains what is happening, how its triggered and more.... leading into the overall subject. Finding autumn colour locations   With autumn colours all around us you may be tempted to skip this one, but in it we look at sources of information, planning and finding the best displays. Photographing autumn colours   is the photography technique article, looking at various aspects to consider. Filters for autumn colours   looks at the different types of filters, some to assist, some perhaps to enhance the effects. We also look at where its needed as opposed to being able do this in editing. Lists - we also have a number of listings of where to find Autumn landscapes indexed by country in the lists below and by county in the lists to the right. Autumn Colours in England Autumn Colours in Wales Autumn Colours in Scotland Autumn Colours in Northern Ireland

Autumn Colours listings by County England  Bedfordshire  Buckinghamshire  Cambridgeshire  Cheshire  Cornwall  Cumberland  Devon  Durham  Essex  Gloucestershire  Hampshire  Hertfordshire  Kent  Lancashire  Leicestershire  Lincolnshire  London  Norfolk  Northamptonshire  Northumberland  Nottinghamshire  Oxfordshire  Shropshire  Somerset  Staffordshire  Suffolk  Surrey  Sussex  Warwickshire  Westmorland  Wiltshire  Worcestershire  Yorkshire Wales  Caernarfonshire  Cardiganshire  Carmarthenshire  Denbighshire  Glamorganshire  Merioneth  Montgomeryshire  Monmouthshire  Pembrokeshire  Radnorshire Scotland  Aberdeenshire  Angus  Argyllshire  Banffshire  Dunbartonshire  Dumfriesshire  East Lothian  Fife  Inverness-shire  Kincardineshire  Lanarkshire  Mid Lothian  Morayshire  Peebles-shire  Perthshire  Ross & Cromarty  Roxburghshire  Selkirkshire  Stirlingshire

Some of the locations that offer good autumn displays are:-

Keilder Forest - Northumberland

Stourhead, Wiltshire  

Westonbirt Arboretum, Gloucestershire 

You can also find many more possibilities in our Gardens section and amongst the Historic Houses section.

Introduction To DSLR Photography

Teaching Yourself Photography

Fords Explained

Finding Fords

Safety at Fords

How to Photograph Fords

Wildlife Photography in October

Featured 5 Star Fords and Wet Lanes

Fords in England

Fords in Scotland

Fords in Wales

Isle of Man Fords

Kersey Village Ford, Suffolk

Eynsford Ford, Kent

Lacock Ford/Wet Road, Wiltshire

Blockley Ford, Gloucestershire

Broadwell Village Ford, Gloucestershire

Upper Slaughter Ford, Gloucestershire

Charlton Kings Ford, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire

Middle Duntisbourne Ford, Gloucestershire

Duntisbourne Leer Ford, Gloucestershire

Duntisbourne Wet Lane, Gloucestershire