It was off to a favourite haunt today as I headed south to Stowe Gardens. It was a bit of a last minute choice as I realised that it was half-term week here in the UK and the schools were on holiday. That means virtually everywhere is going to be over-run with parents, baby-buggies, pre-teens and everything in-between, not to mention the 2.4 dogs that is apparently the new British requisite for a happy middle-class family. I must say that some of the mums these days would give the sherpas of Nepal a run for their money, the way they negotiate the Peak and Lake District hills and fells with tri-wheeled buggies, changing matts, nappy bags and food hampers, whilst dragging a labrador tied to the handle of the buggy.
Anyway, I chose Stowe because it is a big place and I hoped to get some photographs without a bright red water-proof jacket appearing at some point in an image. It was busy, but not too bad when I got there but by the time I left a couple of hours or so later there were hoards of families descending on the gardens and trails. The day was very sunny although cold and this obviously helped to entice people out.
I took the D800 with me today, together with the 18-35mm f/3.5-4.5 wide angle and my old mate the 50mm f/1.8. I have said on this blog before that I am not a huge fan of the wide angle, I seem to struggle with it and end up composing and taking images that I invariably crop in post-processing. But today I enjoyed using it – a lot. I revelled in being able to get most of a monument into one shot and also shooting the wide vista shots across the lakes. I changed to the 50mm later on, and overall I had a very pleasant day.
The postcard-type image below shows the octagon lake in the foreground and Stowe School in the distance. And… I did have to clone out a bright red anorak on the far-side of the lake.
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