2nd August
Aerial photography yesterday
morning in the Port Soderick and Keristal areas. In its heyday, Port
Soderick was a busy and bustling seaside resort, with holidaymakers arriving
either by electric tram or steam railway from Douglas and a host of attractions
to keep them busy on their visit.
DJI Mini 2 1/8/21
There are six new Railway
pictures taken at this location in Railways
2021 Pt 3
There are now also seventeen
new Railway pictures taken at Laxey in the afternoon in Railways
2021 Pt 3. Panasonic TZ200.
7th August
Some pictures taken
yesterday afternoon in the South Beach area of Ramsey. This is the
large area of beach that a developer proposes to remove in order to construct
'residential and commercial' properties with a further area stretching
out to se to accommodate a marina. I found the rather small plan
shown first using an online search, but I couldn't find any information
on the IOM Government planning website pages. Unfortunately it seems
that many people, including current Government Ministers, see only profits
to be made, not public amenities to be lost, from such schemes.
Panasonic TZ200 6/8/21
In July I shot some
360 interactive aerial panoramas from down by the Queen's Pier and I've
repeated the links here as they seem appropriate.
8th August
Another visit to Port
Soderick yesterday morning. This time it was to attend the Heroes
on the Water Isle of Man, open day at their base in the old amusement
arcade there. Only a few years ago the building was a ruin and probably
facing demolition along with the other remaining buildings here, but they
have wrought an amazing change both inside and outside and it's now a wonderful
centre for ex servicemen and the civil emergency services. I took
both ground level shots of the facilities but also some more general aerial
shots of the location. Panasonic TZ200 & DJI Mini 2 7/8/21
9th August
On Saturday afternoon
I had a photographic trip out in the car, with no particular destination
in mind, but starting via Injebreck. I didn't find any particularly
interesting pictures there, but continued onwards via Druidale where I
took the following set. Panasonic TZ200 7/8/21
10th August
After Druidale I continued
onwards through Ballaugh village and to The Cronk, parking in the little
car park behind the beach for some aerial photography. There was
still a lot of low cloud over the hills but it was bright and sunny at
the coast, which can often be the way. DJI Mini 2 7/8/21
11th August
The final photographic
location for Saturday afternoon was not far from The Cronk and can be seen
in some of the aerial photos. Jurby Airfield was constructed for
the RAF in the late 1930s and operated mainly as a training base for bomber
crews, although also as a fighter station until RAF Andreas was completed
in 1941. Post WW2 it continued as an RAF station until the early
1960s when it was purchased by the IOM Government and used as a diversion
airport when Ronaldsway was not available, usually due to fog. The main
runway was lengthened across the Sandygate Road to allow turboprop Vickers
Viscount aircraft of BEA and Cambrian Airways to use the airfield.
These days the airfield is really just a motorcycle racing circuit, the
last major aviation use being the airshow in 2004. I believe that
there is a requirement by the government to keep the runway usable for
aircraft if required, so no obstructions allowed. I was still fairly
cautious flying here as there is always the possibility of the runway being
used for a practice engine failure by local light aircraft, the IOM Prison
on the airfield is a legal 'No Fly' zone for any drones and the airfield
is also used for radio controlled model flying. DJI Mini 2 7/8/21
13th August
Not a new picture but
one I tried to upload around this time last year with no success.
I had to reduce the width of the Panorama before it would work, so I'm
trying again this morning with a newly stitched version. From Langness
looking across Castletown Bay.
Panasonic TZ200 3/8/21
14th August
There are twenty one
new Railway pictures taken yesterday afternoon, in Railways
2021 Pt3. Panasonic TZ200 13/8/21
15th August
We spent a large part
of yesterday strolling around the Royal Manx Agricultural Show at Knockaloe,
Patrick. There's always so much to see there, this is just a fairly
random selection of pictures that I took. It's a two day event, the
Friday tends to be more of a 'trade' day, but the public can visit either
or both days.
Panasonic TZ200 14/8/21
17th August
It was generally a rather
dull day yesterday, but late on in the afternoon seemed to be brightening
a bit so I headed off to Laxey in the hope of getting some aerial pictures
around the harbour area at high tide. By the time I arrived though,
there were regular rain showers passing through so all the photography
was from ground level and the Mini 2 stayed in it's box! Panasonic
TZ200 16/8/21
19th August
I visited the 'Old Fairy
Bridge' yesterday afternoon for the first time in a few years. It
was very dull and overcast weather with really low light levels in the
area of the bridge, which is surrounded by trees. I was pleased that
I'd brought the Nikon DSLR instead of the Panasonic compact, as it's much
more versatile.
Nikon D7100 18/8/21
20th August
I mentioned with the
previous selection of ground level Laxey pictures that I had hoped to get
some aerial ones but was stopped by rain showers. Yesterday a small
'window' opened up in the damp weather and I was able to go back and get
one flight in before more rain arrived. It was still a bit of a grey
day with solid overcast, but the winds were light, which is a good thing
when flying a drone that weighs less than 250g! All but the first
picture and the panoramas are 'HDR' merged pictures, combining three pictures
shot by the drone of the same scene with slightly different exposures,
which produces a greater dynamic range of tones than a single picture can.
I usually aim for a natural looking end product, but in the last two have
gone for a more extreme effect.
DJI Mini 2 19/8/21
23rd August
There are thirty six
new Railway pictures, taken at a charity open day on the Crogga Valley
Railway, in Railways 2021
Pt3. Nikon D7100 21/8/21
24th August
Aerial pictures in the
Onchan and Douglas areas on Sunday morning. All of the single images
shown here are 'HDR' combinations of three individual pictures with exposure
variations shot by the drone, to balance out the high contrast levels of
bright buildings and darker vegetation of shadow areas.
DJI Mini 2 22/8/21
25th August
A visit to Ramsey on
Sunday afternoon to view the section of Queen's Pier that has been restored
by the Queen's Pier Restoration Trust.
Panasonic TZ200 22/8/21
After visiting the pier
we strolled on and found these murals being painted by two talented artists
on one of the North Promenade shelters.
26th August
I was really just going
for a swim in the sea on Tuesday afternoon, but of course took a camera!
Panasonic TZ200 24/8/21
27th August
These are aerial pictures
taken on Wednesday morning when I went up into the hills above Ballaragh
to capture the heather in full bloom. On the way there I thought
that I might not be able to fly, as there was extensive sea fog most of
the way to Laxey and beyond, but fortunately the hillsides were above it.
DJI Mini 2 25/8/21
After the flight above
Ballaragh, I headed down to another location just above the Dhoon Glen,
specifically to take some aerial shots for an article Andrew Scarffe is
writing about old rubbish tips in Laxey and Lonan. However, despite
the presence of the former tip, the area is still very photogenic, so here's
some pictures.
28th August
A few pictures taken
on a walk through the Ballaugh Curragh on the Wildlife Park's nature walk.
Panasonic TZ200 25/8/21
30th August
Quite a big selection
of pictures taken on a walk from Port Erin upper promenade to Bradda Head
on Friday afternoon. We weren't too sure how far we were going to
walk but ended up at Bradda Hill summit cairn before walking back.
Ground level and aerial pictures. Panasonic TZ200 & DJI Mini
2 27/8/21
There are eighteen new
Aircraft pictures in Aircraft
2021 Pt 2 - Panasonic TZ200 & Nikon D7100
31st August
A selection of aerial
pictures at three locations to finish the month off, taken on Sunday morning
in the Douglas area. DJI Mini 2 29/8/21
Central Douglas
Douglas Harbour and
the Conister Rock
Harris Promenade, to
look at the new 'Roundels' on the road, which have been partially opened
to traffic over the last few days. Moving vehicles appear
slightly blurred as
these are all 'HDR' combinations of three original pictures. This
was my 1,000th drone flight since my first back in 2014!
There are also two short
videos that I shot of each 'Roundel' in use on Sunday morning. Video
1 Video
2
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