Within photography there is something called "Chance." And it was on Sunday the 29th of June 2025 that I was perhaps not even expecting anything akin to a Sunset to take place, for the week prior sunsets had been completely non existent, but that of course is perhaps due to a major heatwave. But then of course that changed and in the evening of Sunday the 29th of June 2025, when I was observing the sky - I noticed that there was colour in the clouds, pastel like and immediately I had to send the drone up to capture what else there was, and from above I was greeted by the perhaps slightly unexpected beauty of a truly glorious sunset, and below are the photos that I had managed to capture.
"A Colour of Beauty, a Painted Panorama."
"Artworks of a June Sky."
"A Summer Glow, The light and Magic of a June Sunset it does Glow."
"The painted sky of June, the hue of nature and art."
It was last year that me and another fellow landscape photographer - Craig Yates, ended up visiting Alport Height for Summer Solstice and a little bit of Summer Solstice Sunset Photography. This year though with the drone things were slightly different, no trip to Alport Height, but instead I was hoping that there was going to be a bit of a display in the sky of a painting as carried out by nature, and surely enough what happened, colour did appear in the sky, and well I just had to send the drone up to capture the art that had appeared, for somehow Summer Solstice does have a way of creating art, along with the artist of nature, and yet The Threshold of the longest day was coming to an end, for after the nights drawing out, after the 21st of June they start drawing in again, that is until of course Winter Solstice. But what a spectacular sight on Summer Solstice, and below is what I had managed to capture.
"The Solstice Gold."
"The art of cloud and gold. From Suburbia to Countryside on Solstice Evening."
"A Pastel Sky on Summer Solstice." - (Panoramic, 6 Shots stitched together.)
"Ah, there is nothing finer than the arts of nature in the evening, for nature has a habit of making use of that thing called the sky, and using it as a canvas for a painting."
There is just "something else about a sunset." And so far June 2025 has been a bit meh, when it comes to sunsets, but it was just yesterday on Thursday the 17th of June 2025 that I was looking at the skies, for in the distance towards the west, I noticed a welcome change and that of course was a bit of cloud cover in the skies, but there was no real colour within them, and I had to continue sporadically to observe them - they thankfully did change colour but I was in two minds and the thought that was going through my head was,
"To sunset or not to sunset?"
And then something happened, I decided to get the drone up and take a chance, to risk what could be seen from above, and from above well I noticed that there was just a work of art, a delightful sky full of colour and arts, the art being created by nature and in the end, well this is what I had managed to capture.
"Painted is the Panorama, A work of Summer Art."
"A Summer Sunset Canvas."
"Art and Beauty, Colours over Suburbia, a Painted Sky."
The last time I managed to "capture anything with the drone" was on Monday the 3rd of June 2025, at the perhaps rather unique Codnor Park Reservoir, featuring of course some interesting photos of the historical Model Village of Ironville down below. But since the 3rd of June, well I have not had the chance to fly the drone, one of those things and even Sunsets have been a bit of a let down just lately, but it was on Saturday the 14th of June, that a slight change happened, I was looking at the clouds and due west, a clear(ish) sky, yet due East over in the direction of Nottingham, I could see a rather grey and moody sky, along with that I could also see a delightful Rainbow, and well I knew that I had to capture it, for the drone only had two bars of battery life within it, and I had literally moments to spare, but from above, what I captured was a work of art in the evening sky.
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"A Panorama of Colour, the arts of the Rainbow."
"Art in the sky from 400ft."
"From Urban to Countryside and maybe Gold?"
"The arc of Colour, Beauty of Nature over Suburbia."
"A Pot of Gold perhaps in The Erewash Valley?"
"Beauty of The Rainbow, the view towards The Erewash."
One place that I have always enjoyed a visit to is Codnor Park Reservoir, located of course a short distance away from Ironville. Yet upon first appearances Ironville is one of those places that people will pass through without realising the actual history of it - and yet clues in the architecture can be seen, for it is classed as,
"A Model Village, and Ironville itself was built in around 1830 by The Butterley Company, to house its workers."
And of course the clues in the architecture do point to that, the main road and the way it is laid out as you drive through Ironville, well you notice that it feels a little different from a lot of other places nearby. But after a delightful walk around the equally important Codnor Park Reservoir, that also at one point was linked to The Cromford Canal, I decided to do something slightly different, and that of course was to send the drone up into the air, to see Ironville and Codnor Park Reservoir from a completely different and unique perspective, behind the drone facing west, the light was incredibly harsh and horrible, yet below are the views over Ironville, and some of Codnor Park Reservoir that can be seen, for down below what I came across was a location that just seemed that little bit more magical in a strange way, history forgotten by many can still be seen, and I suppose that is what makes Ironville and Codnor Park Reservoir that little bit more unique.
"The old canal, and History below."
"The end of The Reservoir, the Model Village, a Unique View."
"The Damn, The Reservoir, The Model Village." - (Black and White.)
"The Car Park, The Abstract Art." - (Black and White.)
For Sunsets are one of my favourite things to capture, and the last time that I had managed to capture a decent sunset was on the 25th of May 2025. After that though a lack of any decent colours in the sky during the evening - and that was until I had a message from another photographer friend of mine, Craig Yates, that said something along the following lines,
"There is something akin to a glorious looking sunset beginning to take place!"
And that was of course music to my ears, for on the ground I had captured some photos of a sky that had an almost "Wes Anderson" like colour scheme to it, with the clouds, but I knew that I had to get the drone out, and in moments I had prepped the drone to take off, and to see what could be seen from above, and what I came across was a beautiful and glorious painted sky, the artist of course was nature, and the colours were just something else to behold.
There is nothing more than I like than watching the colour of the sky changing, and it was on Sunday the 25th of May 2025, that I was looking outside, the clouds were looking beautiful and in one direction a glorious blue sky, some glorious looking clouds and along with that, I could also see a change in the sky beginning to take place, me I just had a thought of what would happen if I send the drone up, and surely enough I did do, looking over The Erewash Valley towards The Bennerley Viaduct in the distance I could see a glorious calming sky, and yet looking due North West, towards Langley Mill and Heanor in the distance, the artwork of nature taking place and creating something truly spectacular to see, an incoming downpour had painted the sunset that was happening, and below are the photos that I had managed to capture.
There are times when you hear about a place and see a place in photographs and think, wow! For what is it like in reality, and one of those places of course is Sligo, a county in Ireland and a county that is located between County Mayo and County Donegal, for it is another county that is also located on The Wild Atlantic Way, and it was on Friday the 2nd of May 2025, that I was fortunate enough to visit County Sligo, the first part of the trip of course was visiting the small town/city of Sligo, with its unique architecture and laid back peaceful atmosphere and some charming independent shops selling a plethora of Irish Designed and local crafts, before heading to the following two places, the first one being Strandhill and the second one being Rosses Point, two places that are just a short distance away from the middle of Sligo itself, and that could be akin to "a kind of Irish equivalent to Bondi Beach and the other Beaches of Sydney." For they are locations in which subtle differences make for some incredibly interesting opportunities to capture some truly glorious landscapes, vistas and views of a landscape shaped by WB Yeats and of course nature, which provides an interesting kind of artwork, and from a slightly higher perspective with the drone I was able to capture these photos, on a day of sheer blue sky, a delightful warm temperature and views overlooking a truly spectacular coast.
"A Sense of Sligo Light." - (Panoramic, Black and White.)
"A Sense of Sligo Light." - (Panoramic, Colour.)
"Strandhill Blue."
"From Rosses Point, towards Strandhill." - (Black and White.)
I have listened to "The Saw Doctors" for as long as I can remember, and the time before last when I was visiting Westport and of course County Mayo, something had to be done, and that was,
"Catching the boat from Roonagh, to Clare Island."
Now of course you might be asking, "well what is so special about catching a boat from a place called Roonagh to Clare Island" and that of course comes from the lyrics of the following song by The Saw Doctors, which is called, Clare Island.
And the last time I had visited Clare Island, I was completely taken away by just how beautiful and unspoilt it was, compared to some of the Scottish Islands/Isles of Scilly which have become even more popular thanks to influencers and other write ups in travel magazines, but here of course things seem that little bit more relaxed, for Clare Island itself has a lot of history to it, and beautiful scenery, it really could be described "as the end of the world." and from its western flanks - the next landmass you would get to is America/Canada. Yet the last time I had visited Clare Island, I fell in love with it, with its peacefulness and its calm and tranquillity.
But this time around, as I set off from Westport towards Roonagh Quay, things looked grey, was the weather going to improve and was Clare Island going to have nice weather? Thankfully after a smooth enough sailing from Roonagh Quay across to Clare Island things did improve, and this small unspoilt island at the end of Clew Bay, surrounded by The Atlantic Ocean, soon felt like it could have been a Caribbean Island, with a blue sky and tranquil waters and pristine white sands, it was also this time around the perfect time in which to capture this island from above.
"Clare Island Drama and a sense of Mood."
"This could be a tropical paradise." - (Colour.)
"Achill, Clare Island Below and the beauty of a Clare Island Panorama." - (Colour.)
"Achill, Clare Island Below and the beauty of a Clare Island Panorama." (Black and White.)
"This could be a tropical paradise." - (Black and White.)
"Harbour Beauty, under a perfect sky." - (Colour.)
"Arts of shapes, walls and the view across the top of Clare Island." - (Colour.)
"Arts of shapes, walls and the view across the top of Clare Island." - (Black and White.)
"A Perfect place for Lunch?"
"Floating Gently above the bay."
And after a full day of well just soaking up the warm sunshine, it was time to head back across to the mainland of Ireland and to Westport, but on the way back, even I noticed that the sky was potentially going to have a little bit of magic within it, and surely enough it did, as that evening Clew Bay lit up, with an almost watercolour like hue to it, and I just had to capture the following photos.
"A Painted Panoramic Across the Beauty of Clew Bay." - (Panoramic.)
"Beginning to Shine."
"Gold and Grey, Clouds and Sunset across the beauty of Clew Bay."
"Under golden glow, the beauty of the islands they glow."
