Saturday’s news ran the story of 1700 fell runners trapped in the Lake District by torrential downpours. It turned out most people had simply gone home. Sunday was a chance to get out and one of the things I have learned is bad weather brings great photographic opportunities. I headed to the Keld/Muker region again and Wain Wath Falls. The water is a stunning golden brown colour caused by the peat being washed down from the hills.

It’s mid-autumn and saturday afternoon was spent driving around the upper Yorkshire Dales and just into Cumbria. I have not explored the region around Keld and Muker before, but it is stunning. On a grey rainy afternoon, I made notes of places to revisit. There were periods of sunshine and I took a few snaps. But I think that is what they were and I seemed too pre-occupied with moving on to the next area rather than producing truly stunning shots. The great landscape photographers of the past could only make a couple of images with their plate cameras, and so quality not quantity was the measure of a day.

DESIGN: I have been asked several times why there is so much photography on a ‘design’ blog. The answer is (a) photography is a personal passion and hobby (b) many websites require photographs and there is not always the budget for a professional photographer, and (c) having art directed professional photographers for over 20 years, digital photography has made it easier to get acceptable results.

I am working on a number of new websites now and these designs will be shown here first, as each is launched throughout November and December.

Today was one of those wonderful early autumn days – bright, fresh and breezy. The leaves are starting to change colour and the swallows swirl in the sky as they prepare to migrate. In a few days they will be gone. I spend the day photographing along the backroads which take you through the lesser known valleys and hills of the Yorkshire Dales. I will use these photographs on client’s websites and also on a lproject that I have been working on for 2009.