Horses, Fields, Goats and Ferraris - 4 hours on a bike with my camera...day 2

I decided last night that the most logical thing to do, based on the productivity of yesterday's bike ride, was to head off in the opposite direction and see what else I could find.

I got off to a relatively quick start, after watching a few episodes of Bargain Hunt and Cash in the Attic of course, and charted my route north to the town of Seale. 

I had rolled about five feet before I sat down on the seat of the bike and, just as quickly, sat back up; I was sore, very sore. It seems that there is a certain set of muscles that you use when riding a bike sitting down. Needless to say, I have not used those muscles in a long, long time and I was now paying the price. After a few minutes, everything was warmed up and the aching subsided, I was ready to set out on today's journey. The cows saw me off to a good start.

After another five minutes or so, I ran into a long, gradual hill that took me through dense pine forests on both sides. I decided to stop at the start of a nature trail to better explore the photographic potential of the trees.

The Binton Wood was remarkably dark, the branches of the trees almost completely blocking out the soft gray glow of the perpetually cloudy sky.

There were a few trees, like the one above, on the edges of the forest that were lit clearly while the dozens of others behind fell into darkness. The out of focus light of the clearing on the other side of the trees can be seen shining through the scattered trunks.

As I explored the photo-dynamics of the trees, a father and son with family dog trotting along behind, came walking down the path on their way back to their car. I silently framed the shot and waited for the right moment to release the shutter.

Once I reached the top of the hill, I was treated to an expansive view over the fields of Binton Farm.

At the base of the hill alongside Binton Farm was one of the gatehouses to the Hampton Estate. The muted colors and dynamic clouds were too much to pass up, I framed and shot.

Both of the above photos were created from singular RAW files. A properly exposed RAW file has an amazing amount of "dynamic range." That is to say, the flexibility in shaping the look of your final image is greatly enhanced over editing a compressed JPEG file. Both were created by adjusting the exposure of the photo to bring out both the details in the clouds as well as the details in the road/grass/building. After creating separate JPEG's of each of these exposures, I used masks in Photoshop to blend the two into one seamless HDR photo.

Moving right along...

As I progressed into the town of Seale, I noticed a church coming up on my right that had a very ancient looking cemetery surrounding it.

I exited the church and looked back up the street from which I had come, another composition was staring me in the face.

Moving through the town of Seale, I noticed an small road leading back through a couple of the buildings, I decided to investigate and to my surprise and delight, discovered a beautiful shire horse (I think) standing alone in a pen behind one of the town buildings. He came trotting over to the fence to greet me, I stroked his nose and patted his neck. I don't remember ever having a more personal encounter with an animal of that size and beauty, it was an experience I won't forget.

As I exited the town, I decided it was time to stop and document one of the numerous "SLOW" suggestions that littered the town center. It seems like more of a mild suggestion than anything else as just about NOBODY that I have encountered while on the roads drives at a speed anywhere near what could be called "slow."

 

After riding through The Sands, a small village south west of Seale, I was passing by a driveway when I noticed a pen just a few feet inside the gates housing 3 goats who quickly perked up when they noticed I had stopped to say hello.

After visiting with the goats, I decided it was time to head home for the day and get something to eat and drink. On my way past another one of the few driveways I passed, I noticed a flash of red out of the corner of my eye. I circled back around to discover the nose of a Ferrari poking out of a modest wooden garage. This scene represents a lot of what Surrey seems to have become in recent years...a place of hidden wealth.

I arrived back at the dairy with a full memory card and another day that I will never forget.

Observation of the Day:

As I pedaled through the heavily wooded back roads of Seale, I couldn't help but notice the amount of cigarette boxes lying on the sides of the road; no doubt ejected from passing cars after they were emptied. I always knew that the warning labels on cigarettes in Europe were much more direct and obvious, but varied as well? They certainly do go out of their way to try to make smokers quit, and in such blunt, effective language. Well done England, well done. WE should try that in America and see if it doesn't help remind people of the poison they are inhaling everyday.