St James Lake Reflections in Brackley

 Having a pretty little lake a few minutes walk from home is a mixed blessing.

On the one hand it’s a great place to take a walk to get a bit of exercise and blow away the stresses of the day. Taking a camera just adds to the pleasure as it is a pretty spot. On the other hand it starts to take over the photographic efforts. Some days it is much easier to take the camera for a walk around the lake when I should be making a bit more effort to get some more adventurous pictures.

The shot above is St James Lake in Brackley, Northamptonshire. It is a nice little spot wedged in between the local Tesco and the A422 trunk road. Featuring a few geese of various kinds, the lake also plays host to the occasional swan visitors and normally has a grey heron around.

St James Lake is actually a flood protection lake designed to protect the lower parts of the town. In fact, a few years ago, it was totally flooded out after heavy rains.

Photography

A good range of tones and some bold shapes will often make a good black and white shot. This shot is a black and white HDR photo generated from a single RAW and finished in Gimp. The HDR processing just adds a bit of detail to the shot.