It’s fair to say that the Mint RF70 attracts a lot of attention when you’re out shooting with it. I had three outings last year when testing the first unit I received that had faults that never resulted in a blog entry, then all of the trips I’ve done blogs for so far (seven by my count) and an additional two since this trip. So by my reckoning that makes 13 trips out in all with that camera, and this is the only trip I’ve had as yet where at least one person hasn’t stopped me and asked about it. I hadn’t thought about it much in that regard until it didn’t happen… I’m assuming its in part the bellows being something that is unusual on a modern camera, combined with how noisy the ejection is, and then the fact you have a photo in your hand… I can see why people are intrigued by it. After all, it’s quirky nature attracted me to it in the first place!

Warkworth is located in Northumberland at approximately ///shirtless.topics.weep on what3words. You enter from the car park over a bridge spanning what I assume was a moat, or some kind of embankment fortification in the past. As soon as you pass through the arch in the wall you are presented with a stunning view of the keep, although the steps to the side of the entrance take you up to a platform with a better angle for photos. In the summer months, there is also a hermitage down at the River Coquet which is accessible via row boat. This makes summer the favourite time to visit for the rest of the family.

In the days before covid the site also ran Knights Tournament events through the summer. I’m not sure if they’ve started back up or not yet, but if they have I’ll be sure to be there with my camera this year to capture some of the action.

Worst Things First

On this trip I got a lot of misses, some not even worth sharing as they look just like blank frames. When I got there I hadn’t charged the batteries in the camera, but I hadn’t realised how low they were until they died when ejecting the dark slide of my second pack. I think this meant that the shutter was struggling. I had spares with me, and as soon as there was a fresh set it rectified the issues.

The two images below look like the might as well have come from my discarded pack as they are both way too bright. The first one was metered by my phone, the (+3) shows it was 3 stops too bright according to the camera. In truth I think I probably needed to be about halfway in between the two… I did get a better version of this frame.

The other image of the gateway is too bright and not framed well. I thought I was cutting out my shadow and giving more sky as breathing room.

OK Images

Castle v2

This image has the oppisite problem to the above, it’s too dark. I had my ND4 on, but the camera suggested the ND8 was required, I put (+1) to show it was one stop over what I was shooting. It’s an improvement on the above, but I think I still took a better version.

Tower & Blue Sky

This was the last frame I took on the day. It was at the entrance as we were leaving. I had one frame left, so used it just on the tower that was nearby. I thought the light was OK but nothing to write home about. I expected it to come out brighter than the camera was suggesting that I needed the ND4, but I’m pleased I ignored it as I think this has come out as being exposed pretty well.

Warkworth Village from the Castle

I don’t know what I was expecting from this image if I’m honest. It’s ok. It shows where we were, but theres not clear subject. I guess that’s why I’ve put it in this section!

Flying the English Heritage Flag

I do quite like this image, I just think I have another of the same tower in the Keep that I think beats this one. The other is missing the flag, but I just prefer it overall. Without the other image this may well have been in my favourites of the day…

Favourites from the day

The Light in the Tunnel
I am being really drawn to images of reflected and refracted light in windows lately, and I suppose this image hits in a similar way. The hard line of the shadow, and then pushing the details of the brickwork in the tunnel to black almost all the way through. I don’t think this is as refined as some of the window shots to come in my next entry (watch this space) but its in the ball park for my enjoyment of the frame.

Castle v3

They say third time’s the charm. Here you can see the castle is more well exposed, at the expense of the sky behind, but here I think the castle is more important. In the lower right you can see the tunnel from the image above as well.

Keep Tower v2
I say this is v2, I actually took this one before the version with the flag. I prefer the angle in this image image though, I think the architecture looks more interesting from this side. I didn’t quite get the bird on the left positioned where I would have wanted it (I was too slow). But between the composition, the detail in the stonework of the tower and colour in this image, I think it is my absolute favourite of the day.

If you would like to see more of my landscape work, moving forward most of the images will be here in blog format, but I will notify of new entries on my Instagram page for landscapes - @photog.righ

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