Trees, fields and fences beneath dark clouds.

This little scene is just off to the side of Hollingworth Lake, Littleborough, photographed in July this year from the lake path. I like the mixture of lines and textures, but it's really the quality of the light that makes the picture. The different greens are really brought out and look great against the dark clouds.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 400, f/11, 1/200s, 55mm, hand held.

Gulls perched on wooden posts across the Serpentine, Hyde Park.

This is one of the last photos I took on our trip to London in March this year. We had just been to a photographic exhibition at the Natural History Museum and decided to walk through Hyde Park on our way back to Kings Cross station. I thought the birds would probably fly off whilst I got my composition right, but I suppose they're used to people milling around and, happily, they stayed put for long enough to take the photo.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/11, 1/80s, 55mm, hand held.

Electricity pylons alongside Blackstone Edge reservoir

I usually try to avoid getting pylons in my photos, but sometimes they actually enhance them. This one is from March this year, at Blackstone Edge reservoir above Littleborough.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/11, 1/100s, 40mm, hand held.

Ambleside viewed from a helicopter

Yesterday I fulfilled a lifetime ambition and went on my first helicopter trip - a birthday present from my lovely husband. We flew from Carnforth, Lancashire, to Ambleside, Cumbria and back. It took about 30 minutes, at 1000ft and 100 mph. I absolutely loved it, and the weather was fantastic too. I took lots of photos through the window - haven't had chance to review them all yet, but some of them have come out really well, whilst others unfortunately have reflections of my check shirt in them!

This photo marks the turning point of the trip - the town of Ambleside, surrounded by the beautiful Lake District fells.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 400, f/4, 1/1600s, 18mm, hand held.

Rainclouds over rockpools at Seahouses (2)

This is an alternative composition to the picture I posted 3rd Oct last year,both shot in August 2013. The first was a landscape version (to fit with the horizon); this is portrait (to fit with the more vertical pattern made by the rockpools). I think I prefer this one, although it still makes me a bit uncomfortable to crop a horizon so tightly!

If you zoom in (albeit a low-res file) you can see silhouettes of golfers on the far right horizon.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/11, 1/160s, 30mm, hand held.

Sunset over the Calder valley (3)

Here's another one from last night. On the way back from Todmorden, the sun started to set and the sky and clouds were glowing, so I took a bit of a diversion, parked by the side of the road in Warley and took a few photos. It was one of those lucky times when you actually have your camera handy when the weather does something great!

Camera/lens settings: ISO 400, f/8, 1/125s, 18mm, hand held.

Evening sunshine on Stoodley Pike, Todmorden

I took this one this evening, from Eastwood Road above Todmorden. It was a lovely sunny evening with some really interesting clouds around - I had some time to spare before picking my son up from a club, so decided to drive up to the top of the valley to get some photos. I really love how Stoodley Pike looks in the setting sun - sometimes it turns it red and it seems to glow when you look up to it from the shadowy valley. The light didn't quite replicate that effect tonight (I think it was a bit too early), but it's still a lovely view across the valley.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 200, f/16, 1/160s, 20mm, hand held.

Path curving through a field to a line of trees on the horizon

This is very close to Malham Tarn - I took the photo in August this year. I love the simplicity of the tree line, the curve of the path and the one little tree standing on its own at the end. This photo is just cropped down from a 3:2 ratio landscape shot; I'd really like to get a true panorama of the same scene one day - using a tripod and merging a number of portrait shots (a more dramatic sky would help too!).

Camera/lens settings: ISO 200, f/11, 1/160s, 29mm, hand held.

Water droplet on a CD surface (2)

This is another macro shot done on my patio table in June this year, using natural light. For this one, I shook the CD gently to disperse the water droplets, making little streaks of water between them.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/16, 1/80s, 90mm, tripod.

Shadows from branches on sunlit rocks.

I seem to remember one of my sons was climbing this rock in the woods at Hardcastle Crags when I took the photo in April last year. I was waiting for him at the bottom and the contrasting light, lines and colours caught my attention.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/3.5, 1/800s, 90mm, hand held.

Snow-covered branches on a sunny morning

Nothing clever about tonight's photo - just the simple loveliness of branches loaded down with fresh snow on a sunny January morning.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/9, 1/80s, 18mm, hand held.

Boats moored on the Rochdale canal at Hebden Bridge

I took this one on a walk along the canal bank from Mytholmroyd to Hebden Bridge, on a sunny tea time in June this year. The light and reflections were lovely and my son, Kai, was very patiently holding both dogs whilst I clicked away.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 400, f/10, 1/125s, 44mm, hand held.

Coledale Beck viewed from above on Grisedale Pike.

I took this about half way up Grisedale Pike a few weeks ago, looking over the edge into the Coledale valley. It was a lovely sunny day and Coledale Beck was lit up like a silver snake in the valley bottom. You don't really get to see the whole shape of the Beck again once you get further up the Pike and descend Coledale Hause to the head of the valley - the valley contours hide parts of it from then on.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/11, 1/200s, 32mm, hand held.

Lines, curves and shadows from an ornate Greenwich fence.

This fence runs alongside the Old Royal Naval College at Greenwich - I took the photo in March this year. I like the mixture of straight and curved lines from the fence, its shadows and stone edging and the great perspective of them collectively shrinking into the distance.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/8, 1/160s, 32mm, hand held.

A stack of cut logs in woodland

Today's picture is from the woodland surrounding Ogden Water, taken in early March this year. I love the vivid colours in the logs and the different textures in their surfaces. Looking at the picture also makes me remember the strong smell of sawn wood that was in the air.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/3.5, 1/200s, 18mm, hand held.

Old run-down stone cottage on Widdop moor.

This cottage is just off the path that runs alongside the first of the 3 Walshaw Dean reservoirs at Widdop, near Hebden Bridge. I sat down near it to eat my sandwiches on a walk on Thursday this week. I love old cottages and barns like this - it always makes me wonder who used to live there and how long ago.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 400, f/11, 1/200s, 28mm, Kood soft grad filter, hand held.

Tall tree trunk striped by shadows

I took this one quite a while ago - May 2013 - at Hardcastle Crags. No idea what type of tree this is but it stood out from the others around it for being so tall, with branches only at the top, and looking like its trunk was stripy, due to the shadows cast across it from other trees around.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/3.5, 1/200s, 18mm, hand held.

A summer meadow.

I took this one at the end of June this year, on a walk around Colden, on the hills above Hebden Bridge. This field is right on the edge of the Hardcastle Crags woods, on the opposite side of the valley to where I usually walk. I laid down in the grass to get the photo, to get a composition of just grass and sky.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/18, 1/100s, 18mm, hand held.

Red admiral butterfly on pink Sedum flowers (3)

Here's another one from the series I took about a year ago in my garden. I chose this one out of many others because I really like the underside of butterfly wings. This picture showcases the colours in both sides of the wings - the fact that the head is out of focus also helps to draw your eye to the wings.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/4.5, 1/1000s, 90mm, hand held.

Late evening light on Malham Tarn

I really like this photo (from August this year), even though there's no obvious focal point. To me, it conveys the atmosphere and feel of the evening - the sound of the waves, the dimming light and the remoteness (there was no-one else around).

Camera/lens settings: ISO 400, f/11, 1/200s, 22mm, hand held.

Looking across Coledale towards Sail from the slopes of Grisedale Pike.

I took this picture on my birthday a couple of weeks ago, not long before reaching the summit of Grisedale Pike. It was the first time I'd climbed this mountain, but it definitely won't be the last. It was a lovely day and a great walk, getting right into the middle of the fells in a relatively short time. In the far distance, you can just see a few hazy peaks, one of which is Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England. In the foreground at the bottom right, you can just see the top of Force Crag. A couple of spectacular waterfalls fall down the Crag into Coledale Beck and pass the disused Force Crag Lead Mine. The path you can see on the opposite slope was our route down the mountain towards the beck.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 200, f/11, 1/200s, 24mm, hand held.

Widdop reservoir on a clear Spring day.

I took this at the end of April this year, on a lovely warm,sunny day. It's the top end of the reservoir (Lancashire end), taken from the path over to Upper Gorple.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/11, 1/160s, 55mm, hand held.

Tangled trees and crooked branches

This is in Hathershelf Scout Wood, just above Scout Road in Mytholmroyd, photographed in April this year. I think converting it to black and white gives it quite a spooky effect!

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/8, 1/80s, 24mm, hand held.

Lumb Hole waterfalls

These lovely waterfalls are at Crimsworth Dean, near Hebden Bridge, photographed on a walk along the valley in June this year. I've been trying different ways of photographing fast water - long and short exposures - and I think I prefer short. I like capturing the motion and being able to distinguish the separate droplets of water. This one isn't a particularly short exposure (1/80s), but still does the job.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 200, f/11, 1/80s, 18mm.

Boats at Craster harbour, Northumberland (2).

Here's another view across the harbour at Craster - this time looking out to sea beyond the brightly coloured little boats and harbour walls.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/11, 1/60s, 18mm, hand held.

Heron Quays Docklands Light Railway (DLR) station

This one's from my trip to London in March this year. It shows the entrance to Heron Quays DLR station - you can just see the end of a red train carriage stopped at the raised platform. There's a shopping centre underneath and offices above. I just love how the scene is packed with colours, lines, shapes, textures and reflections.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 100, f/8, 1/60s, 24mm, hand held.

Buttermere panorama

We were almost at the end of a walk around Buttermere last week when I decided to have a go at creating this panorama. I was admiring how the patches of light were hitting the surrounding fields and fells, but individual photos really didn't manage to capture it. I've never tried creating a panorama without a tripod before, but thought it worth a go. This is the result of merging 10 separate portrait images in Photoshop via Lightroom.

Camera/lens settings: ISO 400, f/11, 1/200s, 55mm, hand held.