Julian Cartwright - Photography

24/07/2026

My regular reader will no doubt recognize this view of the Titterstone Clee golf ball and chums - Lord knows I've posted enough variations of it over the last few years. I like it for the symmetry of the radars and masts, and the smattering of interesting rocks in the foreground (known locally as Dhustone, officially known as olivine dolerite). I've photographed it in fog, sun, fog, snow, in the fog, at sunrise, at sunset and when it's been foggy. Sadly, the view's days are numbered, as work has started on erecting the golf ball's modern replacement (just out of shot to the right - see pic in comments). The golf ball and its replacement are NATS air traffic control radars. The current one is outdated; technology has moved on and major updates were required. Since it's not possible or safe to take the radar offline while it is being modernised, the solution was to build a new one. That will be brought online in a few months, after which time the current one will be decommissioned and the ball removed. And I will have to find summat else to take pictures of (I've seen plans of the new one and it's not as pretty and it's in the wrong place. Bloody inconsiderate of NATS if you ask me). Anyhoo, I shall try and document the works and will hopefully be around to catch the old one coming down. I'd better add some more pics to my 'Radar Love' gallery on my website too!

https://juliancartwrightphotography.mypixieset.com/radar-love/

22/07/2026

Much as I'd love to do more astrophotography, I'm not built for late nights these days. Add in the fact that to get decent results often seems to require stacking multiple images then subjecting them to hours of Photoshoppery that's way above my levels of skill, comprehension and boredom threshold and you can probably see why I stick to mostly daytime stuff. (Hedgehogs excepted 'cos, well, they're hedgehogs). Nevertheless, after the hoggies wandered off last night it seemed silly not to have a crack at the Milky Way, seeing as it was right in front of me. This is a single 20sec exposure that has been treated to mere minutes of hamfisted Photoshopping (I actually use Affinity, not Photoshop, but 'Affinitying' dun't sound right). Not a bad view from the patio door I suppose. I only wish Tenbury and Hereford would turn their lights off at night 😄🌌

22/07/2026

Plenty of hedgehog activity in the garden at the moment, so plenty of water and hog food left out. These two were exhibiting courtship behaviour... right up until the point another male appeared, head-butted this male, then wandered off to scoff all the food. Note to self - move the patio furniture out of the way...

18/07/2026

Nice to see my pic of St. John's, Doddington in The Tablet - "The International Catholic News Weekly". Does that mean the Pope's seen it?🙏

The Church of England General Synod voted against a motion to restore 30 per cent of its land for nature on 14 July.

18/07/2026

*Edit* Scans added.

A couple more wet cyanotypes created yesterday and dried overnight. I dropped a couple of my off-white bevel mounts over them to give an impression of how they might look when mounted and framed. Me like! Let me know what you think.👍

16/07/2026

Well yesterday was a good day! First I'm informed that one of my pictures has made it through to the 3rd round of the prestigious, international Natural Landscape Photography Awards. Still time to crash and burn, but chuffed to get a picture chosen from over 12,000 entries worldwide. I'll take that as a small win! Of course, it's a picture of one of the Clees, taken from the other, so it was bound to impress the judges😁

Then my mini-portfolio of misty morning pics taken from Clee Hill Common is featured in the fab On Landscape magazine.

And to top it off, my Cyanotype greeting cards seem quite popular. Might have a go at the National Lottery this weekend...

Having just taken delivery of a new telephoto lens, I was keen to try it out on the hill where I live, Shropshire's Clee Hill.

08/07/2026

Well that escalated quickly! Cobbled my first wet cyanotype together less than a month ago and took delivery of the first batch of greeting cards from the printer earlier this week🥰😎. Six designs, featuring local flora, printed on lovely high quality card stock (size A6, 105mmx148mm), with white envelope and protective cellophane sleeve. Available singly or as a set of six. Will be in the webshop and real shops soon. Drop me a message if you want some.🙂

03/07/2026

Today I was in Tenbury Wells, working a shift at the fabulous Teme Valley Artisans shop. If you've not been, you really should visit - lots of lovingly hand-crafted items on offer from some very talented people, along with some of my photos from around Clee Hill. I took my camera with me as I've been hoping to get a decent shot of Tenbury's distinctive Pump Rooms. Built in 1862 to promote the town as a spa for the working classes, the building is now Grade II* Listed, totally unique and an absolute sod to photograph in its entirety. It's an odd shape; long and low with a tall spire at one end, it's difficult to get back far enough to get it all in shot due to a brook and a couple of sizeable trees, the latter of which means it spends a lot of the day cast in shadow. Still, nothing an ultrawide angle lens, a polarising filter and a few minutes fiddling about on the computer couldn't sort (close proximity plus a wiiiiiide lens means yer verticals need a bit of gentle coaxing to become vertical again). Behold, Tenbury Pump Rooms.

30/06/2026

My 2027 Clee Hill calendars are now available to order online here:

https://juliancartwright.sumupstore.com/product/2027-a-year-on-the-clee-calendar

Special offer: order two or more to benefit from free UK delivery!

If you're local to Cleehill and prefer to buy in the more traditional way, they're now in stock at the wonderful Brewe Clee Hill and will soon be in Teme Valley Artisans down in Tenbury. Or you can place an order by throwing money at me in the street, I don't mind. Whatever's easiest.

As usual, numbers are limited so please don't leave it too late.

Soon be Christmas...😁🎅🎄

Order your 2027 'A Year on the Clee' wall hanging calendar, featuring 12 photographs taken around Shropshire's iconic Clee Hill

29/06/2026

You'd be forgiven for thinking I've given up wandering the hill with my camera and have instead taken to more archaic forms of photography, mixing up chemicals of dubious toxicity in the garage and wandering around with blue stained fingers, foraging for interesting looking plants at the side of the road, probably while wearing a beret. You'd be half right: I am still wandering the hill, but the light at this time of year isn't that conducive to great pics (unless you're out stupidly early or stupidly late) so I have swapped my camera for two wheels in a continuing effort to regain some of the fitness chemo robbed from me last year. Today I reached a milestone - I managed to cycle to the summit of Titterstone Clee from home without once stopping for a rest/snooze/CPR/air ambulance/sausage roll. Here's a snap to celebrate.

I don't own a beret.