I chose a sunny winter afternoon for a visit to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Saltaire near Bradford in West Yorkshire with a nice reflection of the New Mill in the River Aire at dusk in mind.  Saltaire is a model village built in 1851 by Sir Titus Salt, an industrialist in the Yorkshire textiles industry.

I arrived in the early afternoon and went straight to the spot by the river in Roberts Park to figure out where I needed to be at dusk.  The low winter sunshine was rather nice on the mill building, so I took a few shots straight away, with a lovely reflection in the calm water above the weir.

The reflection of the mill looked so good it was worthy of a few images on its own.  Above the weir the reflection was quite recognisable, but photographing the reflection at the lip of the weir gave a more warped effect – an almost abstract image.

Having made the most of the reflections (for the time being) I headed into the village for a look at some of the splendid architecture.  The terraces of houses in the village, the Victoria Hall and the United Reformed Church (where Titus Salt is buried) are all worth a look – along with the original Salts Mill, of course, now housing art galleries, shops and restaurants.

After a cup of coffee in Don’t Tell Titus… (though I’m not sure he would have objected to my drinking coffee – I think it’s the array of alcoholic drinks on offer that wouldn’t have met with his approval!) I made my way back down to the riverside as the sun started to set.

As the lights came on and I was waiting for the lovely deep blue colour in the sky to reach its peak I found that the abstract reflections in the weir worked well with the reflections of the lights at the mill.

Eventually the sky was about the right colour and a (very) long exposure produced the image that I had had in mind when I first arrived, rounding off a very enjoyable shoot.