After four months shooting stock images indoors it was great to get out again with a camera last week – though I didn’t go very far, picking a sunny morning for a short walk around Knaresborough to get some local shots for my 2022 calendar range…

The castle ruins looked great in the morning sunshine – I often forget to go in the mornings when the King’s Tower is lit from the town side.

No wander around Knaresborough is complete without a walk along Waterside under the famous railway viaduct…

I should know the viaduct’s history off by heart by now but I always seem to end up looking it up again whenever I keyword my new images! Anyway, it was built in 1851 by Thomas Grainger for the Leeds and Thirsk Railway. It’s about 100m long and 30m high and is a grade II* listed building.

At the end of Waterside I crossed into Conyngham Hall grounds and got some shots of the building from the sunken garden. The hall is another of Knaresborough’s grade II* listed buildings.

Somehow I’d not noticed the phoenix finials on the parapet before! Maybe lockdown makes you more observant?

I wandered back past St John’s Church (a grade I listed building, since you ask…) and stopped to photograph Water Bag Bank from near the level crossing. I was about to cross the line and head back up Kirkgate but the gate was locked due to an approaching train so I had to wait – which was fortunate as I remembered that Knaresborough House is nicely lit from the High Street side on a sunny morning too, so I paid the house a visit instead…

…which also looked lovely with its well maintained flower beds and freshly mown lawn. It’s a mere grade II listed building, which always surprises me as my own little terraced house is one of those as well and Knaresborough House seems rather more imposing!

You can see all of the images from the shoot in my North Yorkshire gallery on the website.

I was particularly pleased with the shoot as it has completed the selection for my 2022 Knaresborough Calendar! Unless I make and last minute changes with new images later in the year, though I think they might go towards the 2023 design, as you never know in these strange times when another lockdown will come along and scupper your shoot plans.

With shoot plans in mind, I’m going to keep it local and have invested in a new map – my old Leeds OS Explorer sheet is getting a bit tatty and out of date and Knaresborough is near the top edge so you need the Ripon & Broughbridge sheet too if you’re walking more than a short way north of town so my custom local map will be very handy!