The Five Stones of Duddo.
First, I must apologise for the lack of updates from myself here. June and July have proven to be tumultuous months that required a lot of my time and energy.
And so, onwards, to the beauty of Northumberland. Away from Northumberland’s ever-tempting coastline, we ventured inland to revisit some spots. In particular, north of the teeny little unassuming village of Duddo, one can find a historical treasure: Duddo Five Stones.
Erected roughly 4,000 years ago, the stones are made of sandstone that have had deep grooves drawn into them from thousands of years of weathering.
Conditions I felt were sympathetic for shooting these stones: Dramatic but benevolent.
All photos taken on my Sony α7ii using my Sony 24-240mm F3.5-6.3 OSS zoom lens. RAWs improved in DxO PureRAW, developed and edited in Capture One, finalised in Affinity Photo.
The beautiful country lane that you stop at to walk to the Duddo Five Stones. Pure bucolic English joy.
Approaching the stone circle. The land is privately owned, but the landowners have maintained a right of way to the stones for the public to enjoy. Above, storm clouds gather.
Here they are, the Duddo Five Stones, sitting eternally below a moving sky. From here there are 360° panoramic views across vast swathes of the Northumberland countryside. You can see why these stones were erected here. Unexpectedly, an older Californian couple soon joined us at the stone circle as we were shooting photos. They couldn’t wrap their head around the age of these stones.
On this occasion I was very interested in trying to capture the fantastical shapes and grooves that the stones exhibited from weathering.
Some of the patterning on the stones are a lot more geometric than you would expect.
A brief moment of strong light pulls out the texture in this stone.
This stone almost puts me in mind of compound muscles, like a leg.