Happy New Year! Happy New Decade!

Arcadian View from the top of Richmond Hill – Looking out over the River Thames

Updated: Dec 23, 2020

Happy New Year to y’all! I wish you all a wonderful year, and indeed, decade ahead!

Arcadian View from the top of Richmond Hill – Looking out over the River Thames

  © colin anthony photography

I thought I’d get the year kicked off with one of my favourite views of the southern UK. Snapped on my iPhone, so no creative retouching, Just grading.

Afterthought to the comment above: I just remembered I removed a crane in the middle ground… I don’t want to start a new decade with a “Snapper’s Porky“…

I know the north has the majesty of the whole of Scotland and the Lakes, the glories of the Moors and the Dales, but look at what we have here in the south. This is a view of at least three London boroughs with distant views of the Surrey Hills and beyond…
The flooded River Isis swiftly moves through the valley below, with Glover’s Island almost engulfed by it’s swollen torrent. I know it’s not Durdle Door, or the Jurassic Coast, it’s not one the villages of Devon and Dorset. It’s only the view from the top of Richmond Hill, London…

I can hear a few of you exclaiming “the view is of Surrey and Middlesex!“.

I had to check this, just to be sure, and the view is very much a “London” view.
Richmond upon Thames, Kingston upon Thames, Teddington, Isleworth and Twickenham are all in Greater London boroughs, and have been since 1965. It’s only been 55 years since the change, so I guess we’ll all be good with calling it Surrey and Middlesex for another 30 years or so. I know I have been

This Arcadian landscape is the only view that is protected by an Act of Parliament. In 1902 the act was passed, and this “specific view” was protected, and Marble Hill House (now mostly hidden by trees) was opened as a public park the following year.
This view has inspired paintings by William Russell, Joshua Reynolds and most famously; Thomson’s Aeolian Harp, by JMW Turner, 1809.

I hope enjoy viewing the image – Colin

Pixel Peepers’ Notes & Newbie Hints & Tips:

I used an phone app called Camera + to shoot the image.

It shoots raw files in DNG format, thus allowing me to use Adobe Camera Raw to apply unsharp masking and the ability to recover highlight and shadow detail. It also allows me to adjust saturation etc. Effectively, it allows me to use all of the Abobe RAW development tools to control the image.

Although I chose this “Snap” this view of the River Thames, a similar view is also my best selling library shot. You can see it here on Alamy.

There are some interesting books about the River Thames. You can find soime on Amazon using the links below.