Yorkshire Sculpture Park - January 2007

Photo Gallery:

Tree at YSP	Three Sculptures
Through the round window	Hare and Anvil
Sunshine	Rust
Minotaur	One Sculpture
Bust	Dont lose your head
Totem Pole

The Yorkshire Sculpture Park near Wakefield is great for a day out, we 've been a few times recently and there's always somewhere else to wander and something else to see.  The kids enjoy it and so do I as there's a number of good photo opportunities.  The park was originally landscaped 200 years ago and for the last 30 years the YSP have been exhibiting sculptures there, many in the lovely surroundings of the park and some in indoor galleries.  They have a number of exhibitions and from what I can tell things do seem to move and change there from time to time, so I doubt we'd get bored of it.

I think it makes a good autumn and winter venue for photography, the colours in autumn must be great and the low light of winter makes it possible to get some great shots of the sculptures with plenty of detail and texture.  The pictures I've taken don't do it justice, I struggle to see the best shots here, the place is quite busy both with people and other objects, buildings, trees etc so can be hard to get the sculptures with a good clean background.  I've tried in some shots to get in close and make something of the textures and curves but not with as much success as I'd have liked.  I will be returning though so I'm sure I'll improve.

The park is a short drive off the M1 near Wakefield, they have a parking fee of around £3.00 for a day but there's no further charges for entry.  Picnics are banned on the site though, not sure whether that's due to people leaving litter or to drum or more trade for the restaurant which is your usual National Trust style place with a reasonable coffee but, as always, not cheap.  It does have nice views out over the park.  The whole place always seems quite busy but the carpark's quite large, the restaurant gets crowded at the obvious times though.