On Kinder Scout, one of the summits in the Dark Peak, there is a waterfall called Kinder Downfall. On very windy days, which we’ve been having in abundance here in the UK recently, westerly winds come screaming up the valley and funnel into their most intense just as the water is going over the edge. The results can be spectacular -
We had a good dump of snow a couple of days back, and the forecast was for sunshine in the afternoon. Driving anywhere was going to be tricky, so walking out onto the local hills from my house seemed to be a good plan. One of the benefits of living where we do is the “low carbon” hiking which is available!
Laced up boots, grabbed the camera and a couple of primes, and I was ready. These are a couple of the images I got from the walk. The snowy tree is on the slopes of Lees Hill, and the lane is called Besom Lane – lovely low winter light.
Niall Grimes has just published a new selective guide to bouldering venues in the UK, “Boulder Britain”, and has used this pic. This was a lovely spring day at Pex, back at the very end of April. The blue skies and green leaves seem a distant memory as I write this!
Another shot from my early morning stroll round Dovestones – I took a diversion off the main path and down through a plantation of conifers. Unusual perspectives with a low “roof” of branches, muted light, carpet of pine needles, rows of tree trunks.
Yesterday was mostly taken up with shots for the new BMC Cheshire Sandstone guidebook. As I approached home it was nearing sunset, so took a diversion up a very bumpy road to our local reservoir, parked up and had a wander round to look for sunset images. This was one of the results.
Got up early yesterday morning, the autumn colours are at their best round here at the moment. I normally tend to prefer bright sunshine, but decided to work with the flat cloudy light I had. Luckily the reservoir was flat calm and acting like a giant mirror, which was lovely. Wanted a wideangle view and just had my standard and short tele prime lenses, so a stitched panorama was called for – gives a different perspective than a wideangle would
.
Got up this morning, opened curtains and noticed a very impressive sky. Conditions didn’t seem too bad from our house, so threw some clothes on, grabbed the camera and drove uphill to our local reservoir. Parked up at the dam wall, pushed the car door open and the storm force wind promptly slammed it shut again. Wrestled with the door for a bit and eventually managed to exit the car. Grabbed a quick panorama and sky shot – the best light quickly passed – and rapidly sought sanctuary back inside the car, back down for breakfast…
“Bokeh Panoramas” is an interesting technique that gives you a “look” that is very difficult to get any other way (large format or tilt/shift lens perhaps). It needs a short telephoto lens with a wide max aperture (=shallow depth of field), and ideally a lovely out of focus bokeh. I use a Pentax FA 77mm f1.8. Focus on your chosen subject (not infinity!) and lock the exposure and focus point. Then take a series of shots to create a panorama. The effect is as if you had a wide angle lens with an aperture of f0.3 or something – and hence not an effect that you normally see!
I used it to get a different take on a bluebells shot earlier in the year -
Well since I last posted the weather in the UK has been challenging, lots of grey sky and occasional rain, with odd spells of fine weather. Then the last week of September has been glorious. Quite a lot of time has been taken up getting photos for the new BMC Cheshire Sandstone guidebook, and I think these are now largely complete. Publication is due in the spring.
I’ve also been seizing whatever spells of fine weather present themselves and getting some landscape work done, some for the National Trust and some for myself.And doing bits of climbing and walking, trying to keep fit. And fitted in a quick trip to East Anglia
Must update the galleries when I get a minute!
I’d planned for a while to photograph sunrise from the top of Win Hill, in the Dark Peak area of the Peak District. Last night the forecast was good, so TPE was called into play to work out the sunrise time and direction. Adding the time it would take to walk to the top, and the time to drive there, led to the unpleasant realisation that I’d have to set the alarm for 4AM…oops.
I fell out of bed at stupid o’clock, dressed hastily, stuffed camera gear, tripod, boots and poles in the car, and set off over the Snake Pass. At least there was no traffic. Parked at Yorkshire Bridge, up the steep path through the woods by Parkin Clough, finding my way in the dark by headtorch. There had been mist coming over the Snake, I was excited now because it seemed mostly clear overhead and to the east.
As I came out of the woods and reached the summit it had all been worthwhile – lovely pre-dawn colours and broken clouds to add interest to the sky. As usual everything was a rush as the sun actually rose, light changing very quickly, trying alternative compositions and viewpoints. Once the sunrise was over with, I wandered round Win Hill summit, looking to capture images of the heather (which was at its peak) in the early morning light.
After an hour the light was past its best, so I wandered down, in rather less of a rush than I’d gone up. A brief rain shower was considerate enough to wait until I’d got to the road. A good start to the day!
Here is a sample image -
Rising sun from the top of Win Hill
Gallery -
http://senseofplace.co.uk/galleries/uk/uk-landscape-peak-district/313-2/