Photography Week 43 - Peak District

Photography week 43 (19th -25th October) centred around a dawn to dusk trip to the Peak District. The morning provided the best conditions for photography and the results have been covered in three separate posts:

Millstones
Dawn, Stanage Edge
Along the Edge...

During the afternoon I had planned a visit to Alport Castles, an impressive castle shaped mound created from a large landslip. There are several ways to get there but one of the easiest is via the Ditch Clough Plantation. I was lucky to get a few breaks in the cloud both at the venue and over the plantation:

After the visit to Alport Castles I stopped at the Derwent Reservoir intrigued by the low water level and attracted to the autumn colours on the far side. The area around the Fairholmes plantation was also particularly colourful:

 

 

The last venue of the day was Higger Tor for the evening light that didn't really materialise. There were some very short breaks in the cloud an hour or so before sunset but that was about it. After a full day I was happy enough to sit on a rock and watch out for any changes in the light and to take a closer look at some of the colours and patterns in the gritstone:

 

 

 

Along the Edge..

After capturing the millstones at first light, I could see some autumn colour in the trees near Hollin Bank and decided to walk along Stanage Edge for a closer look. On the way I tried to make the most of the conditions by stopping at a couple of the water pools as well as capturing the light on the fields below Overstones Farm:

 

 

 

 

As I progressed, I could see a build up of dense cloud through the valley to Castleton with some variable light on the cement factory and the hills beyond. I tried to capture this as it developed before reaching the plantation area where I finished up with some nicely lit autumnal scenes - and I wasn't the only one enjoying the view:

Dawn, Stanage Edge

Capturing the millstones at first light was the main purpose of my visit to Stanage Edge in the Peak District. As the stones are below the edge it takes about 20 minutes for the millstones to get any sunlight. This provided an opportunity for some dawn shots on top of the edge and some near perfect conditions for photography:

Millstones

When reviewing my back catalogue I realised that it had been nine years almost to the day since I had taken morning shots of the millstones below Stanage Edge in the Peak District.

These particular millstones provide one of the Peak Districts iconic views. The combination of the stones lying flat and the angle of the others stood on edge makes these millstones perfect for photography. They also balance well with Over Owler Tor and Millstone Edge in the background with the valley or the path providing a subtle lead through the composition. Light is required to make the whole composition work and first light is probably the best.

So nine years on I decided to revisit the millstones and this was the pick of the morning's shots:

I think the above image has just the right amount of light on and around the stones. The images below were taken a little earlier whilst waiting for the sun to rise a little higher.

 

Photography Week 42

Photography week 42 (12th October to 18th October) included a visit to Clumber Park and the Derby Arena in addition to the Other World series of abstract images. These are some of the other photographs from this week:

Dorket Head

Images from Dorket Head featured in Photography Week 39 when the farmer was applying the harrow to the fields. A couple of weeks later there is a mixture of raked land and green shoots which work well with some low autumn sunlight:

Autumn Leaves

Four leaf compositions: beech leaves in Clumber Park; two compositions of the base of the Sky Mirror sculpture in Nottingham; and some fallen leaves on a grave stone outside Derby Cathedral.

Dereliction and Demolition

During May I posted a series of photos titled 'dereliction and demolition' on Talbot Street in Nottingham. I revisited the area this week and the office blocks have been fully removed. The art deco frontage of Talbot House remains and I think it will be preserved as the building gets converted into student accommodation. Viewed from behind it is a different picture!

 

Whilst in Derby I took this image of the Derby Hippodrome which has been in the news recently as the restoration trust makes a bid for lottery money:

Derby City

Also in Derby:

The Guildhall Market

City Arboretum. Opened in 1840 and is known as the first public park in Britain.

The Brian Clough and Peter Taylor Statue.  The bronze statue in the Pride Park area of the city stands on a compass base pointing to some of the world's greatest football stadiums. Captured here is the compass point to Wembley Stadium 106 miles from Pride Park.

Discs

In addition to the 'Other Worlds' oil on water studies I made a few compositions with some old CDs. I used the same reflected colour technique but abandoned most of the shots at the processing stage due to unwanted fingerprints, dust and flaws on the discs. These are a few that made the cut: