What a weekend it was!

There are some time’s in life when things just all come together to make for the most perfect times. We try to plan for these things, but we are mainly left in the lap of the gods to deliver them all at the same time. Well this last weekend I would say that they all came together for me to have the most fabulous time.

I was in the Lake District, fabulous location. I had the best weather, it was hot and didn’t rain at all. I had fabulous company, Chris you’re a fabulous bloke as well as wonderful photographer (and coach). I had 3 shoots over the two days of my tuition, and I can honestly say I couldn’t have enjoyed them more. I think you will agree that I got some great images to.

My tuition was provided by Chris Sale click his name to go to his website for details.

Forgive the girlie pose but this is the best pose I could muster at 6am after an hours hike up Beda Fell.

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Day 1 Sunset Shoot Haweswater Reservoir

We arranged to meet at around 4pm and given the need to social distance we agreed that we would travel separately. It’s a good job really because I’m sure I would have got lost if I had not been following Chris to the allotted spot. As always with great locations you have to spend time driving down narrow country lanes, to what feels like the middle of nowhere, but boy was it worth it. 

As I got out of the car I was struck by how tranquil and calm it was. The excitement started to mount (even for a wizened 57 year old bloke) as we both put on our walking boots and gathered our gear, and off we went.

The first 20 yards were downhill, easy this landscape photography!! We took a left turn and headed upwards, onto what is known as the “Old Corpse Road”, which is something to do with where the cemetery was from the village that used to exist round here a long time ago. The bodies had to be taken over the fell to be buried. It’s a path nowadays but the maps still refer to this pathway as the “Old Corpse Road. 

For seasoned walkers this is a typical path up through the fells, but given I’ve been in the Peak District this past month or so, I was ready for the walk up. Slow and steady was the mantra from Chris and I was glad of that advice. As we walked upwards, the view unfolded in front of us, and what a view!

Jutting out into the reservoirs and looking like it’s been tagged onto the end of Rough Crag is a small forest known as “The Rigg”, and from our first stopping point we could see this very clearly, as well as a small island alongside it (not sure what it’s called). The first two images capture the Rigg and the Island both together and The Rigg separately, an impressive view already and this was only stop one.

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We moved onwards and upwards, further along “The Old Corpse Road” and I’m starting to realise there are lots of really old buildings scattered across the fells. Clearly had a purpose at some point in history. We came across one such “housey thing” (my words), as we walked, and this would play a prominent part in the rest of the shoot this first evening. 

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It was really rather warm as we hiked up with our camera gear in heavy backpacks, but this is the lot of a landscape photographer. In all honesty the backpack I have has been designed really well as it distributes the weight out perfectly and even my heavy “Benro” tripod wasn’t a huge problem to carry.

We had plenty of time to look for compositions at this location and Chris is a great planner of locations, to maximise the opportunity for good shots. Which I feel I have got. We wandered around the fell side and I took a good number of shots but these were all just warmup to the main event, as sunset approached.

The main event is a combination of the Rigg, the House, the Island and Rough Crag. We spent plenty of time discussing the best possible composition, where to stand the tripod, how high it should be and what combination of the elements make for the best shot. What is main subject? What is the foreground interest, what is the background interest? One revelation for me was the approach to deciding on how well the camera will be “exposing” the image. Previously I had slavishly stuck to the light meter reading but Chris’s sage advice told me to use the Histogram. I knew there was a reason for booking onto this session!! 

I think it’s fair to say that we got some light at sunset but we didn’t get the pinky reddy skies that you sometimes get at sunset, but I didn’t care. I was having a great time and learned so much by not having ideal conditions. 

This image has quite a lot of light on the scene and even with all of the filters on the camera, it was still difficult to get a good shot from that harsh type of light.

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The next image is an alternative view of the same image but this time with a little less light on the scene. I really like how there is a patch of light on the surrounding fells and you can see the beam of light across the image. I’m pleased with this image for sure.

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It really was quite hard to control the flare in each image due the direction and intensity of the sun. Chris was on hand to literally offer his hand as a way of shielding the lens to minimise the flares, neat trick Chris. 

This last image from this location I think is my favourite from the ones I’ve taken and edited myself. It is a moodier version of the same image, but without the bright light. Let me know what you think about the 3 images and which is your favourite.

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At this point I made the call for us to “pull up stumps” and call it a night from this location. So Chris and I headed down back to the car. As we walked Chris mentioned that there was one other spot he would like to take a few images from and that was just off the road, not far from where we had parked. This new location was White Acre Crag.

It essentially is another view of The Rigg and Rough Crag but there is some lovely heather in the foreground as well as a moody sky above. We bumped into another photographer at this location and it was good to have a quick chat with him. 

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Day 2 Sunrise Shoot Beda Fell

In my book there is only one 3 o’clock each day and it always comes in the middle of the afternoon. You can image my bodies shock when I woke up at 3am, to get ready to go out for the sunrise shoot. I was full of excitement and trepidation for this if I’m honest. The reason being, would I be ok hiking up the fell in the dark and get there in time for sunrise. Would my 57 year old body be up to it. I needn’t have worried, I absolutely loved it.

I followed Chris from Pooley Bridge down to Martindale Common and we parked up at a small church in the pitch darkness. Off we went heading for the summit of Beda Fell which is a Wainwright and is 509 metres above sea level. That’s practically in the sky!!

We made good progress and it felt a little like me and my son when ever we had holidays in the car……… “are we there yet”. Eventually we made it to the summit and boy was it worth it. The view was amazing. I had a quick swig of water and off I went to try to do justice in an image of the view laid out before us.

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Part of the reason for booking onto the one to one session with Chris was to understand how to photograph a location that is new to me. What to look for, what makes a pleasing shot, in different circumstances. The next image is the same location but is a landscape orientation. Some images suit portrait others landscape. I have to say I like both.

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As the sun rose we started to get some light onto the scene and it lit up the fells and the cairn stone and this next image includes some of that light. I guess being able to get good compositions in these sorts of locations comes with experience and Chris certainly has bags of that. I think though that these compositions were my idea, with only suggestions of tweaks from Chris. I was happy with that feedback.

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As we headed back across the fells in search of other compositions Chris and I discussed topics various and he asked me how many Wainwrights I had. Now I’ve had lots of pints of Wainwrights beer, but that was my first Wainwright fell. His reply was that I would be hooked. He’s right, yesterday I downloaded a website where you can record the fells you’ve climbed. Hooked indeed.

A fabulous cooked breakfast at the bed and breakfast, and a shower and a nap and I was raring to go for the afternoon shoot planned.

Day 2 Beacon Hill and the Limestone Shoot

Given that The Lake District is very busy during normal hours Chris suggested that we should go over into Yorkshire and do some shooting on Beacon Hill.

We headed onto the otherside of the M6 and through a lovely little village of Orton, and out towards Great Ashby Scar, firstly stopping at the monument on Beacon Hill. Given that it was just after the middle of the day, and only “mad dogs and Englishmen” would be out, Chris suggested that I try my hand at some black and white shots, of the monument and limestone around it.

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This image of the monument I’m really pleased with as I’ve never taken any black and white images before and was completely unsure of what to look for. Having the camera in B&W mode certainly helps as you can see the image in B&W as you look at the screen.  I have to say I’m really pleased with the atmosphere of this image which belies the hot sun and blue skies. Thanks Chris more fantastic advice.

We decided to hike over to where Chris had been just recently and we soon found a “lone tree” which was surrounded by Limestone. The two images here are all my own compositions. I thought about what I’d learned and how to translate that to this scene. I’m really pleased with these two images and feel they work really well as full colour images.

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We walked around looking for compositions for a while but I was flagging at this point and just wanted to take off my boots and down some water, that was waiting in the car. 

What an absolutely fabulous weekend I had, thanks again Chris you are a star and a fabulous photographer and tutor. I will definitely be back. In fact sooner than you think………..

Action Shots from the Shoots

As part of the package that Chris provides he also takes some location based images of the shoots with me as part of the image. The images that follow are the ones Chris gave me from the 3 locations. Great memories of a fabulous weekend.

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