Its been a busy few weeks and that has meant that my opportunities for photography has been significantly reduced. That said I was determined that this weekend I would get an opportunity to get out and about. Rather than go back to a location I’d been to previously (with my camera) I would look to try a new location. So this weekend I decided to have a walk around the Monsall Head area. Yes this is within the Peak District, and yes I have been to walk around here (a long time ago) but I have not looked at this location with photography in mind.So these images are my first ones from this new location.
Most people will recognise this location, this is the Monsall Head Viaduct. This is part of the Monsall Trail, which follows the line of an old railway line that ran between Bakewell in the south and Buxton in the north. This is a really popular location and walkers and cyclists all share the trail that goes over the viaduct and under quite a number of old railway tunnels. Most people will view the viaduct from the viewpoint which is in front of the Monsall Head pub. There is an actual viewing point and along with the pub there is a cafe and a cracking little ice cream van.
Whilst this first image does show the viaduct from the bottom of the valley, it is very difficult to get a good composition on the viaduct, mainly because there is an awful lot of trees and other foliage on the sides of the valley. This image would never win any awards but I do like the way that the imager has a flow from the bottom to top, using the river to move through up towards the viaduct itself. I do however, like how the swan just swam right into the image as I was framing the composition.
I parked my car in the car park at the viewing point and headed for the trail down to the viaduct and then down onto the valley floor. I saw this scene as I walked down the paths to the viaduct, and decided that I would try to capture this bridge as an image. My OS map app, is always useful in these circumstances, and I was able to find the trails that led me down to this location. I should have realised that the amount of foliage was going to be an issue for each image as I had to extend my tripod to its fullest extent including the high central column to be able to get the bridge in the composition at all. Having said that I think this is decently balanced image but yes have a lot more green in it than I would like. I guess this is a reality of taking images in the middle of summer.
I’m always amazed at how friendly people are who I meet when I’m out and about with my camera. As I stood composing the first image, I was a ware that a person was stood nearby watching what I was doing. I stopped and looked up at the person, and had I did so I realised it was a couple who were out walking and they clearly knew this location as the lady of the group asked me had a seen a number of other potential compositions long the river bank. As part of this chat, I realised that there is a weir not far up the river from where I was stood. The couple assured me that I would be able to get a decent image of the weir.
The weir itself was surrounded by a fence and I scaled the gate and headed to the location that you can see in the third image. Really the best location is down at river bed level which is below the point of this image. I’ve included this image as I didn’t get any others of the weir from the location I had planned. This is because as I made my way back over the fence onto the path to try to get to the better vantage point, I saw a sign that said that the weir was subject to repair and members of the public should stay out as it was dangerous. So I will have to rethink this strategy when I go back to this location.
All of the images were taken with my Sony A7iv and the 16 to 35mm G lens.