This last week i‘ve been lucky enough to get out and about again, and like most weeks of late some of this was in the Peak District. However, I have ventured further afield this last week, and that was to help celebrate my friends 60^th birthday, and that was in Prestatyn in North Wales.  

It’s difficult to know where and when to go to places as I certainly don’t want to be in places that are packed full of people, but neither do I want to become a prisoner in my own 4 walls. Those of you who have read my blogs of late will know I’ve tried to balance getting out for my sake, with making sure I don’t do something that will cause problems to the locals who live in the places I have visited. More about this in the coming weeks and months.

Castleton Circular Walk (one of the many)

I’ve said before in my blogs that I try to have some idea of where I’m going and what I want to see when I get out and about. This is aided massively by the OS Circular walks books, as well as the Viewranger website and App.  The walk this week was from Viewranger (click the link for details), and took me through Castleton, up through Cave Dale, around and up onto Mam Tor, and then descending back into Castleton through the path off the Great Ridge. 

I’m really waiting (not very patiently) for The National Trust and English Heritage, to open up their properties again. One on the list is Peveril Castle, and this walk took me up through Cave Dale and gave me great views of the castle set against the backdrop of the peaks behind it. The first image is taken from about halfway up the ravine that runs through Cave Dale and provides an idea of the location of Peveril Castle, for when I do a blog from my visit inside it.

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The photography courses that you can sign up to all tell you that when looking for compositions that will make good images that you should keep looking up and around and not down. Well that’s easier said than done when you are hiking up a rocky ravine, but what is good for looking around and spotting good compositions is stopping to catch your breath. Yes, even I have to stop now and again.

As I stopped and sucked in the gulps of air, I started to look around and I spotted what I thought would be a good image and that is of a tree. This tree is growing in a rather odd place and at an odd angle. I think you’ll agree it makes a good image. It would be better with nice “pinky” sky, but it’s now logged in the memory banks as one to go back to.

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Once out of Cave Dale the walk swings around through the farmland around Mam Tor and leads to the path that takes you up to the steps at the foot of Mam Tor. I’ve been up this route many times before but I took my time and made sure I was socially distanced from the throngs of folk that seem to be around. As I made my way down the other side of Mam Tor and down towards The Great Ridge you get some great views out over towards Castleton.

The path meandered on you can also see some of the other routes up onto Mam Tor. The third image shows what is called “the broken road” route, I think this used to be the route through to Edale before a land slip decimated the road and relegated it to a walkers curiosity. That route will definitely be walked at some point to get some images of the road as is.

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The path that the Viewranger takes you down off MamTor provides great views but it is also quite steep in places and a bit rocky underfoot. Like most things when out walking as long as you take your time and watch what you are doing then its ok as a path. I’m glad it was the downhill section of the walk as I wouldn’t fancy doing it in reverse. 

The last image from the walk shows you the downhill section of the path down off Mam Tor and you can see the meandering route it takes quite clearly in this image. The path takes you through lots of lovely ferns and larch trees (I think) and eventually lands you down onto the road that takes you back through a number of renovated (and very lovely) properties back into the village of Castleton.

A fine walk for sure.

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Perspectives

I’m sure you are all in a similar situation to me and have had all of your holiday plans cancelled as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. I’m not complaining as such as I think it’s the right thing to do. It does leave lots of folk in a dilemma of what to do for breaks this year. If 2020 had gone to plan I would have had 4 holidays already this year with others to come, but that isn’t to be. 

I was thrilled when my friends asked me if I wanted to join them in a short break to celebrate my friends 60^thbirthday. This was in Prestatyn in North Wales, and whilst Wales is behind England in its easing of restrictions, we were able to get out and walk and sight see. I’m eternally grateful to my friends for the invite.

I decided not to take my full camera kit with me on this trip as it would get in the way, but I did take my main camera and the 24mm to 105mm Sony G lens with me. This gives me all around options, and to be fair a good portion of the images on this site have been taken using this camera and lens combination. I like it.

I did take quite a few images that I would describe as sightseeing pics, and these will be shared with my friends as a memento of the trip. I decided that I wanted to continue to try out different approaches to my photography, which includes taking images from differing perspectives.

For those that know the North Wales coastline you will see lots of similar things on most beaches and promenades. These are effectively part of the sea defences, and include concrete steps, breakwaters or all types and constructions, along with markers, mainly with green triangles on top of them, not sure why they have them though!.

The first image is one of the breakwaters but taken from a low angle, with the focus being on what is just a little bit in front of the camera. This allows the image to flow off into the distance with the foreground out of focus and the mid ground onwards in focus. I really like this angle and anyone who has sat on the floor near this sort of thing will recognise the look.

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The online course that I am following gives me access to monthly challenges and this month’s challenge is titled “minimalism”. Now this covers a multitude of things but it mainly is about keeping things very simple and not having images that have too many things within them.

I decided that I would use the time away with my friends to have a go for myself. The images that follow are my take on minimalism. I’m not sure if these are the last attempt’s I’ll have at this approach but I do think that these are very minimal for the way I have taken my images in recent months. The second image is another perspective of the first image, and that is the marker at the end of the breakwater. However, this time the marker is pretty much the only thing in the image, with a blank sky, and the final touch is that in post processing I’ve applied a black and white filter. I have to say I quite like this.

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The third image here is a colour image but probably one I initially thought about as an alternative perspective on the promenade steps. If you didn’t know any better you could be excused for thinking that this was of a picture of a wall, but that is just the close up nature of where I placed the camera and the use of a wide focal length. The focus is quite close to the camera and this means the background is blurred which all adds to the effect I was looking to achieve. 

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For those of you who know the beach at Llandudno will recognise that the stones in the fourth image are from that beach. The closeness of the camera to the stones and the focus on the stone in the middle again gives a feeling that these are rocks rather than stones. The blurred background again all adds to this, I’m pleased with this image.

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All along the seafront at Prestatyn are sand dunes. Some of these have been converted into caravan parks (there are lots of caravans), some are there to walk on and there is even a golf course. I think in reality the sand dunes are all part of the sea defences for this part of North Wales. The final image here combines my love of leading lines with a more minimal type approach. I focused on the grass right in front of the lens but the line of the promenade takes your eye off into the distance, and being out of focus means that the people who are walking along do not distract the eye from the main focus of the image. Of course this could also be of a huge wall that is part of the sea defences, rather than a single blade of grass on a step…………… it is all about perspectives I guess.

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