The Projects Continue

I have to say that its been a few weeks since I was able to get out with my camera. Life is busy at the moment what with work, a great personal life and lockdown easing, it all means that things I’ve been wanting to do I’m now actually able to do. I know it’s not wrong to take a break from things, and that sometimes doing so means you come back refreshed with new perspectives, so I’m not beating myself up about it all.

Circumstances were such that this weekend I was able to get out and about and carry on with work on my Projects. I’ve signed up as a member of the Chris Sale Photography Community and as part of that subscription I get a regular 121 with Chris himself. You will recall that I posted my photography plans in a blog post a few weeks ago, and Chris picked up on this at the last 121. Sage advice was, finished the Companion Stones Project and that will allow me time to focus open the 12 Significant Images Project as well as taking images on the various trips I have planned. So this weekend, I did just that. I finally bagged images of the last Companion stone, just the write up to go now. I also managed to visit 2 locations to get second images for the 12 Significant Images Project.

The Last Companion Stone

For the more regular readers you will know I stumbled across the Companion Stones as I was hiking with friends around the Peak District, this pricked my interest. I’ve been slowly but sure tracking the stones down and taking images of them ready for the ultimate project write up. I guess I’ve used this as a way of testing my location planning skills and I have learnt a lot about how to scout locations starting with the OS maps website and app. Great tools for planning and cheap as chips at £25 per year for desktop and iPhone access…….. bargain.

It pays to be thorough when planning locations on maps, particularly when you maybe using a small screen to view the maps. I do this a lot. What I means by that is its sometimes easy to not see the bigger picture and miss some elements of the location that mean the walk to that location is more difficult than would otherwise be the case. This stone is the last one for a good reason, I mis read the location. In my mind it was the hardest one to access, how wrong I was. I was determined to bag some images, so a more thorough look at the OS map told me there was a location not too far away that I could drive to and the hike would be uphill but mercifully short.

When I reached the location, I thought I wanted to park at I felt I was in the wrong place. Further scrutiny took me to a lay by right beside a track, the track which ultimately had the last stone on it. The image you see here is of one end of the stone and depicts the wording. It’s meant to be old English I’m sure but I will say more about that when I do the final write up of the project. I can’t tell you how relieved I was to have bagged the images of the final stone. The walk back to the car seemed a lot shorter than the walk in, and I was already planning the evening.

I took my walk around camera, my Sony A6600 with the 16 to 55 f2.8 G lens with me, as I was expecting a fair hike. The image you see here is wide open at f2.8 which gives a decent amount of background blur. I have allied my normal Lightroom preset to this image with only a few minor tweaks. I’m not sure if this will make the final cut of the images in the project write up but I like it and its how’s off the stone to get effect.

Stanage Edge and Higgor Tor

You’d be mistaken for thinking that these two locations are far apart. They are not, in fact you can walk between them in a few minutes. The sunrise is far to early for my liking, so I thought I’d look to try to take advantage of the sunny conditions around at the moment. As I got nearer the Hope Valley I suddenly realised that :Peaks were actually covered in fog and mist. A perfect combination for the type of images I was after. I drove past Mam Tor and I could see thick mist on the summit. As I drove through the Hope Valley I could see the mist was on Stanage Edge. To my huge disappointment as I approached the parking point the mist started to roll away. Not what I was after but them’s the breaks I guess.

I bumped into a couple of nice blokes who were also out taking images. I was surprised to hear that they were happy that the mist had disappeared, they were after more grand vista shots, and mist tends to get in the way of that. I have to say this image I really like. Before unpacking my camera I used my iPhone to take some test shots and one of those shots was from this angle. The decision was made and I set up my Sony A7iii with the 16 to 35 f4 G lens on and stated to compose this image. Granted a bit of mist and fog would add to this image but I do like the way the grass is growing over the stones and the moody sky in the background also helps. This is the second image from location 4.

Now you will all call me lazy at this point. In my defence I had walked along Stanage Edge and spoken to another keen photographer before deciding to get in the car and drive to the layby at the foot of the steps onto Higger Tor. My second image of the Kit Kat stones was the objective of this location and I did take multiple images from various angles, but I think I’ll have to visit this location a few more times before I get what I think is the best composition.

If I didn’t know any better I’d start to think that these stones have been placed here, its a cracking location. Great views out over the Hope Valley, the Roman Fort of Carl Wark in the middle distance and these wonderful looking stones in the foreground. A together crop might help this image but I think im satisfied that this will be the compsosition of the second image from location number 5. Whether this actual image makes the final cut i’m not sure about but it is a good composition in its own right. I just feel I can do better, before the winter comes and the obvious addition of ice and snow make this a very different scene.

All in all a productive weekend was had, it was unexpected but that’s how it is sometimes. having projects to work on really focuses the mind, and supplements the more reactive image taking that happens when visiting and hiking through new locations. I thoroughly enjoyed the weekends photography.