A Detour to Daymark
A Last-Minute Change of Plan
If you are a long-time reader of my blog, you’ll know that I can be a little indecisive at times. I spend a lot of time procrastinating on where to go next. A few weeks ago, I found myself being a little more assertive and made some definite plans to explore a new location along the south Devon coast. That decision went right out of the window as I reached the end of M5 and started heading up Haldon Hill.
As I was driving along the final few miles of the M5 I suddenly remembered that I hadn’t photographed Daymark Tower this year. As I’d been in lockdown for much of spring many of my seasonal favourites had passed me by this year. I prefer to photograph Daymark Tower just before the crops are due to be harvested and as I was driving along it suddenly dawned on me that I might not be too late to catch the crops.
I could have carried on to my original destination, but I thought this could be my first and last chance to shoot Daymark with the crops so I made a left turn instead of a right turn. I hadn’t checked the weather for Daymark Tower, but I didn’t think it would be any worse than the forecast at my original destination, so I had nothing to lose.
A Macro Lens for Landscapes?
After parking the car and walking along the path to the tower I was pleased to see the crops hadn’t been cut and this wasn’t going to be a wasted trip. The weather was looking a bit overcast and the chances of getting any nice evening light were slim. However, I thought this would be a wonderful opportunity to try and be a little bit more creative.
My go-to composition at Daymark is a wide-angle shot of the tower from the path near the gate. This works well when you have good light from behind but as that wasn’t an option, I decided that some longer lens shots would be in order. My only problem was that the 70mm end of my 24-70mm wasn’t long enough, and I’m still waiting for delivery of my 24-200mm lens. I did, however, have the foresight to pack my Laowa 100mm macro lens. Just because it’s a macro lens doesn’t mean it can’t shoot landscapes!
Daymark Tower #1, Devon - Nikon Z7, Laowa 100mm f/2.8 2x Macro at f2/.8, 1/50th of a second at ISO 64.
Without the evening light to provide contrast to the foreground, and a surprising lack of tractor lines in the crops I decided that the only subject worth focusing on was the tower. I decided, therefore, to open the aperture on the lens to f/2.8 and focus just on the tower, effectively throwing most of the foreground out of focus. This had the effect of simplifying the scene and though I prefer my compositions of Daymark that have the light on them, these shots work well considering the conditions. What do you think? Let me know in the comments.
Daymark Tower #2, Devon - Nikon Z7, Laowa 100mm f/2.8 2x Macro at f2/.8, 1/50th of a second at ISO 64.
Just a short blog post from me this week. I’m having a little time off from everything to spend it with the family. Don’t worry though, I’ve got another blog post ready to go for next week where I tell you about how some stormy weather produced some unexpectedly pleasing images.