Bite-Size Blog Post #74 - North East Lake District
A Day of Exploration
A few weeks ago, my friend and long-time photography collaborator, Chris Sale, visited me in Devon and we spent a brilliant weekend photographing Dartmoor. During that weekend, we agreed that I should stop off to see him the next time I was on my way up to Scotland so we could spend the day exploring and photographing the north-west edge of the Lake District. And that’s exactly what I did.
Chris knows the Lake District very well, and I was really excited to see where he would take me on our little adventure. I wasn’t looking forward to the 03:45 alarm call though! I’m not one to shy away from an early start, after all, the best light is morning light! (In my opinion anyway.) But this was my first super-early start in quite some time. However, when the alarm sounded, I was out of bed with a spring in my step and excited for a day out with my friend and our cameras.
The first area we visited was the west side of Derwentwater. It’s a stunning location with lots to photograph, from lone trees to classic Lake District jetties, but the scene that caught my eye was a lakeside composition where the light from the rising sun beautifully illuminated the woodland. Sometimes it’s the less obvious shots that work the best.
We then moved on to Tewet Tarn, and again, for me, it was the less obvious composition that I connected with. The long dry-stone wall created a leading line towards Lonscale Fell and Blease Fell, which were topped with stunning cloud cover. Even now, looking at the photograph, I just want to follow that wall and walk up those hills!
For the final location of the day, we headed to Yew Crag and, and while the views down Ullswater were amazing, it was Aira Force that really caught my eye. Though there wasn’t much water flowing, but the beautiful and vibrant spring greens of the trees were striking, framing the waterfall perfectly. It took a few frames to get the shot as other visitors stood on the bridge, but when you’re in such a beautiful location, it’s nice to have an excuse to hang around a little longer.
And that brought us to the end of the day. A day full of adventure, chat, laughs, and photography. Happy days.
