Bite-Size Blog Post #81 - Honeybag Tor at Sunset
When Will I See Cloud Again?
There is a recurring theme with my landscape photography this summer, and that is clear blue skies. As most landscape photographers will tell you, there are few worse types of sky than a completely clear blue one! But as I said in a recent blog post, “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade”, so I’m learning to embrace the blue skies.
And embrace them I did when I visited Honeybag Tor the other evening in search of heather. I had been becoming increasingly concerned that the long, dry summer might have affected the heather this year, but it appears that Honeybag Tor still has its fair share of photogenic clumps.
The long dry weather has brought some unexpected benefits, though. The yellow, sun kissed colour of the grass can be quite striking, while the bracken is taking on shades of green and gold. Mixed with the purple of the heather and the yellow of the gorse, these colours can create some wonderfully bold and colourful compositions.
A little rain would certainly help those colours pop, though!
Honeybag Tor, Dartmoor National Park - Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4 S at 14mm, f/13, 1/10 sec at ISO 64, Kase Revolution CPL.
But I didn’t have rain, or clouds, so my time out with the camera would have to be more exploratory. Not every trip out with the camera has to result in an amazing photograph. Sometimes, it’s simply about exploring an area, reacquainting myself with familiar compositions and looking for new possibilities.
In fact, I often find that these exploratory sessions can be some of the most valuable trips I make with the camera. They give me the opportunity to work out where I want to be, what compositions might work and, perhaps most importantly, what I want to do when the conditions eventually come together.
These photographs might be a little clichéd, but that doesn’t really matter. I now know that when the clouds finally return, the light is right and the conditions are more favourable, I’ll know exactly where I want to be and what I want to photograph.
Now, if only someone could arrange for those clouds to make an appearance!
Honeybag Tor, Dartmoor National Park - Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4 S at 23mm, f/13, 1/6 sec at ISO 64, Kase Revolution CPL.
