Bite-Size Blog Post #82 - Honeybag Tor at Sunrise
What a Difference 12 hrs Makes
Yesterday I wrote about photographing Honeybag Tor on a sunny, clear blue sky day. The photographs were bright and colourful, but perhaps lacked a little impact. They lacked the drama that I so often seek in my Dartmoor photographs.
The following morning couldn’t have been more different.
The forecast had predicted some cloud cover, but arriving at Honeybag Tor again, I was slightly dismayed to find that the sky was completely covered. I know, just yesterday I was complaining about blue skies and now I’m complaining about too much cloud. What can I say? I’m difficult to please!
That said, there was a small slither of a gap near the horizon, so there was a chance I might get a little light on the landscape if the sun passed through it. And indeed it did, but unfortunately the gap wasn’t clear sky. It was simply a layer of hazy cloud further away. I could see the sun, but it wasn’t casting any light on the landscape, which remained firmly in flat light.
I spent some time staring at the sky, hoping the conditions would change, but I was reasonably sure they weren’t going to. So I started walking back to the car.
I hadn’t got far when I noticed another, much clearer gap appearing in the cloud. There was a possibility that the sun might find a way through it, but I wasn’t sure. So I waited.
And waited.
Sure enough, my patience was rewarded and I found myself walking very quickly back up to my viewpoint to capture some photographs.
The scene had been completely transformed.
Yes, there was still plenty of cloud, but thanks to the glow from the sun, it had become another character in my scene rather than something that was simply getting in the way. The light was illuminating the ground perfectly, catching the clump of heather that I had deliberately positioned in my frame.
It was magical.
No sooner had the light arrived, it was gone again. But what a morning of ups and downs!
And it’s those ups and downs that make landscape photography so exciting. You can spend an hour watching a scene unfold, wondering whether anything is going to happen, only for everything to suddenly come together for a frame or two.
Even after all these years, the experience of seeing the landscape come alive in front of me will never become boring.
It’s those moments I cherish.
