Dartmoor Preservation Association Photo Walks - Honeybag Tor
There’s More to a Day Than Just the Golden Hour
You’ll often hear me talk about the benefits of photographing Dartmoor during the golden hours, that magical period around sunrise and sunset. The light takes on a beautiful golden colour, hence the name, and its softness adds a gentle contrast to the scene, highlighting the character of the Dartmoor landscape.
However, that’s not a reason to overlook the experience of taking landscape photographs during the middle of the day. Just as with photographing during the golden hours, you need the right conditions.
Bright blue skies and strong sunshine often lack interest and can make a scene too contrasty, while grey skies can flatten the light too much, resulting in a rather bland image. Ideally, you want lots of moving cloud, allowing the sun to break through and illuminate different parts of the landscape while still providing an interesting sky.
And that’s exactly the conditions I got when I co led my first photography walk with the Dartmoor Preservation Association (DPA).
The DPA, who I have worked with before, delivers lots of free walks throughout the year, and this year they asked if I would lead their photography walks. When I was asked, I was delighted to be able to donate some of my time to this important and hard working charity.
Unlike the direct one to one tuition and workshops I provide, these photography walks are much shorter events, lasting just a few hours. They feature larger groups, usually around 15 people, and typically focus on a single location that is relatively easy to access. Everyone is welcome, whether they are carrying the latest mirrorless camera or simply using their mobile phone.
Honeybag Tor, Dartmoor - Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4 S at 30mm, f/11, 1/100 sec at ISO 64.
For the first walk, I took a very engaged and enthusiastic group of 15 walkers, cameras in hand, up to Honeybag Tor to photograph the heather.
When I arrived at the meeting point, the weather looked pretty poor. At one point, while driving past Haytor, I thought I was going to disappear into the cloud!
But I held onto the fact that the forecast predicted the cloud would break up and there would be sunny spells. So, I eagerly led the group up the hill alongside Helen from the DPA.
It didn't take long for the weather to start improving. As the cloud began to break, sunlight started illuminating different parts of the landscape, near and far. I found myself running around the group, telling everyone to get their phones or cameras out and look for the light as it moved across the landscape.
Over the next couple of hours, the conditions continued to improve, providing the group with some fantastic opportunities to capture photographs of Dartmoor and the heather.
Teaching people about photography on Dartmoor is something I am passionate about, and it was a real pleasure to share my knowledge and tips with the group in such great conditions. It was especially satisfying to see the pleasure on people’s faces when they looked at the photographs they had captured.
I have another two photography walks scheduled with the DPA. The first is at Hound Tor and Bowerman’s Nose on 8th October 2026, followed by Great Staple Tor on 11th November 2026.
I can’t guarantee the weather, but I do know the groups will be enthusiastic and fun. So, why not come along and join us?
Details can be found on the DPA website.
Honeybag Tor, Dartmoor - Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4 S at 28mm, f/11, 1/100 sec at ISO 64.
