Photographing The Daymark - Devon's Coastal Beacon, Landmark and Icon
In this video I head to the south Devon coast on a beautiful summers evening to photograph one of the South West Coast Path's best known landmarks, The Daymark.
Back to the Coast (Nearly)
I’ve been exploring and photographing Dartmoor extensively over the last few years and I loved every minute of it. Well, nearly every minute of it! However, there is so much more to discover in the south west of the UK. The South West Coast Path is perhaps the most obvious choice, and with over 630 miles of coastline to explore, I’d have no shortage of places to go.
So, it’s time for me to branch out and learn more about the South West Coast Path. I have of course photographed some of paths great locations like Trevose Head in Cornwall, but I’ve never spent a significant amount of time exploring what I expect to be a treasure trove of photography locations.
I’m not giving up on Dartmoor, far from it, but I do want to expand my horizons.
To start my South West Coast Path journey, I’m going to revisit a few of the locations I already know, starting with The Daymark, a location I haven’t photographed for some time. So why not join me in my latest video as I explore and photograph The Daymark. And yes, I know it’s not directly on the coast path, but it’s close enough!
Landscape Photographs of The Daymark - South West Coast Path
Daymark Tower #1, Devon, South West Coast Path - Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4 S at 23mm, f/13, 1/10 sec at ISO 64.
Daymark Tower #2, Devon, South West Coast Path - Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 24-120mm f/4 S at 54mm, f/13, 1/60 sec at ISO 400.
Daymark Tower #3, Devon, South West Coast Path - Nikon Z8 with Nikkor Z 24-120mm f/4 S at 24mm, f/13, 1/5 sec at ISO 400, single image crop at 6:17.
Is My Photography Impacting the Environment?
Access to Daymark Tower has been closed off because of the environmental impact from visitors. In my latest video, I look at the reasons why, consider the impact my photography has on the environment, and capture some landscape photographs of this iconic Devon location along the South West Coast Path.
Daymark Tower - Closed to Visitors
It was a few months ago that people started to mention to me that one of my favourite locations along the South West Coast Path, Daymark Tower, was closed to the public. As I got more information it appeared that the short path that leads from the track to the tower had been locked shut by the farmer due to the damage that was being done to his crops by visitors. This didn’t exactly come as a surprise to me.
As I know the location well, I knew that it was still possible to get good shots of the tower from the track side of the fence. Experience has also taught me that the crops start to look their best (photographically speaking) around June and July, so I thought it was time to visit the tower to take some photographs and look at the access restrictions myself.
Here’s how I got on and what I saw.
While it’s easy for me to criticise other people, making this video has made me think about the impact my photography has on the environment. Issues such are carbon emissions are easy to identify, but what I need to start thinking about is the damage my feet (including those on my tripod) are doing to the ground around me. Over the years I’m sure I’ve been careless so the best thing I can do is to learn from those mistakes and improve my behaviours.
I hope by reading this and by watching the video that a few of you will also consider how you impact your local environment when you are taking photographs. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
Daymark Tower Photographs
A Detour to Daymark
A sudden change of plan finds me visiting one of my favourite locations but with dreary grey conditions, was it worth the diversion?
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.
7 AMAZING Devon and Cornwall Landscape Photography Locations
In this blog post I’m going tell you about 7 AMAZING locations in Devon and Cornwall for landscape photography. This post is PACKED full of photographs and videos to inspire your landscape photography!
Vignettes of Landscape Photography
Over the last week I’ve been publishing videos from my new series Vignettes of Landscape Photography. It’s a series of short videos on the locations that have inspired my landscape photography. Each episode is a mix of still photography and video clips that will hopefully not only show you the natural beauty and variety of the location but also inspire you to visit that location to capture your own photographs.
Now that all 7 episodes from series 1 have been published on YouTube, I thought I would bring them all together in a big blog post. Not only can you choose to play them all from the playlist I have created below, but if you scroll down you will find each individual episode along with a map and the images I captured from that location. I hope you’ll agree that these are indeed 7 AMAZING locations in Devon and Cornwall for landscape photography!
I really hope you enjoy this first series of Vignettes of Landscape Photography. Please leave me a comment below and let me know what you think. Did you have a favourite episode or a favourite image? What would you like to see from series 2? Have you been to any of these locations? Have you been inspired to visit any of the locations featured? Let me know in the comments below.
Bedruthan Steps
A Bedruthan Spring, Bedruthan Steps, Cornwall - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 26 mm, f/11, 1/4 sec at ISO 64, Kase CPL and ND grad.
Spring Cliffs at Bedruthan, Bedruthan Steps, Cornwall - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 22 mm, f/11, 1/2 sec at ISO 64, Kase CPL and ND grad.
Last Light at Bedruthan, Bedruthan Steps, Cornwall - Nikon D850, Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8 at 42 mm, f/8, 136 sec at ISO 64, Kase CPL, ND and ND grad.
Venford Falls
The Twin Falls of Venford, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 28 mm, f/11, 4 sec at ISO 64, Kase CPL.
The Fall, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 35 mm, f/11, 2.5 sec at ISO 64, Kase CPL.
The Flow, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 16 mm, f/11, 2.5 sec at ISO 64, Kase CPL.
Belstone Common
Stormy Belstone #1, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 16 mm, f/13, 1/3rd sec at ISO 64, Kase CPL and ND grad.
Stormy Belstone #2, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 16 mm, f/13, 1/3rd sec at ISO 64, Kase CPL and ND grad.
Daymark Tower
The Daymark Tower, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 16 mm, f/13, 1/5th sec at ISO 64, Kase CPL and ND grad.
Tower in the Field, Devon - DJI Mavic Pro, 23 mm, 1/290th sec at f/2.2, ISO 100.
Stormy Belstone #1, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8 at 70 mm, f/2.8, 1/125th sec at ISO 64, Kase CPL.
Trevose Head
Trevose Head #2, Cornwall - Nikon D850, Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8 at 26 mm, f/13, 2.5 sec at ISO 64, Kase CPL.
A Long Night Ahead - Trevose Head, Cornwall - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 20 mm, f/13, 13 sec at ISO 64, Kase CPL and 6 stop ND.
Botallack
Botallack #1, Cornwall - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 16 mm, f/11, 1.6 sec at ISO 64, Kase CPL and 6 stop ND.
Botallack #3, Cornwall - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 30 mm, f/13, 90 sec at ISO 64, Kase CPL and 6 stop ND.
Brent Tor
Brent Tor, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 16 mm, f/14, 1/13th sec at ISO 64, Kase CPL.
Brentor Church Sunset #2, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 at 19 mm, f/8, 1/6th sec at ISO 64, Kase CPL. Focus stacked image.
A Tale of the Unexpected
Sometimes the best the shots are on the path rather than the destination itself.
Two Plans in One
Summer generally brings blue skies and warm weather. All very nice for relaxing in and drinking glasses of chilled white wine, but generally useless for landscape photography. After what had seemed to be an endless streak of blue sky evenings I had decided that enough was enough and I was going to go out with the camera. Worst case scenario I could do some exploration of new locations, and best case I might get some high-level cloud around sunset and be able to fire off a couple of frames.
I've been trying to explore more of my local coastline recently so I decided I would visit a location that had been recommended to me by a friend. It's the kind of location you want to visit on a high tide, with a bit of wind and lots of clouds. None of these conditions would be present on this visit, but as this was a mission of exploration, none of that mattered. I just wanted to scope out the location.
As I also had a bit of time I thought I would visit that location first and then head to a different location to catch the sunset. Looking at the map I could see I wouldn’t be far from Froward Point and as I hadn't shot that viewpoint in a while I decided to tag it onto my itinerary.
Blue Skies, Blue Ocean
It was a beautiful summers evening as I set out in my car to my first location. Despite it not being ideal conditions for landscape photography summer is a great time to be driving around Devon. Everything looks lush and green and you can't help but feel everything is going to be just fine!
That sense of well-being and calm continued as I made the last part of my journey to the first location on foot. As I already knew I wasn't going to be taking any "serious" pictures at the location it didn't bother me that it was calm seas and bright blue skies. I took a number of test shots from various different angles. I had to try hard to envisage the location in less settled conditions, but I at least now had a good idea of what I might want to achieve next time. Definitely a location to return to.
I was soon back in the car and crossing the River Dart using the ferry. This is something I haven't done before so it was an added bit of excitement to my little road trip!
Golden Fields
To get to Froward Point you first have to park at the Brownstone National Trust car park and then walk the rest of the way. As you make your way down to the coastline you walk by Daymark Tower, a popular location for photography and a location I’ve shot myself many times. In fact, I had shot it a few weeks before so I was happy enough to pass it by. However, as I walked by it did catch my eye. Instead of the crops being a greeny yellow colour they had turned a golden colour and looked quite different. It did cross my mind that it might photograph well when the sunsets, but I carried on walking, focused on getting to the coastline.
You can shoot Froward Point from a number of different angles as you can see from this blog post here and here. For this visit I decided to go for the spot almost directly below the NCI lookout. I have to admit that when I arrived I just wasn't feeling that excited about shooting there. I'm not sure why this was. The sky now had a few very high-level clouds in it but the rest of the scene wasn't really doing it for me.
I think at the back of my mind I knew that I would have been better off back at Daymark Tower and shooting those golden fields of crops. As time progressed and my desire to photograph Froward Point didn't increase I decided there was no point in waiting until sunset and so I packed my bag and started to walk back to the car.
As I approached Daymark Tower I could see how good the light looked on the tower and the crops. With about 15 minutes of good light left I get to work very quickly and captured these images.
Field of Gold, Daymark Tower, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35mm f/4 at 17mm, f/13, 1/3rd second at ISO 64.
Tower of Gold, Daymark Tower, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8 at 70mm, f/11, 1/6th second at ISO 64.
Fire Beacon, Daymark Tower, Devon - Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35mm f/4 at 24mm, f/13, 0.4 second at ISO 64 (single image crop at 16:7).
Though I've shot Daymark Tower a few times, I'd never photographed it looking like this. A combination of clear skies, golden light, and golden crops made for some very pleasing images. Considering I hadn't planned on capturing images at Daymark, these unexpected images were very welcome!
Have you ever passed a location and then wished you'd gone back? Have you ever gone to one location but decided to go somewhere that you had originally dismissed? Let me know in the comments below.
Friends, Fun and Landscape Photography
In the blog this week I share with you my latest video where I head out with a couple of landscape photography friends to capture sunrise photographs of Start Point lighthouse on the south Devon coast. Those 3am alarm calls don't seem so bad when you are having fun with friends!
A Solitary Pastime
For me, some of the things I love about landscape photography are the early starts and the solitude. This may sound like an odd thing to say but those unsociable hours mean that my photography generally doesn't interfere with my other commitments. Though I'm a very sociable person, there aren't many better things than watching the start of a new day with nothing but the sound of the breeze and the birds singing.
Don't get me wrong, if you see me one morning out taking photographs, come over and say hello. Many a trip out with the camera has been enhanced with a good old chat.
Photography Friends
One of the unexpected benefits of publishing videos on my YouTube channel is that I've made a few friends along the way. People that not only share my passion for landscape photography but people I can have a bit of a laugh with.
When two of my photography friends Gareth Danks and Chris Sale decided to visit me on my home turf I was delighted. I knew that even if the photography turned out to be challenging, the spirit of friendship and general attitude towards fun would make the whole experience more enjoyable.
You can see how we got on in my latest video:
We did a lot more larking about than was showed in the video, but hopefully, I've shown some of the collective spirit we had that morning. I'm not sure I would have driven all the way to Start Point at that time in the morning if it had been for Chris and Gareth!
If you have time, you should really check out their videos from our little adventure as well:
Is landscape photography something you prefer to do on your own? Do you have any friends that also share your passion? Let me know in the comment below.
Those Photographs
Here are the photographs that you saw in the video.
Sunset at The Daymark - Devon: Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 @ 20mm, 1/5th sec @ ISO 64, f/13, Lee Filters Circular Polariser.
Dawn Light on Start Point Lighthouse - Devon: Nikon D850, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4 @ 19 mm, 10 secs @ ISO 64, f/13, Lee Filters 6 Stop IRND.
Trying Something New at Daymark Tower
It's always good to expand your photographic horizons and so on a recent visit to Daymark Tower in Devon I decided to try some new techniques and styles. Read on to see how I got on!
Every Visit is Unique
Over the last few weeks I have been finding myself to a number of locations where I have previously taken some of my favourite images. There is of course nothing wrong with this as I'm a firm believer that even if a 1000 people have already placed their tripod legs on a particular spot, there are still new and exciting images to be had on every visit.
Most recently I wrote about my visit to Venford Falls in an effort to improve on a photograph I took there last year. Shortly after that I returned to the same location and was pleasantly surprised to discover a little more about that location by photographing Venford Brook.
The point I'm trying to make is that even if a location has been well photographed either by yourself or any other photographer, each visit to a location is unique and therefore you can get a unique image.
Returning to Daymark
I recently visited Daymark Tower to shoot on of my 5 Minute Photo Adventure videos. Though I didn't manage to get any portfolio class images from that particular shoot I knew that if I returned a few weeks later when the crops had grown a little more I could try again.
I had a number of goals for a return visit. Firstly I wanted to see if I could improve on one of my portfollio images from last year.
Could I improve on this image from last year?
The image above that I took last year benefited greatly from good light. The setting sun illuminated the tower nicely and added a warm glow to the crops swaying gently the breeze. It's rare that the image you have in your head before you go to a location is actually the image you get.
So what was I hoping to improve on? Well, to be honest, I'm not exactly sure. I think the main element I would like to have seen improvement in is the sky. A beautiful Devon sunset sky with pink or red clouds would have been lovely.
Unfortunately for this particular visit though, the sun disappeared early behind a bank of distant cloud so I never really got a chance to make the most of the golden hour.
Nikon D750, Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 44mm, ISO 100, 1/60 second, f/13
Fly Away Drone
I mentioned earlier that I had a number of goals I wanted to achieve on this visit. Another goal was to take some aerial photographs of the tower and crops using my DJ Mavic Pro. This didn't go as planned! Being a coastal location there is always a little wind and though it was breezy on this particular evening, I thought it was within the limits of the drone.
Shortly after take off I soon realised that the wind was a bit stronger than I had thought. Despite turning around my drone and applying full power it was slowly drifting away from me. I had a fly away drone on my hands! As a private pilot I've learned not panic in these situations, so knowing that the wind would probably be weaker lower down I reduced to height of my drone to just above the crops.
The wind was indeed weaker lower down and I was able to return the drone back to its starting point. The aerial photos would have to wait for another day!
Something New
My final goal was to try and take some intimate landscape images. The crops in the field around Daymark Tower look beautiful as they gently move in the breeze. However, could I translate what I saw into a good image?
So while I'm reasonably happy with the result, I still have a lot of work to do to create compelling images in this style. This isn't a style of landscape photography I'm used to and I need to train my photographic eye a little more for this type of photography. However, it's always good to try something new and with a little more practice who knows what I can produce in the future.
Have you been to Daymark Tower? Do you photograph intimate landscapes? Have you had your drone fly away from you? Let me know in the comments below.
Daymark Tower
In the blog this week I share with you my video on shooting Daymark Tower on the South Devon coast. You can also read my top 3 tips on shooting at this fantastic location.
A Brief History
I started this blog back August 2016 and shortly after that, I posted my first video over on my YouTube channel. When I made that first video it was just something I wanted to do and I didn't really have a plan for growing and developing a YouTube channel.
However, after posting a few more videos I realised that I enjoyed the process of creating video content so I decided to keep it going. I then started getting some positive feedback and my subscriber count grew. I've always been committed to my website and blog, but I now also wanted to develop and grow my YouTube channel. Soon I had a long list of video content that I wanted to shoot.
I remain committed to my blog which is my primary output channel for my landscape photography stories and as long as I'm out taking pictures I normally have something to write about. Creating video is a different ball game though and while I have some grand ideas and themes for my videos, producing them takes time, so the rate of delivery is going be slower than the blog.
A New Video Series
So this brings us nicely onto this video I've just made on shooting Daymark Tower. I decided to shoot it as I've just had the following image used in Outdoor Photography this month (issue 208, June 2017, page 55).
I thought it would be useful if I shot a brief video on the location so other photographers could get a better idea of what the location is like before they visited it. It's only a short video and unlike most of my other forthcoming videos it will be about one location only so it will be quicker to produce. So this video marks the start of what I will hope will be a series of short videos that introduce photographers to locations they may not have visited before. A little dose of inspiration!
My website and my blog will always be my home and I will continue to produce regular content there as I have done before, but by producing more frequent video content I hope to share my landscape photography journey with an even wider audience.
The Daymark Tower
So onto my first location in this new series, The Daymark Tower.
I hope you enjoyed that video and that it's given you a better idea of what it is like to shoot there. Here is the final image I captured there in a bit more detail:
Nikon D750, Nikkor 24-70 mm VR f/2.8 @ 45 mm, f/13, ISO 100, 1/15 sec, 4:5 crop.
Unfortunately I didn't get the light I was after to produce a really stunning shot but hopefully, you've seen enough from my images and the video that you too will be inspired to visit this great location. If you do decide to go, here are my top 3 tips for shooting the Daymark Tower:
Shadows - While shooting at sunset will work at most times of the year you will be casting a long shadow if it is behind you. So if you want to include the path in your composition, check which direction the sun is setting so your shadow isn't cast along the path. Something which I failed to check in my planning for this video!
Wide Angle Correction - If you are shooting with a wide angle lens be aware that the tower may be distorted in the frame. This is generally easy to correct in post production, but it normally involves the image being cropped. So be sure to include some extra room around your composition so you don't lose anything critical when the image is corrected and cropped. Though I spend 99% of post processing life in Lightroom, I found the wide angle correction feature in Photoshop to be much better at correcting the distortions in the tower.
Timing - My preferred time of year to shoot Daymark Tower is when the crops are approaching harvest. I shot the video a little early which still works very well, but by around, mid-May the crops swaying in a gentle breeze looks very nice indeed.
I hope you enjoyed reading about and looking at the Daymark Tower. Hopefully by the time you read this I will have already shot the video for the 2nd location. I should also be well on my way to shooting some of those bigger videos that I have planned. If you want to know when those videos are published you can of course subscribe to my YouTube channel or you can follow me on the Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and Google Plus where I will also post notifications when new video content is posted up. The video and additional content will always be available here on the blog as well.
Do you include man-made elements in your landscape photography? Are there are any locations in the South West that you would like me to make a short video on? Let me know in the comments below.
My Favourite 5 Images from 2016
As tradition often dictates I'm going to look back and show you my 5 favourite images that I took in 2016.
It's Been a Busy Year
Aside from starting this blog, 2016 has been a very busy year for my landscape photography. I have been out with my camera more this year than any other. In 2015 I went out 34 times to shoot landscapes but in 2016 I went out 46 times. Given that I have to fit my landscape photography in between work and family life I'd say that's not a bad effort. Of course that doesn't include the 20 gigs and music festivals I also shot in 2016. Yes, it's been a busy year.
I've been suitably motivated and inspired this year to get out and practice with my camera. Though I haven't been successful in two of the major landscape photography completions this year, it's still be a successful year for me.
So in a somewhat predictable manner I am going to show you my 5 favourite images I took in 2016. Yes I want to share my images with you but the process of selecting the images makes me look back at my catalogue so I can hopefully see an improvement over the previous year.
The Cobb
I won't easily forget this image. It was taken on a very cold morning in Lyme Regis. I had just about given up and was heading in for coffee and bacon rolls when the sun, which had been up for a little while, started to reflect beautifully off the side of The Cobb. For a magic few moments the light was perfect and I shot several frames, this one being my favourite.
The Cobb - Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35 f/4 at 22 mm, f/13, 0.6 seconds, ISO 100, Lee Filters ND Grad
Trevose Head
My first visit to Trevose Head happened back in March and it was one of those shoots where everything seems to go well. I was feeling creative and the conditions were perfect for the type of image I wanted to capture. I knew it had been a good day when I got home because I had so many keepers to pick from.
The image below though never originally made the cut and I only recently discovered it while looking for a competition entry. Despite the how much I loved the other three images from that shoot I think this is now my favourite and definately a favourite from 2016.
Trevose Head - Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35 f/4 at 19 mm, f/11, 8 seconds, ISO 100, Lee Filters Little Stopper, ND Grad.
Venford Falls
As I mentioned in my video My 5 Favourite Landscape Photography Locations in Devon, Venford Falls is one of my favourite locations. Hidden, but not difficult to get to, the twin falls are a bit of a magical location. I had been to the falls a couple times before but it wasn't until I visited in spring of 2016 that I got a shot that I was really happy with.
Though I had tried this composition before it was the lush green spring colour that lifted the image to make it an instant favourite.
Venford Falls - Nikon D750, Nikkor 24-70 f/2.8 VR at 24 mm, f/16, 10 seconds, ISO 100, Lee Filters Polariser.
The Daymark Tower
Though I had tried to photograph the Daymark Tower a couple of times before, I was probably doing so at the wrong time of year. The tower is surrounded by a farmers field so for parts of the year it's just a muddy field. I wanted to go when the field was full of fresh crops.
My vision was clear. I wanted the setting sun to illuminate the tower and I really wanted the fresh crops to be gently swaying in the wind. It's not often you get everything you want but everything came together rather nicely the evening I took this image. The light was beaufitul, the sky was lovely, and there was just enough wind to put a little movement into the crops.
Daymark Tower - Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35 f/4 at 16 mm, f/13, 1/15 second, ISO 100.
Castlerigg, The Lake District
As I previously wrote in my blog, my trip to The Lake District was challenging. The weather was very wet making creative photography difficult. However, through all that I took an image that not only captures the beautiful Lake District landscape but the dramatic weather that is often present. It reminds that despite how bad the conditions can be, patience can often be rewarded.
Autumn Storm at Castlerigg - Nikon D750, Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8 VR at 78 mm, f/9, 1/60 seconds, ISO 100, Lee Filters Polariser and ND Grad.
So what do you think of my 5 images from 2016? Do you have a favourite? Have you selected your top 5 or top images from 2016? Let me know in the comments.