West Mill Tor on Dartmoor - A 5 Minute Photo Adventure
In this 5 Minute Photo Adventure I head to West Mill Tor where I find one of the most interesting clouds I think I’ve ever seen in the skies above Dartmoor.
Clouds - Sometimes You Only Need One
For me, the inclusion of a tor in one of my Dartmoor landscape photographs is one of the most important elements I can include in my compositions. While the foreground is critically important, it doesn't mean I dismiss what the sky is adding to my photographs. However, more often than not it's clear blue or flat grey skies on Dartmoor. Occasionally, these types of sky can be used effectively in compositions, but I much prefer a sky of broken clouds. This allows light to break through to the ground as well as providing visual interest to the composition.
A forecast of clear blue skies will normally be enough to put me off getting up very early in the morning to capture sunrise, but everyone now and again I'm willing to risk it just so I have the pleasure of getting out with my camera to watch the start of a new day.
This is exactly the attitude that got me to West Mill Tor one morning. It was forecast for blue skies and high winds, but I just wanted to get out and sometimes the conditions can be surprising and lead to interesting photographs.
When I arrived at West Mill Tor it was indeed very windy and the skies clear. Well, the skies were almost clear. There was one cloud in the sky, and it was a belter. It was the type of cloud that I don't think I've ever seen over Dartmoor before, and I therefore had to try and include it in my photographs. It was in an awkward position in the sky which limited my compositions, but I wasn't going to miss photographing it.
Was it worth sacrificing a better composition just to photograph a cloud? Judge for yourself in the 5 Minute Photo Adventure I made that morning. Enjoy!
West Mill Tor - Dartmoor Landscape Photographs
Here are the photographs of West Mill Tor that you saw in the video.
Bite-Size Blog Post #44 - West Mill Tor - Dartmoor National Park
In the blog this week I head to West Mill Tor on #Dartmoor after I was told it was "it's much more interesting" than East Mill Tor. Find out if it is and see what I else I captured that morning.
East vs West
No, I'm not about start writing about the current political situation but rather East Mill Tor vs West Mill Tor. I recently shared a blog post featuring East Mill Tor and I received a comment on social media that said, "Might as well go to West Mill, it's a much more interesting tor". I'm not one to ignore some feedback, so I did just that and went to West Mill Tor.
It's not that I agree with the comment. East Mill Tor is in fact one of my favourite tors, but it did remind me that I haven't photography West Mill Tor in two years, and it was time to return. East Mill Tor and West Mill Tor, despite their closeness, are very different looking locations, but I wouldn't say that one is more interesting than the other.
All that east vs west stuff aside, West Mill Tor is worth photographing. As you can see from the photographs in this post, it was definitely worth shooting that morning.
When I arrived though, it wasn't obvious that it was going to be a good morning. There was a lot of cloud about, and because it was also cold, and windy enough that I felt I needed to hold onto my tripod, I wasn't exactly what you might call "feeling it". But there is one lesson I've learnt from the decade that I've been photographing Dartmoor and that's not to give up too soon. I have left a location too soon before and been very, very disappointed with my apparent lack of dedication to my art!
Waiting for the conditions to change doesn't mean one should just stand around scrolling Instagram. No, it's the perfect opportunity to explore a location. Even if I've found a composition that I'm reasonably happy with, I will use the time to move about my spot to see what else I can see. More often than not, even a small movement to the left or right can produce a very different composition. This should be demonstrated in the set of photographs below. All were taken within one or two paces of each other. It's one of the reasons why I like photographing Dartmoor. The foregrounds can be complicated/busy, but they provide you with a lot of compositional variety.
West Mill Tor #3, Dartmoor National Park - Nikon Z8, Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4 S at 18mm, f/13, 1/3 sec at ISO 64.
It can be a bit of a lottery with how the weather conditions will change on Dartmoor at dawn. Frequently they stay poor or get worse. But every now and again they clear up just enough to give you a little bit of light on the landscape. And sometimes all you need is a little bit of light. Some light to catch the tops of the grasses and to add contrast and depth to the tor.
It was a great morning up on West Mill Tor and I captured a series of photographs that I'm very happy with. I still wouldn't say that West Mill Tor is more interesting than East Mill Tor (or vice versa) but I am glad someone reminded me to go photograph it again.
Capture and Print - Landscape Photography from Dartmoor
Is social media the final destination for your photographs? In this video, you can join me in the experience of capturing a landscape photograph from Dartmoor, and then doing the most important part of the photographic process, making a print!
Photographing Dartmoor - East to West
In my last blog post, Why I Love Dartmoor 2, I shared with you the experience of capturing a landscape photograph of East Mill Tor on Dartmoor. Thanks to some planning and a little fortune (always a requirement), I managed to capture a photograph of East Mill Tor with which I was incredibly happy.
Looking west from East Mill Tor you can see the appropriately named West Mill Tor. It’s not a location I photographed very often so with the excitement of my East Mill Tor visit still inspiring me I made plans to go west!
The Last of Those Early Alarm Calls (For Now)
While the weather forecast wasn’t as promising as my visit to East Mill Tor, it still had enough potential for me to set a 04:30 alarm call. It would be the last of those very early alarm calls as the clocks would be going forward in a few days. This would be only a temporary reprieve from the early alarm calls. Some of my favourite Dartmoor photography locations are best shot at dawn in the summer. It’s not unusual for the alarm to be set at 03:30 for those locations! (I’ll be doing more wild camping this year which will hopefully negate the need for some of those alarm calls).
Photographing Dartmoor Requires Patience
Though my alarm call for West Mill Tor might be early, you can at least park close by. It’s not much more than a 15-minute steady walk up to the summit, however, upon reaching the summit I was greeted with what can only be described as a strong and constant wind. This would make the photography hard and shooting video even harder!
And it’s at this point you pick up the story in the video below…
Links and Other Videos
I mentioned a lot of videos, playlists, and products in the video, so I’ve decided to list them here as well:
🎥 Watch my editing and printing session at Fotospeed here - https://youtu.be/1prQocy-GoI
🎥 The printer I used in this video is the Canon imagePROGRAF Pro-300. 🎥 Watch my video review of this printer here - https://youtu.be/QF3_JXuu_Ag
💳 Purchase the Pro-300 here - https://fotospeed.com/canon-pro-300.html
Use the discount code Julian15 and get 15% off Fotospeed papers at Fotospeed.com
💳 The paper I used to make the print is @FotospeedUK NST BW 315 And you can purchase the paper here - https://fotospeed.com/nst-bright-white-315.html
💳 Finally, I purchased my matt board from Picture Frames Express - https://www.pictureframesexpress.co.uk/
🎥 You can see how I use Picture Frames Express designer software here - https://youtu.be/FJYOckTLbyA?t=443
🎥 See more of my printing videos in this handy playlist - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJU6FMi6Tvo_kuUIioDAagRJ6zsvo1X3P
🎥 See how I manage and process my photographs in Lightroom in this playlist - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJU6FMi6Tvo97OcghsCsBlKGLXY2BcMdx
Landscape Photographs of West Mill Tor on Dartmoor
Here are the three photographs I captured in the video. Let me know which is your favourite.
A Wild West Mill Tor Sunrise #1, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 14-30mm S f/4 at 14mm, f/13, 1/2 sec at ISO 64, Kase Filters CPL
A Wild West Mill Tor Sunrise #2, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 14-30mm S f/4 at 14mm, f/13, 1/2 sec at ISO 64, Kase Filters CPL
A Wild West Mill Tor Sunrise #3, Dartmoor, Devon - Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 14-30mm S f/4 at 16mm, f/13, 1/3 sec at ISO 64, Kase Filters CPL
Photographing Dartmoor - West Mill Tor
In this 5 Minute Photo Adventure I head out to photograph West Mill Tor on Dartmoor. Not even the forecast of a clear blue sky was enough to stop me grabbing my Nikon Z7 and going on a mini landscape photography adventure.
Back to West Mill Tor
It was back in January of 2020 that I first photographed West Mill Tor on Dartmoor. That adventure was all about going somewhere new and you can watch the video I made right here. The photographs I captured that morning were inspirational enough for me to want to go back. For reasons that escape me, it’s taken 2 years to make a return visit!
The weather over the festive period and January had not been what you might call inspirational, so by the time the end of January came around, I was so desperate to get out with the camera I might have gone anywhere in any weather conditions. Fortunately for me, I remembered that I was overdue for a visit to West Mill Tor, and with the smallest chance that there were going to be suitable weather conditions, I packed my bag and set off to see what I could photograph.
So, join me on a 5 Minute Photo Adventure as I photograph Dartmoor and West Mill Tor!
