Curbar Inversion - Part 2 (January 2014)

Photoblogging old photography has become very rewarding during this unprecedented and lengthy virus lockdown.

I have been able to take virtual photography trips from home by reprocessing images and using memories of the events, some reflections, and revisiting photographs that I hadn't fully utilised at the time. 

This is particularly true for the second part of the day's excursion to the Peak District in 2014 which started with dawn photography of a cloud inversion on Curbar Edge (see my previous post). 

If I recall correctly, I had expected the inversion to burn away by late morning but after I had completed the golden hour photography Hope Valley was still shrouded in mist, which stayed for the rest of the day. 

Trying to make the most of this, I relocated to Bolehill Quarry and woods where the sun was trying to push through the mist that swirling enchantedly around the gnarly shapes of the birch trees. 

At the time in 2014, I only processed one of the results which left an opportunity to revisit the other images producing the following set of completed photographs:

At the top of Bolehill Quarry is a view through Hope Valley with the very apt name of Surprise View. There was quite a crowd of people taking in the scenes including members from the press. I took my own record shots using a telephoto lens to zoom into the valley for another set of images that I had not fully completed in 2014:

The last location for the day was Higger Tor where I had intended to capture the sunset. Whilst waiting I continued to record the misty scenes in the valley. Hidden away in the photographs were two lines of images that formed panoramas. The first was taken about an hour before sunset and the second just before the sun dipped below the horizon. Both show the cloud inversion defining the path of the valley below and it was a pleasure to rediscover these images and see them emerge as one complete view:

The final sequence from a great day of photography was the sunset looking in the opposite direction to the panoramas and broadly towards Castleton and Mam Tor. Although most of the day had been clear above the mist there was a line of stubborn cloud that blocked the direct light giving only an occasional bursts of brightness: