Surprise View (August 2022)

Although I had intended to take a complete break from photography over the summer, I couldn’t resist stopping at Surprise View in August to capture the heather in full bloom. Also inspiring were the streaks of sunlight cutting across the landscape below Millstone Edge and across to Stanage Edge and Higger Tor:

Budby South Forest (September 2021)

Budby South Forest is an area of heathland within the wider Sherwood Forest setting. In early autumn there are still the remnants of flowering heather, ferns turning from green to yellow and plenty of parched  grasses. 

These elements combined for the following series of photographs with the first image being my favourite…a simple composition made from complementary colours - the yellowing fern set against the muted lilac tones of the the flowering heather:

The heathland abruptly changes to broadleaf woods at Hanger Hill. There were a few signs of the new autumn season with a few birch trees starting to change colour but it was mostly still very green in the forest:

Curbar Edge (September 2019)

Two visits to Curbar Edge in the Peak District during September, one for a family walk, and the second for watercolour sketching 'au plein air'. Currently, I am keen to develop my art work and everything that I have read and watched online recommends drawing and painting from real life rather than photographs.

As for the results....I think I need more practice or perhaps more experience to judge the outcomes. I certainly don't have the same level of confidence in my painting as I do with my photography but then again I have been taking photographs for many years, and, I can remember being equally unsure about aspects of photography when I first started. This was my very basic set up on Curbar Edge:

In terms of the photography, I selected different aspects of Curbar Edge on both occasions including some of the isolated birch trees, remnants of flowering heather, some gritstone studies, and finally a few golden hour landscapes: