I'm determined to get out more this year and build the beginnings of a solid portfolio of work - I've never been one for New-Year's resolutions as nobody ever keeps them, but I hate to waste a day. Working 5 days a week, it's so easy to just blimp out in front of the tv and before you know it, it's monday morning. This year, if I don't get out on a shoot every weekend - it'll be every other, or I've failed!
With that ringing in my ears - I set out to make the most of last saturday by revisiting a site with the purpose of shooting from early afternoon into dusk. I live just off the edge of the Peak District in England, so there are plenty of good sites to shoot relatively near. Last October I took a day off work to shoot out at "the Roaches" - this is a long rock formation that marks the western edge or the peak district where it boarders the flat lands of Staffordshire. It's extremely exposed country with the most dramatic grit stone outcrops - but it also catches all the weather moving east, and although I was able to scout out some good opportunities, the weather basically smacked me about awful! The cloud rolled in and visibility was down to a couple of feet, the wind was gale force, it started raining, I started swearing, I retreated back to the car and drove back grumpy, but determined to return.
Back to last saturday. I got there at about 1.00 pm - it's always windy but the sky was interesting and the light good - I set out to make the most of the opportunity. I bagged some shots, moving locations a half dozen times and the image above was the best of the day - for those with interest, I shot it with a Nikkon 10-24mm lens, set to about 13mm to avoid the filter holder cropping into the frame and an ND8 soft grad filter to balance the exposure and throw out the cloud structure. The final image is a combination of 3 exposures processed for the sky detail, mid ground and foreground, with the sky layer duplicated as an overlay to punch up the colour and drama.
By the way - I'm loving this lens - it was a Christmas present from my wife and it's fantastic to work with - I'll post on it shortly, but if you're a Nikon user looking for a wide lens, this is hard to beat for the price.
As the light dropped into the early dusk, I relocated to a site I'd seen on the first trip, to shoot a beautiful derelict barn at "Roach End". The evening skies were full of colour and very dramatic, and I worked the site until the light left before the long drive home, freezing cold but satisfied. All my processed shots are available to view from the day, on my profile page - the link is up in the top right of the page and I'd love to hear any feedback you'd care to leave. It's a learning curve but I'm happy to be making progress and getting some images that are approaching what I've set out to take - I'm determined to get more and make more progress! Make the most of 2013 and get out there into the light and air.
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