Two Days In The Yorkshire Dales - Workshop Review

The Yorkshire Dales is an area that I have explored with my camera on many ocassions, and it offers great opportunities for landscape images. It's always a great day spending time in the countryside and both of these trips proved to be highly enjoyable.

Our ventures into the Dales generally start with an early rise, in the hope of being on location in time for a sunrise, catching the best light of the day during the first hour or so. As is often the case, our glorius sunrise failed to materialise, replaced by a thick band of dense fog enveloping the greater Yorkshire Dales. Not to be disheartened we embraced the conditions and made our way into the Dales with low visibility. As the sun rose the fog gradually burned away leaving an overcast sky. 

On the second trip we climbed high above the fog just outside of Reeth where John Paton managed to get his kit in order quickly enough to shoot this scene. Within a matter of seconds the cloud rolled in and the opportunity was gone. Great work John!

Moving higher towards Keld we made images around Angram shooting the barns and meadows of this beautiful landscape. With the heavy cloud persisting, we made our way to East Gill Force to shoot long exposure waterfall photographs. It's a great spot, accessed by steps with plenty of space to work in. The Autumn colours were still clinging to the trees, giving us a splash of colour to use in our compositions. 

We worked hard against the elements to produce photographs. There is always something that can be photographed in such a beautiful place and the conditions can change quickly. We could see a slight break in the clouds and held out hope that we could shoot down the valley looking towards Thwaite. 

Using the country road as a lead in line we headed to the highest accessible vantage point to shoot the breaking clouds. A mound on farmland provided a base from which to shoot. 

While shooting the valley we spotted a local farmer travelling along the road to Angram with his Border Collie. He happily posed for a few photographs for us. It's great to shoot moments like this, that give a real flavour of the area. The local chap was amused at the group of photographers who found him and his dog so compelling! 

Heading back down to a lower level, time was spent shooting Autumnal waterfall images at Scarr House. 

Scarr House Waterfalls can be easily missed for such an easy to reach location. It's set just off the main road to Thwaite and offers a range of opportunites for long exposure images. 

We finally hit some great light looking over Gunnerside Gill, with the sun making an appearance through the vast cloud, illuminating the landscape below. There are many places to shoot from this part of the Dales, the road offers a beautiful vantage point from which to set up your camera with the barns and drystone walls giving form to the composition. 

The groups had to work hard to find images on both days but that's all part of the fun and the River Swale kindly gave us many opportunities that did not require sunlight or broken cloud. A chance to spend an entire day behind the camera, focusing solely on photography provides a boost in experience whatever the weather.

The Dales is a place that has a magnetic pull, within a day or two of coming home I'm already looiking forward to the next adventure. Luckily enough we have the Winter months ahead of us and a dusting of snow to look forward to!