A photography friend (Pat) and I decided to visit the Peak District for a couple of days.
We last visited the Peaks back in March, and had such an epic time, we’ve been planning a return.
We had several chats to form a plan of where we would visit – this was especially important as we’d have less daylight hours than we did back in March.
As we approached departure date, we could see forecasts of snow so agreed that we needed to have a go/no go decision nearer the time.
We obviously selected the “go” option otherwise this blog would not exist! 😀
Day 1
Upper Moor
We were heading to a woodland which has pretty much become an iconic spot in the Peaks, Upper Moor.
I’ve named the location here where many photographer don’t reveal it.
To be honest, I can’t imagine my blog readership is going to go viral and if you’re a photographer keen on this location, you will find out where it is fairly easily.
This location is visible from the road and is a row of trees along a stone wall.
Pat had been before and won a club competition with a shot here in the snow, and he was keen to revisit.
Having never been to this place myself, I was interested to visit it and check it out.
Coincidentally pro photographer Gary Gough did a YouTube video shoot the week before one early morning with the benefit of fog.
We parked up at one of the entrance points and although the gate was closed, the drive in area had plenty of space for us to park the car.
There was plenty of snow and although the main roads were fine, the side roads and this entrance were a bit slippy so care was taken parking the car.
A drink from our flasks and a quick bite to eat was had before we kitted ourselves out, wrapped up warm to fend off the bitterly chill, and made our way for the short walk along the path to the woodland.
We wandered up and down the main area of shooting potential and then we began shooting our chosen compositions.
Below is one of my favourite shots.
I found this location enjoyable but challenging as the obvious shot is just straight down the path, as shown below.
Pat spotted a tree in the wood which was leaning over and isolated by being the only one with snow collected on its trunk, and he suggested I grab a shot of it.
On the evening following this shoot, Pat and I did some initial edits on this image and it was very interesting to observe how Pat approaches editing.
In post production back home, I’ve edited it and tried to emphasis texture by using a Nik Silver Efex Pro filter.
Time was moving along, so we had to decide quickly whether or not we would try and fit another location in for sunset. We decided Yes, and Pat suggested we head for Chrome Hill.
Back at the car, we had a quick drink from our flasks and hopped in the car and on our way we went.
The SatNav took us on a side road on the way there that ended up a little scary as parts of the road were thick with ice and without any benefits of gritting and regular traffic.
We got back on the main road and arrived at the village we remembered from last time.
Chrome Hill
Parking up and quickly getting ready, we made our way to the track we used before but this time we took a different path.
We walked across two fields and in places, the snow was up to the top of our wellies.
We climbed over the stone wall being careful not to catch ourselves on the barbed wire.
Unfortunately, as I was so busy trying not to rip my new lined waterproof trousers, I caught my hand on a bit of wire.
The cut was dripping of blood and I smugly reached for the ‘rescue kit’ in my camera bag.
I can’t remember where I found this kit but it had some really interesting items such as a pencil, a mini compass, a mini sewing kit, a tea light candle, small matches, a whistle but… no f****** plasters!
The additional irony was that there were two first aid kits in the boot of the car.
I made do by sticking a tissue up my glove and getting on with the shoot.
I took the shot below as I wanted to catch the sunset but we really needed this light to our right over Parkhouse Hill and Chrome Hill.
Pat had gone over to that viewpoint and I felt I needed to get something different, and thought a drone shot could be good.
It was a bit breezy and the light was fading but checking the drone app, all was good.
The Dragon’s Back
After taking off, I headed straight to the ‘Dragon’s Back’ (Parkhouse Hill and Chrome Hill) and shot some video footage as well as stills.
I’ve been very pleased with the drone shots.
Both the light and the temperature was dropping fast now and I brought the drone down to land.
I grabbed a pano with my phone literally grabbing shots from any device on me.
We were both wowed by the views and this moment called for a selfie.
We walked briskly back to the car, grabbed our flasks for a cuppa then packed up to get to our hotel.
Following our visit to his hotel in March, we went for supper at the pub and had the pie and mash we remembered from that last visit.
We then did some editing to finish the evening and reviewed our planned target locations for tomorrow.
Bolehill Quarry was a target location and we did quite a bit of research trying to find the best place to park.
Day 2
Bolehill Quarry
It had snowed overnight and we were delayed on the road by a queue of traffic en route caused by a lorry that had got stuck on a hill in the snow.
We turned round but realised the SatNav would probably send us down a side road which could be icy so we rejoined the queue and decided to wait it out.
Within half an hour or so we were on the move again and after a short detour at Padley Gorge station, we found the car park at Surprise View.
After a cup of tea and a quick snack, we made our way along the path and over the road and down towards the quarry.
We began exploring the area at the bottom of the path.
There was a very big and interesting tree and a lot of concrete millstones, most of which were covered in snow.
I took my first shot below.
From here we wandered down towards the woodland where we knew there would amass of silver birch trees.
Pat quite liked the look of the quarry – I had a quick scout but it was not floating my boat.
I moved just a few yards away to concentrate on the birch trees.
I took quite a few shots here trying to get a sunstar and long shadows of the trees in the foreground cast across the snow.
Wandering around, I then found an interesting concrete structure and decided to shoot a few frames of it.
I didn’t realise until later that I had caught a sunstar of the metallic object in the top of the concrete.
I’ve since wondered what this object was and assumed it was a wider millstone given the metallic thing on top.
I wish I had looked closer as the moss around the side has the look of a tree trunk so it’s intrigued me to think I wish I had given it a closer look.
We wandered back to our starting point, and the large tree and millstones were crying out to be captured.
I then thought I would capture a close-up of the two millstones.
We had finished at Bolehill and decided to head back to the car and move on to Padley Gorge.
On the way back to the car park, we briefly stopped to admire the infamous ‘Surprise View’.
Padley Gorge
A short drive brought us to the top of Padley Gorge, and we had pre-planned to concentrate on the woodland and from the other side of the water.
We began wandering down towards the woodland looking for compositions.
I liked the look of this tree and took a quick snap.
I was really struggling to find anything due to the cluttered nature of the woods and trees.
The following montage are my best shots…
The light was starting to fade and the we could sense a thaw gathering pace.
We decided to make our way down to the water to see what we could find.
We found some steps, and the bottom arrived at a bridge. After a quick walk and explore we spotted some icicles hanging off a log across the stream.
With the light dropping further now, I started to get that feeling that our time was up.
I took once last shot which had to be a waterfall, and I’m very pleased with the image.
We decided to head back to the car and then went back to the hotel for our supper.
A look at the forecast told us we would not get any chance the next day so we decided to start the day a bit later to amble home.
A fantastic and memorable trip was had and we both had some good images in our collection.
I am sure will be back again.
Onwards and upwards…