We were heading to North Yorkshire for a week’s holiday, after which we would move over to the Peak District (blog post coming soon).
Our home for the week was an end cottage just a mile or two outside Whitby. We have stayed here twice before but it’s been ten years since the last visit.
Looking back at some photos from ten+ years ago I can see that I was just then getting more seriously into photography and on the first visit I’m sporting a Canon 70D then a year or two later a Nikon D750. We don’t talk about the Fuji phase in-between!
Since some of our time was spent “chillin’”, I’ll feature each location visited and what I got photographically.
I made reference to the excellent “The Photographer’s Guide to The North Yorkshire Coast” by Long Valley Books.
I’m quite surprised that Fotovue haven’t published a Yorkshire book, and I double-checked a couple of weeks before our trip.
Roseberry Topping
This was first on our list of places to visit having been here on our last visit all those years ago.
Although there are lots of parking spaces in the area, the main one is the largest (although of modest capacity at peak times) and it’s from this one, you’ll venture up a track towards your first ascent.
We decided to take a gentler path not far from the starting steps to the left as you go up which would take us round the perimeter, and also give us an opportunity to see the sights from a different perspective.
We arrived at effectively a bottom section of Roseberry Topping and I had seen in the book a striking lone tree along a stone wall that looked like a good scene to capture.
I started taking shots of the tree and path as a leading line towards what’s known as Little Roseberry, and I took a lot of Infrared shots.
Without the book in hand, and no photo of the relevant pages, I rushed in and started capturing images.
It didn’t feel right somehow, and later on Kathryn said she had told me to shoot in the opposite direction but I had ignored her, and she had walked on ahead and up towards the summit of Roseberry Topping. My selective hearing mode rarely takes a break it seems! 😳
When I caught up with her, she rolled her eyes (one day they’ll not “unroll” if she’s not careful), and said she had told me. I had a wave of disappointment having spent quite a while composing and capturing images, even laying down in the grass.
Later on in the evening, the image isn’t in my top selections, but for reference I’ll show it here – it’s been flipped vertically to appear like the composition it was meant to be.
Lessons learned anyone? Probably not! 🫣
I caught Kathryn up as she was almost at the top of Roseberry Topping and we sat down amongst the crowd of people to enjoy the view and have a snack and drink.
After waiting our turn, we did the customary selfie at the trig point, and made our down the South part of the hill which takes you on a path to the folly called ‘The Shooting Box’.
But before we got to that spot, there was a rather wonderful lone tree.
I spent a bit of time framing this image and I quite like the two fence posts providing a frame for the tree.
A little further down and there’s another image to grab of a folly, or what is effectively a shooting box.
The shooting box was built in the late 18th Century for Captain Wilson, friend of Captain Cook. It was built to shelter members of the local gentry who visited this spot for picnics and shooting.
Read more about the shooting box here.
I went into the shooting box, and took a shot with Roseberry Topping on view through the gap.
We made our way down the hill towards a wood where we knew there would be bluebells.
En route, I captured this tree as I liked the varied wild flowers on show in the field in front of the tree.
We got to the wood and I gave Kathryn the heads up that I would be spending a bit of time here. She duly parked down on a nearby bench to chill but also took some photos with her smartphone.
My first few shots I did were attempting to grab recent success with ICM zoom burst.
While wandering around the woodland, I tried to grab a shot of Roseberry Topping visible through gaps in the trees.
I spotted a squirrel in a nearby tree and grabbed a shot.
I attempted several bluebells shots, trying to achieve some a wider aperture and a softer look.
A montage of those images are below.
Various images were grabbed in the woodland areas – see below for a montage of those shots.
We left this particular (and best) wood, and made our way down.
This path down is much more leisurely and easier than the trek up.
We walked through an area of the woodland with wild garlic so I had to get something.
We reached the track which would take us back to the car park, and I grabbed my final shot here as I liked the tree and the curve of the track.
This image has been surprisingly popular on Glass which I find interesting, as I don’t think it’s a “Wow” shot.
That was it for our return to Roseberry Topping with a decade sailing by since our last visit here.
This is a great location to visit, to have a wonderful walk with great and varying views, and of course lots of photographic opportunities.
The Infinity Bridge
I had this bridge on my bucket list having seen it featured in the photography book – you can read more about it here.
We decided we would drive to it at Stockton-on-Tees and take a look. We arrived and got an idea of the location which is basically on part of a large university campus. As it was early evening now, we decided to get some supper nearby, and return at blue hour / sunset.
When we came back, we observed some boy racers in a nearby car park and I had second thoughts about wandering down to the river with loads of photography kit.
Kathryn persuaded me otherwise and I’m so glad she did. We wandered down to the embankment and I set up to grab various images of the bridge.
It is a stunning sight and a decent image can be grabbed with your smartphone camera.
I set up my camera on a tripod, and tried various settings to achieve what I was after. It was reasonable challenging because I observed longer exposures made the reflection less impressive, and led to blown out areas. There were also subtly different compositions. There was a row of lights from another bridge in the distance on the right.
There were a group of flats on the left side which looked OK either in or out of frame, but not cropped in middle. This subject could be shot at many crop ratios and there’s probably some abstract opportunities. I also wanted to get starbursts from the lights if I could.
There were some screeches of tyres as the ‘yoofs’ were handbrake turning their cars and disgracefully enjoying themselves, while old farts like me were feeling a little nervous about outstaying my welcome.
I hurried along grabbing lots of shots, and the one below is my favourite.
We got back in the car and drove back to Whitby. We had an amazing day and really enjoyed ourselves.
Whitby
We were looking forward to wandering around Whitby and I wanted to get some shots of the piers.
The weather was very changeable so we decided to pick one of the two piers which was the East pier.
We parked near Whitby Abbey and wandered down the famous steps which just has to be photographed.
We continued on until we got to the pier by navigating through a steep slope, walking along the original older concrete part of the pier until we reached the wooden bridge to get to the wooden extended pier.
I had to grab a wide shot of this as it looked attractive to me.
Kathryn didn’t fancy walking across and onto the wooden slatted pier.
I walked across and took various shots including my favourite which was holding the camera low down and shooting upwards, and I’m very pleased with this set.
Below are some ‘B sides’ from the cutting room floor…
We wandered back to the car and had a flyby visit to the Whitby Brewery for a swift taste of local ales – very nice!
I grabbed a shot of Whitby Abbey by finding a part of the wall to stand up on shoot it, and clearly judging by the stone, I wasn’t the first one to do it.
And that was another enjoyable day complete.
Bempton Cliffs
We were heading to the famous RSPB Bempton cliffs and really looking forward to it.
While getting ready, I realised I had forgotten my telephoto lens which I was gutted about! “You Twonk Rodney….”!
This meant I would be relying upon my trusty 24-120mm lens which, given that most of the birds are on or near the clifftop, it should be fine. Who needs to see anymore in-flight gannet shots anyway?
We spend quite a lot of time and money in the shop before heading to the clifftop, and then we wandered left at first to explore both the views from the platforms and along the cliffs.
I started capturing gannets in flight which is always enjoyable.
Of course, we hoped to see puffins but there were literally just a handful in one spot on the cliff face, and it was here I missed the longer lens.
Back to gannets then, and I quite liked the angle of this next capture.
I also enjoy the shapes these birds make when they are trying to land on the clifftop.
Of course, it’s local law that you have to capture a gannet with some clifftop flora.
I enjoyed capturing a gannet by shooting upwards for a different viewpoint.
And there were lots more captures and by now, despite it being addictive, I wanted something different.
I had recently met a photographer who also judges competitions at one of my clubs exhibitions and he was saying how he’s fed up of seeing gannet shots, and I could understand it.
I wondered if an ICM would somehow work, so I began trying to capture a hovering gannet, and out of quite a few I captured, and with some appropriate use of Lightroom and Nik, I present below my best effort which I’m really pleased to have in my collection.
It was early evening now and we were needing to leave and get home for our supper.
This latest visit to Bempton Cliffs was really enjoyable and we could’ve easily spent a few days just visiting here.
Saltwick Bay
This location was on my bucket list and while Kathryn had a day where she wasn’t feeling too sharp, I decided to go myself.
When looking to capture the ‘Nab’ (black rock) or thr Von Tromp shipwreck, you need to check tides and carefully plan a visit as there a risk of getting caught out at high tide.
I visited mid-afternoon and made my way down the clifftop path from the caravan site (parking in the lay-by as you drive up the single track entrance road).
I could see the Nab in the distance and as I walked across the first stretch of beach before the rocks came into view, I tried to grab some ‘arty farty’ shots.
I then grabbed what I thought was an interesting scene involving seaweed, which I think is better in monochrome.
I then began walking in front of the next stretch of beach with rocks towards the shipwreck which was in sight.
I had wellies on and some of the flat rock is slippery so you need to exercise care.
As I arrived at the shipwreck and did a reccé, at this moment and for the whole time I was there, I did not see a single sole and had this place all to myself. Zero phone signal adds to the isolated but peaceful vibe. If you’re going to expire here, you can do so with some P&Q!
I set up for a long exposure shot trying to grab the shipwreck and Nab in one.
This scene is tortuous to catch with long exposure as any grad filter goes over the Nab rock, so those with a eye for these things will notice a halo where I’ve tried to bring back detail.
I couldn’t be bothered to bracket at the time, and haven’t thus far been fussed to attempt a re-edit.
Interestingly, another composition using the same slow shutter speed has worked out alright.
I spent a long time getting the composition right to limit background elements intruding on the edge of the shipwreck, and also the ugly rusty part being over the horizon.
My final shot is a closer view of the wreck where a polariser was deployed to capture the detail within the rock pool.
I’ve removed that rusty pole element as it was intruding into the background clifftop and I think this scene is really interesting.
With that, I was pretty much done but I was enjoying the peacefulness of this location, so wondered what else I could do.
I then reminded myself about the tidal warnings I had read and researched. As I glanced to the distance, I could tell the tide had moved in and in parts was splashing up against some of the rocks, and it was definitely time for me to head back.
I got back to the main beach OK but I did, despite wearing wellies, have to climb over some large rocks as the sea was deep in places.
Walking back to the car with now available phone signal, I messaged Kathryn to declare safety and headed back to the accommodation.
Saltwick Bay is a superb location with long stretches of beaches and so much to see and photograph, and it’s definitely somewhere I would like to visit again in future.
We had come to the end of our Yorkshire stay, and had planned to leave a day early. This is because our next week / accommodation stop in the Peak District was starting on a Friday so we would leave earlier than the Saturday we had this place until.
There was one more place to see if I could grab anything which was the nearby Larpool viaduct.
I called in to see how Kathryn was doing then reduced my camera bag contents before walking the short distance to the viaduct.
Larpool Viaduct
The walk down to the viaduct took me through a holiday / residential area so I was a little reticent but I had a good lock around.
Unfortunately there wasn’t any decent spots for a composition I wanted either because the area was under water with soft river bed or I couldn’t access it.
The following is probably the best shot I got.
I moved to a spot further back, climbed over a fence a took an infrared shot from the river bank.
And that was a wrap!
Reflections
I had originally viewed coming back to North Yorkshire after a decade was going to be not as good as the mighty Peak District, but I was wrong.
This had been a superb week, very relaxing, great experiences and scenery and some decent photography along the way.
Onwards and upwards…