WINTER IN THE PEAK DISTRICT

Join me on the 13th December for a packed day of photographing the Peak District in winter from sunrise to sunset.

Winter is my favourite time in the Peak District, it gets transformed and if we’re lucky we witness heavy frosts or even snow. With good light all day, you can often photograph scenes throughout the day without the strict need for golden hour.

However, we will be maximising our chances and photographing from sunrise to sunset to try to ensure we come back with some images from the day.

We will start off with a sunrise from Ramshaw Rocks which is perfect at this time of year for some golden light striking the gritstone escarpment. This location is like a mini-Roaches with gritstone jutting out of the landscape like an earthquake struck the area. For this we will require an ascent of around 20 minutes starting in the dark. The path is also well trodden but not properly laid so extra care will be needed.

We will spend the day photographing in good light, visiting other local spots. We may visit Three Shires Head to photograph the waterfall flowing underneath the packhorse bridge to learn a little more about long exposure.

Furthermore, we are then likely to choose spots local where we are working with the time we have on the day. Some locations could be The Roaches, Roach End Barn, Shining Tor, Solomon’s Temple and High Edge.

We will then decide a suitable sunset location such as Hitter Hill which overlooks the fantastic Chrome and Parkhouse Hill and is stunning at this time of year with the sun being in the right place.

We will meet to do a meet and greet with myself and the other photographers at 07:30 before heading  up to the summit of Ramshaw Rocks to capture the sunrise.

We will break for lunch around 12:00 and if time allows, look at our images on a laptop to discuss basic processing techniques within Adobe Lightroom. The day will conclude after sunset around 16:00.

The day has been listed as easy/moderate. Most clients have been happy with the locations and the amount of effort required but there is walking involved of up to 30 minutes each way per location across mixed terrain with rest breaks in the car in-between.

Upon booking, you will be sent an order confirmation email which includes meeting details, kit-list, discount codes and a questionnaire for you to fill out. This questionnaire just allows me to get information about you, so I can plan the day appropriately for the whole group.

Throughout the day we will look at techniques such as focusing, using tripods, use of filters vs exposure blending, composition, working with the light and more.

I am more than happy to discuss other more advanced techniques on 1-2-1 basis as well as to the group, depending on what is beneficial.

The day is tailored around you as much as possible, and I strive to give each of you on the course for that day the best day possible. At the end of the day, you will have hopefully learnt new techniques and taken away some imagery you will be proud of. I am a friendly and relaxed tutor and I welcome you to keep in touch with me after the course to ask me any questions you may have looked over on the day. I have also created a Facebook client area where you can keep in touch, share your photos and keep in touch with other attendees from the day.

What if the weather is poor? Don’t worry, unless it’s torrential all day, I have plenty of locations that suit a variety of weather and with my experience, you will still get to the best locations possible and you will still get some great images, for example waterfalls are brilliant for those overcast days. As we are in the UK, we see more grey than we do yellow and I am well adapted to getting us to the best spots if we need to change itinerary. This may even include chasing the light, with my knowledge of how the weather works in certain areas and using forecasts, webcams and other tools on the day to help us make those decisions, which I will share with you. We will spend a lot of time working on technique and composition and most of the day is designed to work up until that hopeful sunset so you have the skills to get the best you can at the end of the day. So even if we don’t get the weather or even that sunset you will have learnt a load of new skills, even if you are a more advanced photographer which you can take away with you and use on your next photographic outing.

There will be a maximum group size of 4 meaning there will be plenty of 1-2-1 time. I will be on hand throughout the day for any questions and my focus will be on ensuring you have the best day possible.

There is a £40 deposit required to secure your place on this workshop with the balance due no later than 6 weeks before the workshop.