Morning Light at Belmont

I recently stumbled across an excellent website by Andy Latham, which is certainly worth a look if you need any inspiration for landscape photography. I have a particular interest in Andy's site because he frequently bases his choice of subject on the West Pennine Moors of Lancashire - right on my doorstep! His photos of Darwen Moor and Roddlesworth Woods are very familiar to me as we walk there frequently, but rarely at the times of day when the light is as dramatic as he manages to capture.

His website made such an impression on me that it inspired me to set the alarm for 5am this Saturday morning so that I could try to match his efforts. Admittedly, the first temptation was to knock the alarm off again and go straight back to sleep, but I pursuaded myself to look through the windows to check the weather, and the clear skies with just a hint of light to the East was somehow enough to go for it.

I'd chosen to park up on a car park a couple of miles north of Belmont on the A675 and then walk back towards the village on a wide bridleway until I found a good spot. When I found one, the water in the reservoir was a peachy colour and the sun was just picking out the top of the TV mast on Winter Hill. After 10 mins or so, Winter Hill was bathed in sunshine, but my chosen view wasn't quite right because the hillside on my side of the reservoir was still deep in shade. It took nearly three quarters of an hour before the sun lit up the foreground and gave me the picture I was looking for - and here it is:

Morning light over Belmont (c) Iain Houghton
f10, 1/20s, 18mm lens, ISO100

Exploring a little further, I spotted another view which had some potential and this was my next effort:

Belmont morning(c) Iain Houghton
f10, 1/40s, 18mm lens, ISO100

I'm really pleased with how these have turned out even though with hindsight I know of several ways I could have made them even better. Still, that's the benefit of trying these things for yourself, and it's given me some confidence to give it another go and drag myself out of bed again when the weather is right.