For whatever reason I keep coming back to this picture, I’m still rather pleased with it some 9 months on. So I thought it deserved a post on it own.
Castlerigg Dawn, Lake District, Cumbria
The first half of this article was one of my first blog posts on this site. Even in that short while I’ve been on a bit of journey. I’ve got back in to 35mm film photography and I think I have shot more on my Hasselblad Xpan in the past 7 months than I have in the previous 5 years of owning it. Now I have come full circle (almost) and I am developing my own films. As I type I am eyeing up the 4 canisters of Ilford HP5 and FP4 that need developing (I’ve also got a further 10 rolls of each on order – in case I run out 
)
As mentioned previously I had planned to go to the Lake District earlier in the year to do Skiddaw but that fell through. Part of the plan was also to do an over night bivvy at Castlerigg, but as I say that all fell through. The opportunity came up again when I booked up on a photography workshop with Dave Butcher in the Lakes. The course was based in Eskdale at the Stanley House. So having spent a night at Castlerigg Stone Circle and getting as far as Ashness Bridge, I was a little bit tired. So I drove to Stanley House in Eskdale to get some sleep.
The course started at 2000hrs in the lounge of Stanley House, a very comfortable B&B. There we met Dave Butcher and his wife Jan. Dave’s background was that of being a chemist for Ilford (so he does know a wee bit about the technology behind the print as well as making a picture too). Dave took us through his own work and out lined the course. If you haven’t already twigged, Dave is a black and white photographer specialising in landscapes, so there was none of this “Golden Hour” business to capture the light, as black and white requires light and contrast and subtlety doesn’t really work for black and white (in landscape at least). Breakfast on Friday at 0800 and then out on the road at 0900hrs – very civilised!
The problem we had was the general abundance of moisture in the air, quite a lot of it in fact. Dave took us to Wast Water, unfortunately the wind was blowing right down the lake in to us, so (and I wish I had a photograph of us) we were all huddled over our cameras trying to protect them, with umbrellas pulled down tight to provide top cover. To say I nearly had a sense of humour failure would be understating it .
I’d actually gave up on using my Canon 40D, and reverted to taking handheld shots on my Xpan using 400ISO film and a low f stop.
Luckily Dave had a plan, it was called the pub for an early lunch. So after a number of pints of pub brewed beer (and lunch), the weather cleared and we ventured out again. This time up to Wasdale Head. Dave took us up a beck for a bit of shooting waterfalls.
The sheep on the way back down were quite interesting not the usually skitterish sort that I usually encounter – they were quite cute and had this air of moral superiority about them.
After a day successfully recovered we went to the Woolpack Inn in Eskdale for a pint or two and an evening meal. That night the Woolpack was serving lobster and chips for £10 (result!). After all that fresh air I think I was in my bed by 2100hrs! As I had no doubt Saturday would be full on.
I wanted to do this for a while, but as I’ve never had a blog before, I didn’t have the vehicle (for want of a better metaphor) to share this. So I’m going to write about a great time that I had in the English Lake District back in late September/early October 2010.
I had planned to go to the Lake District earlier in the year to do Skiddaw but that fell through. Part of the plan was also to do an over night bivvy at Castlerigg, but as I say that all fell through. The opportunity came up again when I booked up on a photography workshop with Dave Butcher in the Lakes. The course was based in Eskdale at the Stanley House.
I went up the night before looking to visit Castlerigg, with the intention of doing star trail photography in the stone circle. However the weather got the better of me. It wasn’t cloudy or anything, the problem was that dew/moisture started condensing on the lens and the camera. It became a non-stop battle to keep the lens clear, so much so that when I got home the shots were useless, as they were all slightly out of alignment, due to me shaking the camera as I tried to clear it. So if you have any hints and tips to stop moisture condensing on a lens, please let me know.
I gave up at that point and got in to my sleeping bag, to wake at 0330 to the start of a beautiful misty dawn. Click on the photograph below to enlarge it – I am really pleased with this shot. I just need to get round to calibrating my printer to do it justice.
Castlerigg Stone Circle, Lake District, Cumbria
It was, to use a cliché, a magical morning. A perfectly calm morning with absolute silence. I got to work capturing the light, making sure that I walked around the fabulous neolithic stone circle. At one point I had all 4 cameras in action! (Canon 40D, 20D, Xpan and Lomo Fisheye. I got my Xpan out and walked down towards the mist filled valley to take some shots.
Misty Valley from Castlerigg Stone Circle, Cumbria in Black and White
I must say that I am continually impressed by the Xpan and the shots that it produces. Its a very “safe” camera, as long as you can put it on something stable, whether it is a tripod or as in the case above a fence post you just compose your shot, focus it, press the button and leave it to the Xpan to take a well exposed shot. On this trip I was using Kodak BW400CN, which is a Black and White film that is developed using C-41 colour processing. Off the back of this trip I’ve taken the step of using “proper” Black and White film to develop it myself (I’m sure I will write about another time) for the first time in about 6 years.
By 0545 I was done, I didn’t actually stay for the sunrise itself, and started heading towards my car. Passing and saying “Good Morning” to another ‘tog who looked rather crestfallen as he saw me coming up the hill towards him.
The course in Eskdale didn’t start until 2000hrs, so I still had plenty of time to kill. Thankfully having done a bit of research I came across this guide courtesy of Wakefield Camera Club. In short this guide tells you where the “classic” photographic locations are in the English Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales and Derbyshire Peak District.
Given that it was still misty, I chanced my luck and drove the 30 mins to the Duke of Portland’s Boathouse on Ullswater. When I got there it was still completely clagged in by the lake side. So it was a matter of getting set up and waiting for the light.
It didn’t take long though for me to be joined by three other photographers all thinking the same thing – “Must capture the light hitting the front of the boathouse.” I had a good chat with Mark, who initially drove by and complimented me on the spot I had set up on, only to come walking back along the road having parked up carrying all his kit that he seemed to carry in the back of his car “just in case”.
Once the mist started to burn off, it became clear that the wait had been worthwhile.
Duke of Portland's Boat House, Ullswater, English Lake District
Duke of Portland's Boat House, Ullswater, English Lake District – Black and White Xpan
After getting my fill of the Duke of Portland’s Boat House (by the way its a holiday let now), it was a quick look at the guide from Wakefield Camera Club and off along Ullswater to visit Aira Force, which is a National Trust property.
Aira Force, Ullswater
Even though it was early, there was already another photographer set up and taking pictures. So I set up on the steps above him. Even where I was, some distance away, I was still getting wet from the spray being whipped up by the wind, so goodness knows whether the other photographer was getting anything worth keeping.
After Aira Force, it was a drive down through Keswick and on to visit Ashness Bridge. I have to say that if you were to go here, go early. I went about 1100ish, and it was mobbed. I think I spent more time taking pictures with other people’s cameras as they posed on the bridge than I did with my own! It wasn’t helped by a large statured lady taking an almost perverse delight in being in shot, as she took her time making a show of consuming her tea and biscuits.
Ashness Bridge, The English Lake District in Black and White
After this shot, I gave up trying to keep everyone out of shot, so I jumped in the car to head off to Eskdale and the start of the workshop with Dave Butcher.
“I love the haunts of solitude
The coverts of the free
Where man n’er ventures to intrude
And God gives peace to me
Where all I hear and all I see
In peace of freedom roam
Here shall my hearts own dwelling be
And find itself at home”
John Clare
Misty Valley from Castlerigg Stone Circle, Cumbria in Black and White
I love this poem (actually it is the last verse of a larger song). I even used as the first page of a dissertation I did at university (many moons ago!). For me it about sums up what being out doors is all about, its just a shame that for me the opportunties to get out there remain few and far between. This shot I took early one morning makes those rare opportunities all worth while though.
