The peaks in winter are highly photographed, with people out and about with tripods on the hill tops at all hours of the day. For me, it's the little details that appeal the most. A warm, spring fed stream flowing through a cold, crisp, calm valley creates an amazing winter wonderland of drips and drops to play with.
Water vapour condenses onto the frozen grass and stems like some weird, cryogenic preservation from a sci-fi film. The coating thickens until the temperatures get too high
and then it starts to drip, drop away.
Icicles form on most objects that are close to the water and their shape and style depend on the position and shape of the object and the type of water flow past it. Long, thin icicles near fast flowing waterfalls and short fat droplets on branches that skim the water's surface.
An incomplete Millstone in the woods. These can be found scattered around the whole area in various states of completion from industrial times past.
Wandering up the path back to the warmth of my car. It was a bitterly cold and damp day, but worth every minute of swinging my arms around to get the blood back in my fingers.
These photos were taken an hour or so after the last lot, after a lovely cup of tea and slice of cake with a friend Rachel at Longshaw Estate Education Centre. The snow dusted the ground and stuck to the trees making it all a little Ansel Adamsesque. For me, high contrast black and white portrays the silent, ancient mood of the padley woods perfectly.
Once again, a part finished millstone rests amongst the old, higgledy piggedly trees, covered in a two layer blanket of moss and snow.
The peaks in winter are highly photographed, with people out and about with tripods on the hill tops at all hours of the day. For me, it's the little details that appeal the most. A warm, spring fed stream flowing through a cold, crisp, calm valley creates an amazing winter wonderland of drips and drops to play with.
Water vapour condenses onto the frozen grass and stems like some weird, cryogenic preservation from a sci-fi film. The coating thickens until the temperatures get too high and then it starts to drip, drop away.
Icicles form on most objects that are close to the water and their shape and style depend on the position and shape of the object and the type of water flow past it. Long, thin icicles near fast flowing waterfalls and short fat droplets on branches that skim the water's surface.
The water's motion is captured using long exposures and small apertures on a tripod - this blurs the movement of the water until just the silky smooth flow is left. This collection was taken along Padley Gorge above Grindleford.
Time to wander in the cool, dark, mossy woods surrounding the gorge, before the snow starts to fall and cover it all up again.
An incomplete Millstone in the woods. These can be found scattered around the whole area in various states of completion from industrial times past.
Wandering up the path back to the warmth of my car. It was a bitterly cold and damp day, but worth every minute of swinging my arms around to get the blood back in my fingers.
