“Summer landscape photography is amazing“, a sentence I never thought I would say. But why the sudden change of mind?
Where Have The Butterflies Gone?
In my previous blog post, I discussed my plan to focus on macro photography throughout the summer months. My goal was to photograph butterflies, dragonflies, and damselflies creatively to promote their importance in nature. It quickly became apparent that this project wouldn’t be as straightforward as I had hoped.
Over the past few months, one question has dominated the natural world. Where have all of the butterflies gone? This summer has been terrible for insect life. The sheer number of insects has been worryingly low. Think about it. How many bees, wasps, and butterflies have you seen this year? I bet the count is low, but why?
For the most part, spring this year was too wet and too cold. Butterflies and pollinators require warm and dry conditions to emerge from their over-winter hideaways. Most of the world has seen record-breaking temperatures throughout summer, whereas the UK has escaped with mild weather. Also, there has been an increase in the use of pesticides, which are detrimental to wildlife. When you factor all of this together, coupled with an already declining population trend, it’s easy to see why we’re not seeing as many insects this year, and we should be worried about it. I won’t go into too much of a rant. Instead, I’ll leave you with a couple of incredible shots I did manage to capture.
Above. During one of the rarer warm evenings in the early summer, a trip to the beautiful Formby Beach proved to be incredibly productive. I was lucky enough to find the entire life cycle of the Six-spot Burnet. It was spectacular to see, even more so knowing that insect life has struggled this year.
New Plan. Back To Landscape Photography
Disappointingly, I had to re-evaluate my plans for summer. I decided to jump out of my comfort zone and head to some of my favourite locations throughout the Lake District to enjoy summer landscape photography. I typically avoid the Lake District during the summer months because I love solitude, and more often than not, summer is far too busy for my liking. Anyway, I knew it wouldn’t be easy, waking up at ungodly hours to beat the crowds and reach locations in time for sunrise, but I gave it my best shot. Surprisingly, I have thoroughly enjoyed it! Not only did I find solitude, but I also managed to enjoy some spectacularly atmospheric mornings. Don’t worry. I’m not about to say summer landscape photography is better than autumn or winter, but I have a newfound appreciation for the time of year I thought was relatively fruitless.
Summer Landscape Photography Along The River Brathay
My first summer landscape photography trip took me to the iconic River Brathay in early July. A potentially promising forecast for early morning mist saw me hunting for complimentary locations around the Great Langdale area. After driving past Skelwith Bridge, I noticed the familiar sight of mist pockets near the River Brathay and Elterwater. It was 4:00 a.m., and not a soul was on the roads. “Let’s give it a try”, I thought as I pulled into Elterwater National Trust car park. As I walked along the river to the iconic oak trees, the morning was full of atmosphere. Delicate mist gently glided above the river’s surface, whose reflections were glasslike thanks to the absence of wind. Sunrise and the potential for glorious golden light was 50/50. Odds that I would take any day of the year. On this occasion, I lost the coin flip.
As sunrise neared, the mist ebbed and weaved throughout the landscape. I’m lucky to have seen this location under some incredible conditions, but on this particular morning, I struggled with the mist. At times, waves of mist lingered around the oak trees but in such a way that it looked too distracting within the composition. I captured a few shots of the scene, but none sold the beauty of the location. Instead, I chose to show you a photograph from shortly after sunrise. The mist had parted, and in its place was a faint haze. The haze helped to add separation between the layers of trees throughout the scene. All in all, it was refreshing to see this iconic landscape during a season I usually avoid.
Maybe Summer Landscape Photography Isn’t As Bad As I Thought
In hindsight, I was probably being too overly negative because my head wasn’t in the game. I was too worried about capturing a few images and getting out of there before the crowds arrived. Unironically, I would later realise it wasn’t as bad as I had expected. At 9:00 a.m., I was packed up and ready to leave, and to my surprise, I had only seen a single dog walker all morning. This experience got me thinking. Was there a possibility that summer landscape photography wasn’t as bad as I had imagined? After I returned home, I immediately started planning the next photography adventure.
Bowfell, Sensational Scenes Over Great Langdale
Stepping It Up A Notch
After the eye-opening experience along the River Brathay, I decided to up the ante. For those who don’t know me, I love a good mountain view. I thrive on long, steep hikes up mountains, empowered by the thought of the view from the summit. For me, it’s the perspective, the scale, and the sheer beauty of a landscape when viewed from a high altitude. The Lake District is home to countless mountains offering breathtaking views guaranteed to leave you in awe. With this in mind, I knew my next trip had to be big, so I chose the guardian of Langdale, Bowfell. Bowfell stands at an impressive 902m and provides mind-blowing views in all directions from the summit. All I needed now was the right weather forecast.
The Early Bird Gets The Worm
After much anticipation, the forecast I was looking for surfaced. Elements of the forecast included a perfect dew point, high humidity and low wind speeds. All of these combined form the perfect recipe for a temperature inversion. Before I knew it, the 2nd of August had arrived. I was awakened abruptly by a 1:00 a.m. alarm. My body screamed at the thought of being up so early, but I resisted all the temptation to go back to sleep. Against all odds, by 2:30 a.m. I was geared up and headed to Bowfell via “The Band”, excited for the morning ahead.
The hike up Bowfell was surprisingly warm and humid, even at 3:00 a.m. Nevertheless, I put my head down and powered up The Band before signs of Blue Hour began to show. Near the top of The Band, the telltale signs of a potential temperature inversion began to form. There’s something about seeing those fluffy white patches of mist building as the morning progresses. I made a brief pitstop to grab a quick photograph of the Pike of Blisco poking out from the inversion, rapidly engulfing its lower flanks.
A Morning Of Breathtaking Landscape Photography
Unfortunately, as Blue Hour arrived, it became clear that there would be zero visibility from the summit of Bow Fell. The summit sat amongst a band of clouds, totally clagged out. No problem I thought, as I began to look for potential compositions from the top of The Band instead. I decided I didn’t want to lose too much altitude and stuck around slightly below Three Tarns as it offered an incredible view over Mickleden Valley and beyond. I found a nice spot near Three Tarns and set about hunting compositions. It was around this time that the wind decided to grow in strength. The increasing winds were in total contrast to the forecast, but it was a welcome curveball. The wind started to whip up the inversion, and the low cloud began to lift dramatically. There were moments when I lost all visibility, swallowed up by the cloud rapidly moving around me. But now and then, small breaks appeared, revealing breathtaking scenes throughout Great Langdale. I captured a handful of photographs throughout the morning, but the true magic happened as Blue Hour Transitioned into Golden Hour.
Just As I Thought Things Couldn’t Get Any Better…
It wasn’t long until the telltale signs of Golden Hour began to show. Glorious golden light caught the clouds gliding across the landscape around me. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, it did! As the clouds caught the spectacular golden light, another opening revealed the valley below. My head was in the clouds – literally and figuratively, but against all odds, I managed to capture a photograph. I hope this does the morning justice.
I also came across a gorgeous patch of Cotton-grass. Using the Cotton-grass as a foreground, I tried to capture a photograph featuring a range of mountains in the distance, but it didn’t quite work. I didn’t get close enough to the Cotton-grass in my attempt to include the whole patch, so it isn’t immediately obvious what it is. I’ll include the photo below alongside an additional shot from the mind-blowing sunrise.
The trip to Bowfell was an unbelievable experience, again illustrating that summer landscape photography isn’t as bad as I thought.
Landscape Photography Featuring Lingmoor Fell Heather
Of course, you can’t talk about summer landscape photography without including the iconic heathland mountain Heather. As I write this blog post, peak Heather season has arrived. Unfortunately, however, the weather isn’t playing ball. A long-lasting area of low pressure has dominated England, bringing a spell of wind, rain and unseasonably lower temperatures. I have my fingers crossed for more promising weather soon so I can get back out there and catch the beautiful Heather before the end of the season. Until then, here is a quick summary of last week’s trip to Lingmoor Fell in the Lake District.
Two Birds, One Stone
Last week’s photography trip resulted in an unexpected case of two birds with one stone. I noticed a promising forecast for the Great Langdale area, so I decided to head up to Lingmoor Fell to check up on the progress of the heather. As it turned out, the forecast coincided with a red alert for the Northern Lights and the peak of the Perseids meteor shower. As far as landscape photography goes, you couldn’t dream of a better opportunity. I headed out and got to Blea Tarn in time for the Northern Lights and it was phenomenal. The solar storm wasn’t as strong as it was back in May but it was the second time I’ve seen the Northern Lights this year. To top it off, countless meteors streaked across the night sky, and the Milky Way looked spectacular!
I fired off a few shots throughout the night which looked great when compressed on the camera display. However, after reviewing the shots at home the quality wasn’t great. I think I pushed the ISO a bit too high, a problem that arises when shooting so late at night. I’ll pop a photo below anyway, this was taken at ISO 6400, F2.8 and still required a shutter speed of 15 seconds which is too long to capture the details of stars and the Northern Lights. As you can see cloud was a problem throughout the night and by the expected peak of the Northern Lights, the cloud had covered the night sky. N.b. The image has been cleaned using Lightroom’s noise reduction tool.
Sunrise, Mountains, and Gorgeous Flowering Heather
After a brief hour of shuteye, I regeared and set off to Lingmoor Fell to enjoy a morning amongst the beautiful pink mountain Heather. Lingmoor Fell is a very well-visited location, and for good reason. With this in mind, I made it my priority to avoid the honey pot compositions. For the most part, you will see a lot of photographs from this location, featuring the gorgeous drystone walls and the Langdale Pikes as a background. I wanted to focus my efforts in the opposite direction, using the spectacular backdrop of the iconic Coniston mountains.
A quick hike later, I arrived at the location with plenty of time to spare before sunrise. It was hard to tell with the lack of ambient light, but the Heather looked great under the illumination of my headtorch. It was now just a matter of waiting for dawn to break.
An Atmospheric Morning For Landscape Photography
It was a bit of a bizarre morning in terms of weather. Around blue hour, some incredible cloud formations passed overhead, but it was too windy to attempt a long exposure. Nearing the end of blue hour, I’d found a composition that I thought was interesting and offered everything I’d hoped for. A small body of water (not quite a tarn) curved through the foreground, surrounded by gorgeous flowering heather with the Coniston Fell in the background. Perfect. Not long after, the sun began to rise. For a brief moment, the sun cast some glorious light on the fell tops. At more or less the same time, a band of low clouds rapidly engulfed the landscape, adding to the atmosphere. I took a photograph just as the sun’s rays began to caress the tops of the mountains, and as quickly as I took the shot, the light was gone. A swift glance behind me revealed that the low cloud had covered the horizon.
In hindsight, I quite like some of the elements within the photograph, but there is undoubtedly room for improvement. I should have captured the scene using a wider angle, and the body of water would have looked much better after rainfall. I’ll likely revisit this shot when the conditions are better suited.
The Iconic View From Lingmoor Fell
I hold my hands up. I couldn’t resist the iconic view from Lingmoor Fell towards the Langdale Pikes on my way back to my car. Low clouds continuously rolled through the surrounding valleys, creating stunning scenes. In the photograph below, a band of low clouds had all but passed, subtly revealing the daunting figure of the Langdale Pikes. Enough clouds remained throughout the scene, offering a subtle haze throughout the frame. To top it off, the beautiful pink Heather looked exceptional this year, significantly better than last year’s show. Overall, it was another phenomenal morning in the breathtaking Lake District.
Thanks For Reading!
That brings us up to date with my landscape photography adventures so far this summer. The weather over the past week or so hasn’t been great, but things are looking promising for the near future. With that said, I’m hoping to make the most of the remainder of the Heather season. I’m massively looking forward to revisiting the stunning Holme Fell. Holme Fell is a breathtaking area of the Lake District, a stone’s throw from Coniston. It has long been a goal to capture an image of Holme Fell that shows the true beauty of the landscape.
I also plan to return to Bow Fell’s summit to enjoy the spectacular 360-degree views under more favourable weather conditions. With the potential return of a high-pressure weather system, I can’t wait to make the most of the remainder of summer.
As always, thanks for reading if you made it this far. If you would like to know more about anything discussed in this blog post, please feel free to contact me. See you in the next one!