In Search of Heather - Part 4

In my last blog post I shared with you some of the heather themed photographs I captured at Chinkwell Tor. With the heather looking good at that part of Dartmoor National Park, I decided to keep the momentum going and heading to Chinkwell's neighbouring tor, Honeybag Tor.

It was a further 10 days on since I'd been to Chinkwell Tor so I had high hopes this would be the peak of heather season, and I was not disappointed. There were some beautiful clumps of heather mixed in with the yellow of the gorse bushes. I just needed to find a composition and more importantly, wait for a break in the cloud. I still had a bit of time before sunrise, so I decided to have a wee wander about.

Though I'd never properly taken the time to photograph Honeybag Tor, as I explored the area I started to pick out compositions. But my big worry was that most of these would suit a sunset rather than a sunrise, and what I thought were they good compositions didn't actually include any heather!

Dartmoor can be a tricky place to photograph though, particularly in flat light. It's hard to previsualise compositions. Or at least I can struggle to previsualise. Not to worry though, mother nature to the rescue! Just as I was about to conclude that the area had nice heather but no suitable compositions, the cloud broke and divine light shone on my composition!

**Heather at Honeybag Tor #1, Dartmoor National Park** - Nikon Z8, Nikkor Z 14-30mm f/4 S at 21mm, f/13, 1/3 sec at ISO 64.

Knowing that light like that is very fleeting on Dartmoor I immediately got to work and started taking pictures. No sooner has I grabbed a couple of frames and tweaked my composition, the light disappeared. It was a very exciting few minutes and very much a typical Dartmoor photography experience! That is, you wait ages and just when you are on the cusp of giving up and going home, you get 5 minutes of light to work with, and then you are done.

Five minutes is all you need some mornings though. I'd captured my photographs, and I was happy. With two successful shoots under my belt, should I push for a third one? Find out next time.