KEVIN GIBBIN
Peak Practice The easing of lockdown in the summer of 2020, for most people, was an opportunity to get out into the local countryside with some decent boots and suitable clothing. Kevin also included his camera with his packed lunch and headed off into the stunning landscape of the Peak District National Park. Planning trips out with both friends and family, the results are an impressive collection of images from some of the iconic locations of the area. Since the easing of lockdown, I have managed to achieve four separate trips into the Peak District; three purely for photographic purposes and the fourth taking two of my granddaughters walking for the day. On each occasion I managed to come away with some acceptable images. Hopefully practice will eventually make perfect! Living near Nottingham, many parts of the Peak District, particularly the Derbyshire parts, are within a drive of about one and a half hours so I suppose I have little excuse not to manage more trips!
Armed with a bit of local knowledge, reference to the fotovue book on the area by Chris Gilbert and Mick Ryan and a 1:25,000 OS map, I was able to plan what I wanted to achieve from the first three photographic trips. The planned walk was along Stanage Edge, with which I was already familiar, so I took a camera, something I would do invariably anyway. The first two of the three photo shoots were to Higger Tor, a rocky outcrop below and to the east of Stanage Edge, not far from
Hathersage. These required an especially early start to be in place in time for dawn; on August 8th this was at 5.35 am so it required an early start – up at 3am to allow travel time plus getting into position – and I’m not exactly an early bird!! On my second visit, this time with a great friend, Trevor Burton, from my local photographic society, Nottingham and Notts, the hour was a bit kinder – dawn at 6.02 am. I was keen to photograph the heather as well as securing the warmth of the dawn light. Dawn
Dawn light Higger Tor (Image 1)
Heather sunburst (Image 3)
Heather in dawn mist (Image 2)
Carl Wark from Higger Tor (Image 4)
42 Landscape Magazine Winter 2020