Wild West Cornwall images
Photos shot by Nigel during the Wild West Cornwall photography tour, 3-8th Nov 2024
Click on any image to launch a slide show. We hope you’ll enjoy the images!
Wild West Cornwall images 2024
Our inaugural Wild West Cornwall photography tour went ahead early in November under some rather trying and challenging conditions. Cornwall in late autumn is of course a time for storms and rapidly changing conditions, but we really didn’t get that at all. Instead, we were faced with glowering grey skies and intermittent fog, though without any wind or rain (apart from a bit of light drizzle). Sunlight was in seriously short supply, limited to the occasional shaft of light, mostly at the start and end of the tour.
Challenging conditions indeed, but it forced both myself and the tour’s participants to be inventive and to work hard at creating great compositions. On day three, for example, we had little choice but to ’embrace’ the fog, working on the high moors outside Penzance to obtain the thickest fog. Here we set about – quite successfully I was surprised to find – creating images of fog-shrouded, wind-gnarled hawthorn trees, abandoned farmhouses and tin mine ruins looming out of the murk, and prehistoric remains shrugging off yet another dreary day.
In addition, there was St Michael’s Mount framed at dawn by angry grey skies and steely grey sea, as well as surf rolling onto granite boulders at Porthgwarra Cove. And then – never to be missed in my book – the solid breakwater at Sennen Cove, shot at dawn with a high tide, on another fog-bound morning. Then there were dusk views of the harbours at St Ives and the wonderfully named Mousehole.
And sunlit scenes? Well there were indeed a couple, starting with shafts of sunlight over the Atlantic at Kynance Cove, and finishing on the final day with some glimpses of sun at the ruins of both Carn Galver and Botallack tin mines, both near St Just. We made the most of those opportunities!
Overall, a great week, despite the meteorological challenges. And for 2026? No decisions yet on when or if there’ll be a re-run next year. Watch this space or get in touch if you’d like to express an interest in joing a future tour.
Places visited
Photo locations visited during this tour included:
Marazion/St Michael’s Mount; Kynance Cove; Mullion Cove; Mousehole; Men-an-tol; Lanyon Quoit; Ding Dong tin mine; Sennen Cove; Porthgwarra Cove; Treen Cliffs; Penberth Cove; Newlyn; Cape Cornwall; Carn Galver tin mine; St Ives harbour; Botallack tin mine.