Photos taken by Nigel while running the Dartmoor in autumn photography course, 28th October 2023
Fingle Bridge, and Gidleigh Common, Dartmoor, Devon
Click on any image to launch a slide show
My annual Dartmoor in autumn photography course went ahead once again in the northeastern part of the moor. That meant a day spent in the deep and densely forested valley of the River Teign, followed by the open moors close to the village of Chagford.
Although the day started off with plenty of sunshine, down in the depths of the wooded valley everything was in shadow, which suited the photography just fine. Photography in woodland is so much easier without sunlight, and all the participants were able to concentrate on some great woodland compositions, all set against the backdrop of the fast-flowing River Teign.
For the most part, autumnal colours were rather few, with the woodland colour change running at least two weeks late this year. However, some stunning images were perfectly possible, with the rich greens of oak and beech leaves mixed in with a sprinkling of autumnal yellow and orange leaves.
By lunchtime, rain was falling steadily – exactly as forecast – necessitating a retreat to a pub in nearby Chagford, where I made a laptop image presentation of Dartmoor autumn photography. After a couple of hours the rain cleared – again just as forecast – allowing us to head out onto some of Dartmoor’s most exposed and wildest open moors.
This was the site of Scorhill Stone Circle, plus lots of marshes, a few lone and highly gnarled hawthorn trees, and a number of ancient clapper bridges. These were all props in the art of photographing the great emptiness that typifies Dartmoor’s open moors. It all gave my students plenty of practice in the skills of what I call ‘the photography of nothingness’: latching onto any landscape feature, no matter how small, to generate a point of photographic interest in every image.
All in all, my last workshop of 2023 went off well, making the most use of some classic Dartmoor autumn weather, providing some great opportunities for my students’ photography.
Above is a collection of some of the images I shot while teaching the day. I hope you’ll like them! Thanks for visiting this page.
The next Dartmoor photography workshop will be on 25th May 2024. You can sign up for this event already. Click on the links below to find out more.
