Gardoms Edge in the Mist

After much anticipation and speculation on Twitter as to what the weather would be like on Sunday (March 25th) I ventured out in the hope of mist.  There was none in Sheffield, but as I drove on the Baslow road and got near to where the Barbrook stone circles are I could look down the valley towards Baslow and was comforted by the near treacherous bank of mist that I saw as I rounded the corner.  It was a glorious day, the sun was struggling to come through and was casting shafts of light through the mist bound trees – but just not enough to make it work in camera I’m afraid (maybe I should pack smoke bombs next time? – joke!).  The amazing thing was that I had the place to myself, the only thing detracting from it all was the noise of rubber on the main roads that converge at the roundabout just out side of Baslow.  Aside from that it was perfectly still.

I did some photography as I entered the main woods at the stile, shooting in to the mist cloaked sun using Provia 100F.  Lightroom 4 makes light work of making the best of such situations.  Walking out along the Edge the mist got thicker again which made it all the more atmospheric.  I then headed towards Gardoms Standing Stone which is near the first wall that you encounter as you walk along the Edge.  I spent a long time here, working on a shot with the Bronica and then doing a number of pinhole shots of the stone both landscape and details (these were done on Ilford FP4 and have yet to be developed).  Thinking about my process, I don’t honestly think if I had brought my digital SLR I could have achieved what I did that day with film.  Using film slowed me down, made me more measured in what I was doing.  I could have seen myself spraying and praying with the SLR and getting no where close to what I achieved on film.

After a while I headed off in search of Gardoms Pit Alignment. I *think* I found it, certainly I found a line that may have been a filled in trench – but this could have been a series of pits that have become over grown over the millennia- which would have been the pit alignment.  Anyway, its not very photogenic, so I did a number of details of a birch and a pool of water, before heading off again.  My last stop before home was to find a good bit of Gardoms Enclosure , which is in-effect a large non-defensive Neolithic/Early Bronze age wall which  enclosed the top of the Edge.  Lots of interesting shots I felt – but I have yet to develop anything.

Gardoms Edge in the Mist III

Gardoms Edge in the Mist III

Gardoms Edge in the Mist II

Gardoms Edge in the Mist II

Gardoms Edge in the Mist I

Gardoms Edge in the Mist I

Birches, Gardoms Edge on Portra 160

Birches, Gardoms Edge on Portra 160

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