After that last post I took a rather lengthy break from this photography lark, stuff was going on in my life that completely stole my attention. I didn't really get to go out again until over a year later! (Crazy, I know, I barely survived!) But I'm so glad I did and I'm so glad that I got myself back into a hobby that I absolutely love, and what was it that drew me back out of this rut? Well...
One particularly cold week in December I remember hearing all the weather forecasts about how it wasn't going to snow or anything but, despite that, the weather would be absolutely freezing! We also had one Saturday night drenched in fog as thick as I had ever seen. It was surreal and was all part of the extreme weather pressure combination we happened to be in. I knew the geography of the local area and I knew enough about how weather works to know that if it stays cold, as it would, and perhaps more importantly if there was absolutely no wind in the night, as was pedictoed. then the stupidly thick fog wasn't going anywhere until the sun hits it tomorrow morning. Hell, it was so cold the entire cloud layer would be down on the ground and the air was eerily still, which was odd itself.
So the next morning, well before dawn, I packed up my car and went the route I could drive blind. I made it to the summit well before dawn and was staggered. I was absolutely right and it was well worth it. Hopefully I managed to capture some of how amazing that experience was.
These pictures were all taken on 18-12-2016 at dawn on Rivington Pike (where else?). Weather was freezing cold with the right atmospheric pressure to bring Inversion!
Enjoy!
And there it is. After seeing this view so many times since I was a child it was incredible to see it shrouded like this for the first time.
The side of Winter Hill rolling down into the clouds below... speaks for itself.
Similar shot taken later when the sun had risen above the horizon.
House of the Rising Sun reference... anyone?
Rolling cloud with no horizon. Truly surreal.
"My castle on a cloud..."
And the side without the touristy benches and Health and Safety fence.
Okay, I took a shameless selfie... (#Deletelater)
(In my defense it was freezing that morning!)
That morning light was an absolute gift.
Anyone care to sit with me?
Portrait shot of above. Which worked better?
Wider angle. Cloud was starting to clear now. I had been up there for about forty minutes at this point.
The morning sun much higher now, Golden Birthing Embers...
The cloud began to rise as the sun shone on it more, dispersing it over the higher grounds. Had to get a picture of that.
What can I say? I love this one.
Silhouettes are cool!
I ran all over that hill trying to catch as much of the inversion as I could
The pigeon tower, plus inversion. (albeit fading inversion but still)
and the other side of the pigeon tower.
Sun had truly risen by this point, but how could I not get arty with it.
Got more of the inversion from this angle, showing more of the cloud the hill protected from the rising sun.
I love playing with the light... I make no apologies.
Not much arty photography here, just hadn't ever seen a tree branch like that before...
"I know this hill like the back of my hand!... Hey, that's new..."
With the cloud inversion mostly gone by this point (it faded pretty quickly once the sun was up) and with the crowds beginning to swarm the summit (they do that with the sun too) I retreated to the little known waterfall area for some winter-y pics.
I like this picture, but...
Weirdly I prefer it upside-down. What do you think? I might experiment more with upside-down stuff in the future.
Does this count as another shameless selfie? Hashtag winter gear?
Wide angle waterfall... yep.
And finally, 'The Winter below the Waterfall'.
As always any tips and comments are hugely appreciated!
Thanks for browsing! Cya soon
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