Danebridge Bluebells and the Z7ii Has Gone
A landscape photography blog by Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire based landscape photographer Rob Thorley Photography.
It’s the last day of April, and the best part of three months since I was last out. Health wise it had been relentless. To accompany the issues I had I’d also had a “big C” scare. Fortunately it turned out to be diverticulitis, and whilst not ideal, it was far better than the alternatives! Anyway I was physically, and mentally in the best shape I’d been for some time. Definitely not A1 fit, but getting there.
Today was a bittersweet day. It was the last time I’d be out with the Z7ii before it was packaged up, and part exchanged for a shiny new Z8. I wasn’t unhappy with the Z7ii. For landscape photography it was ideal, but there were a few things such as a lack of firmware updates, the autofocus, and burst rate limitations that meant the Z8 for myself was a much better all round proposition.
The other thing that had become painful with the Z7ii was the lack of a sensor shield. This hadn’t been much of an issue for me when I first got the camera, as my lens selection was limited. As I acquired more lenses, and changed them in the field the more dirt I was getting on the sensor. Having to clean dust spots in post on just about every image, every time out was a bit of a bind.
I ended up at Danebridge in the Peak District. I was aware that this location had a nice woodland carpet of bluebells, and that’s the image I was after. I actually delayed visiting by a day as I’d seen on social media that there was a ramblers meetup here for a woodland blue walk, so thought parking might have been tricky. Today though there was no issue parking.
The path was pretty self explanatory. It was a little boggy underfoot as it passed the River Dane, but all in all it’s a short easy walk to where the majority of the woodland bluebells are. I had a bit of a look around and decided not to photograph anything immediately but to use the time to explore the track a bit further.
I walked on for another 15-20 minutes, and whilst there were more bluebell patches dotted around it was evident that where I’d started was the optimal place to get that “carpet” image. I hadn’t come across any paths through the woodland, so composition wise it felt a little limited and I was having to shoot from the edges.
The light wasn’t the best today. As a location this particular area possibly works best in the afternoon. This morning the light such as it was just wasn’t filtering through, and I thought later in the afternoon with the sun behind it may have looked better. I appreciate sunlight contrast may bring it’s own challenges, but if I went again I’d plan to go from lunchtime onwards..
After getting the “carpet” shot I focused on a few specific bluebells, and decided to have a little bit of fun with a few of them when I edited them in post. I was attempting to get a bit of a moody “grunge” look. Not my usual style of edit, but still fun to attempt something a little different.
You can view more images in my nature gallery.
