Yorkshire Dales Three Day Photography Workshop

The Yorkshire Dales are one of the most diverse areas of landscape in the UK. On this three day photography workshop we will do everything in our power to take in all that is epic about The Yorkshire Dales landscape. We will visit Limestone pavements, gorges and dramatic scars. There will be time to take in elevated views of the famous 'Three Peaks' of Ingleborough, Whernside and Pen-Y-Ghent, cascading waterfalls as well as the soft rolling countryside, dotted with traditional fieldbarns and drystone walls that the Yorkshire dales are famed for. Small group numbers (Max of four) mean I can spend much more one to one time going through various techniques and explaining the different aspects involved in making dramatic images.

Although we won't be following a rigidly set location plan, to give you an idea of itinery, We’ll possibly kick off the first day at or around the Malham area at first light. This could include areas surrounding Malham. We’ll stay mobile and work with the prevailing weather conditions. Throughout the day we’ll be exploring some of the most dramatic areas of upland Limestone scenery to be found anywhere in the country. We’ll make our way around various stunning features which will include; Limestone crags, scars, pavements and waterfalls. We may explore an area that gives amazing elevated views out over Malhamdale, as well as a dramatic Limestone Gorge. We will possibly end the first day shooting into the sunset from a large area of limestone pavement or some amazing views across to Ingleborough and Pen-Y-Ghent

There will be some walking involved throughout the first day, but these are quite easy short walks of no more than a mile with most of the paths being quite good and also reasonably flat. A low to average fitness level is required.

The location for our second day will be the stunning Kingsdale. This area is renowned for its fantastic geology. Scattered around, and in some cases on top of the various Limestone pavements, are gigantic boulders which were deposited on the rock platforms by melting glaciers. We’ll be concentrating on these Limestone Scars and Glacial Erratics for the best part of the day with most areas giving fantastic views of two of the famous ‘Three Peaks’ of Ingleborough and Whernside. We will possibly end the day at Ribblehead, but again, with so much on offer around the Limestone pavements, it could be difficult to drag ourselves away. This day will begin an hour before sunrise and some of the walks are slightly more strenuous than the ones at Malham. A walk up hill of around a half a mile is required to reach a couple of locations. None of the walks are more than a couple of miles in total, and apart from the areas mentioned above, the routes are quite flat. The spectacular views from these areas combined with some outstanding Limestone Pavement certainly make them worth the climb.

On our third and final day we will be exploring the charismatic green valleys of both Littondale and Wharfedale. We’ll head for elevated views over the spectacular rolling countryside. We’ll be looking to use the drystone walls for which the dales are famous, as a compositional lead in. Wharfedale also has a number of superb waterfalls and the best thing is they’re all within easy walking distance. We’ll work on some of the wider views of the falls, as well as using longer lenses to isolate small areas of water streaming through the rocks.
Later in the day, we’ll possibly make our way up into Wensleydale depending on time limits. Each day, we will be able to stop off for lunch, or refreshments etc and review the morning’s images in a relaxed environment. I will also go through many of the techniques I use to process images in Photoshop.

We will be based close to the market town of Skipton in comfortable hotel accommodation, with single occupancy en suite rooms, and three nights accommodation (Thursday, Friday & Saturday night) is included in the price. The accommodation is pretty central to all the locations we will be visiting over the three days and is also within easy reach of all local amenities.

The Yorkshire Dales Three Day Photography Workshop is a three day Photography workshop, which means each day will consist of at least 8 hours of on location, practical tuition. On booking you will receive a simple questionnaire to fill out which helps me to tailor the days exactly to your requirements. A basic day can include tuition on the following subjects; Best practice camera set-up, shooting manual and Raw Format and the reasons why, creative uses of both shutter speed and apertures, explanations of exposure, metering, bracketing e.t.c, manual focusing for maximum depth of field (Also known as Hyperfocal focusing) The use of filters, both exposure balancing (Neutral Density Graduated) and creative effects (Polarisers, Straight Neutral Density) This leaves the best part of the day free to discuss the broader and more subjective topic of composition. What makes a good image? Elements to look for when composing images, The rules of composition, when to follow them and when to break them, use of depth, scale, distance and perspective, shoot and location planning around seasonal and differing lighting conditions, so you can go away and successfully plan the best times of year to photograph your own set of locations.

A deposit of £150 via PayPal is required to secure a place, with the remaining balance payable via bank transfer two months prior to the workshop date. If you are interested in this workshop, please register your interest sooner rather than later.