Gorgeous landscape

One of the nicest things in landscape photography is getting to know how a location changes with the seasons, and when’s the best time to visit. And even though I didn’t take one single shot on last weekend’s trip to Padley Gorge,  I can give you a good idea of what I saw with these photos from last time.

Make no mistake, the landscape does change with the seasons, but this wooded gorge with Burbage Brook flowing through it was much the same this time around as it was when the leaves had just fallen off the trees in October last year. There was the same low-angled light, filtered by majestic oak and beech trees.

On a bright February day, the colours were pretty much like this shot back in October last year.

Though the brook is the reason most photographers come, set up their tripods and indulge themselves with the slowed down motion of the flowing water, it’s the trees and the rocks that fascinate me the most. The moss-covered boulders glowed in the gloom under the canopy, maybe a little less than last time, the colours dulled by a month of frost and snow, but you can still run your fingers along the furred carpet of sphagnum.

The rocks in the gorge glow green  with mosses and lichen but the film didn’t quite capture it.

The river was clearer this time, but the thawing snow brought down some peat that coloured the swollen brook. And the beech leaves are still scattered on the ground, on rocks in the middle of the flow, and swirling in pools and eddies at the edge of the brook.

Peat washed down from the Sheffield Moors has tinged the water brown complimenting the golden beech leaves

I didn’t take a single shot last weekend in Padley Gorge, but as soon as I arrived home and took off my hiking boots I dug these shots out and marvelled at how much has stayed the same and thought about how much will change with Spring just around the corner.

Written for the Weekly Writing Challenge: Image vs Text.