A Weekend In The Lake District

The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests and mountains, and its associations with William Wordsworth and other Lake Poets and also with Beatrix Potter and John Ruskin.

First image in a set from this weekends adventure into the Lake District. 2 Nights & 2 Days rushing around the all the iconic locations with only a few hours sleep in total. I'm pretty whacked but it was well worth it. So to kick of the images....

Castlerigg Stone Circle above lit by a full moon at around 03:30 on Saturday morning. When we got there there was a lot of cloud cover so we spent some time trying to illuminate the stones with torches (not very successfully) It must have been quite amusing watching us run around the stones in the dark trying to illuminate them, fortunately there were only sheep to witness it. Mother nature came to the rescue and as the clouds cleared the nearly full moon lit up the landscape.

Castlerigg is perhaps the most atmospheric and dramatically sited of all British stone circles, with panoramic views and the mountains of Helvellyn and High Seat as a backdrop. It is also among the earliest British circles, raised in about 3000 BC during the Neolithic period.

• Image Title: Twilight at Lake Buttermer
• Pentax K-1 Camera used:
• Pentax DFA 15-30mm f/2.8 Lens used:
• 16mm Focal length:
• f/2.8 Aperture:
• 10 Sec Exposure time:
• 1600 ISO:

Lake Buttermere transitioning between the night to the break of day, a calm surface with little to no breeze made for a surprisingly warm morning. The lone tree made the perfect foreground interest as the side of the hills started to catch the morning glow.

• Image Title: Nautical Twilight Transition Lake Buttermere
• Pentax K-1 Camera used:
• Pentax DFA 15-30mm f/2.8 Lens used:
• 20mm Focal length:
• f/7.1 Aperture:
• 20 Sec Exposure time:
• 100 ISO:

The sunrise was only a matter of minutes away as the darkness of the night made way for the break of dawn of one of the most tranquil lake side positions I have been in many months. Deserted only for Mark and myself this location remained so until the full break of dawn when we were joined by a procession of photographers looking to capture the more iconic shots everyone has seen and loves. Of course, whilst I was there it would have been rude not to have captured my own classics...

• Image Title: The Buttermere Classic
• Pentax K-1 Camera used:
• Pentax DFA 28-105mm f/3.5-5.6 Lens used:
• 90mm Focal length:
• f/11 Aperture:
• 0.5 Sec Exposure time:
• 100 ISO:

The classic shot of Lake Buttermere, This one was shot a good while after sunrise with the light hitting Fleetwith Pike high up before cascading down illuminating Haystacks and onto the sides of Red Pike which form an arrow leading down the lonely Char Hut (fishing hut) on the shoreline. Completely dwarfed by it's surroundings, this hut  must be a great place to get away from it all, then again with the amount of photographers now milling about to get this image, I suspect it wouldn't be too relaxing after all. It was a particularly good morning, not only for light but for the lake being perfect for reflections, however that didn't last as the temperatures climbed so did the morning breeze making for perfect reflections more challenging, it can be a massive pain when you start a sequence here only to get ripples appearing half way through.

• Image Title: The Reverse Shot of the Lake District Fells
• Pentax K-1 Camera used:
• Pentax DFA 28-105mm f/3.5-5.6 Lens used:
• 105mm Focal length:
• f/f11 Aperture:
• 1/13 Exposure time:
• 100 ISO:

• Image Title: Blea Tarn Reflections
• Pentax K-1 Camera used:
• Pentax DFA 28-105mm f/3.5-5.6 Lens used:
• 43mm Focal length:
• f/f11 Aperture:
• 1/40 Exposure time:
• 100 ISO:

Final shot of the weekend was the stunning Blea Tarn. As we reached the top of the switchbacks, Blea Tarn was revealed including what appeared to be a calm surface. We set up along the shoreline taking in the scene before us. There were so many leading lines and rocks in the water, the light and reflections constantly changed offering ample opportunities to get one more shot.

Apparently it can take a few visits to get conditions like this at Blea Tarn - First Time :) > #JUSTSAYING