Galleries » Moor and glen
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Moor and glen
Appreciation of the subtler processes of nature are the reward for investing time in moor and glen.
Altitude and ice, those great foundation forces of nature, rarely have the same dynamic influence as they do in more grand and mountainous terrain. As a consequence many travel quickly through moorland, dismissing it as a lifeless combination of bog, heather and bracken.
The rush for more spectacular rewards is understandable and it is true that you have to commit a longer period of time to moorland to really reap a dividend. But it is worth it, especially if you are a lover of solitude and the wild, because this is a land of silence and isolation. Until that silence is split by the piercing peal of a buzzard or a skylark's soaring song.
There is room to breathe here and the feeling of seclusion and space is accentuated by towering cloudscapes and far horizons. As always with nature, there is a flip side - wind, the other dynamic force. In moor and glen shelter is harder to find. But it is there, often along streams and burns loud with water, where dragonflies dart and dippers flit.
Moorland's booming skies can bring drama to an image on the edge of changing weather, and vistas rarely come bigger. But for me the beauty is mainly in the detail and the challenge of crafting a rewarding image from one of landscape photography's lower-rung locations.