Firm foundations in Swaledale

A life entwined Swaledale. I was amazed to see that the content of this barn was just secured with a piece of twine. The meadow grasses to the right would soon be cut and stored in the barn

Firm foundations in Swaledale – a photographic journey begins



Just the very name of Swaledale makes me think of peace and tranquillity – a dale filled with quaint villages, peace with beautiful scenery, so when professional wildlife and landscape photographer Paul Miguel offered a full day workshop working in the dale moving between different locations, I jumped at the chance.


The day began with an early start with 2.5hrs drive to get to our rendezvous at Muker deep in the dale. The clearer skies I had left behind in Leeds soon turned to grey and unpredictable in Swaledale. Such summer storms often clear to reveal beautiful sharp light and although the rain did cease on several occasions throughout the day, the clouds did not clear sufficiently to produce ‘good light’ for dramatic landscape views.


We struggled on but after our frustrating start we headed indoors to assess the mornings work and Paul wisely took all participants through camera functions and some technicalities (which we all needed) whist waiting the showers to cease. The ‘back to basics’ lesson was just what I needed – after a 28 year gap it was time to shake the rust off!


With brighter weather on its way, we headed off to Gunnerside Gill and the famous view right down the valley before making our way to the waterfalls near Keld. With the whole of upper Swaledale and the valley beyond stretching before us and the famous Swaledale barns acting like stepping stones through the scene, the view was indeed spectacular. Having carefully chosen our compositions, we quickly began to work putting into practice what we had been taught that morning, especially as another rain storm looked like it was heading our way.


Gunnerside barns Swaledale. the rain had its compensations the greens in thevalley were truely dazeling and illuminous.
The approaching rains brought with it some interesting dark and light shadows across the valley giving the scene some real interest. At last, a chance for some dramatic sun filled photographs! I worked quickly and confidently capitalising on the expert tuition given by Paul in the morning which was liberating.


A quick pack up of the gear and with the rain pounding down on our vehicles we drove on towards the waterfalls to work on compositions with slow shutter speeds.


Cascading waters of Kidson Force Swaledale
As we approached our final chosen location – the waterfall of Kidson Force, the power of the water was fantastic!
After some further explanations from Paul with instructions as to why and how to create a wide range of effects for moving water.


This was my first true grounding with outdoor landscape photography with plenty of lessons learned on the day – in particular, be flexible and be prepared to adapt and work at it – valuable lessons for the future which indeed I would put into practice much later on my own.


It was great to be working alongside Paul on the day and his easy going nature and professional approach most certainly put me at my ease when tackling some tricky situations. There would be many more workshops like this to come – I was convinced of it. The first foundations firmly laid!