Harboro Rocks in the Derbyshire Peak District is one of those locations where I wonder why in the heck I've never visited. I had no idea this place even existed until a chance glance when scouting the area in Google Maps for new locations. Once spotted, I absolutely had to visit and last night the weather forecast was finally looking good!
Harboro Rocks is a natural limestock outcrop in the middle of the Peak District. A quick search on the interweb reveals the pillars in the following images I understand was the Golconda lead mine. The mine dates back to the 1700s and the mine shaft is over 100 metres deep. The mine's tunnels enter natural caverns such as the Great Shack. After closing in 1913, the mine was reopened in 1915 to mine baryte until 1953.
All that's left on the site is a few abandoned structures including four 4 metre high pillars, perfect for a photographer who likes to shoot at night!
Harboro Rocks Rocks!
This was the last shot of the evening but probably the best one. I also have a habit of getting home in the middle of the night having just shot a star trail sequence and not being able to resist processing the stack until the early hours. This leads to a sleep deprived zombie who should have known better at his advanced years!
Sans lighting
Sometimes with night landscape photography, simple is best. Here I decided to process this 90 shot star trail sequence without the red lighting inside.
The Warm Up Shot
I've come to the conclusion when out with a camera, I need to "warm up." I probably made the mistake of arriving at this place in the dark without scoping the site for points of view to shoot. This was a simple test shot to get my eye in and check exposure times. I promised myself to visit in daylight to do the site some justice!
Flip Faffery
The skies around Harboro Rocks were slightly light polluted from a nearby factory. Here I rotated the camera on it's lens axis and used the light from the factory to light up the pillars over 30 seconds. I quite like the textures in the sky from the rotated foreground.
The Obligatory Selfie Shot
As I arrived on site, the weather was looking somewhat misty. The forecast was for clear skies but mist wasn't on the agenda! So undeterred, I stuck around waiting for the mist to float away and made use of the haze to shoot this selfie.
About me:
I usually specialise in shooting lightpainting images but occasionally dabble in urbex, landscape and artistic model photography. I'm always on the lookout for someone to collaborate with; the social side of photography is always good!
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