We set off on a crisp winter morning after much reluctance to leave the bed’s warm embrace. Our departure was further delayed by winter’s frosty grasp imprisoning the car. Finally, we were on the road blasting northward aiming to make up for lost time. Slightly disheartened by the ever-increasing grey clouds looming ominously as we headed further North. Into the Peak District, Britain’s first national park, characterised by its upland geography and the variety between its Northern and Southern geology. The Peak District is split into the Dark Peak, primarily moorland with gritstone edges found in the North of the region, and the more southerly White Peak, a more densely populated area with a lighter coloured limestone geology from which it gets its name.

We ditched the car in Hathersage and set forth on foot with a general heading and a multitude of cameras and too many layers. Pavement gave way to mud paths which gave way to field and snow. Small incline giving way to steeper approaches past farmhouses through gates ever upwards. After cresting the farmland hill we saw the gritstone edge we had come here for, Stanage Edge. Snow crunched underfoot as we trudged onward to the base of the edge. The dark rock-face creates a dominant contrast to the bleached out sky and glistening snow. The burbles of grouse eking out from the scrubby heathland plants barely visible under the blanket of this white winter. After a couple of hours at the gritstone rock-face, we decided to pack up the medium format cameras that we were using to capture the rugged beauty of this land and head back down into the Hope Valley. I had the Mamiya RB67 Pro S, a fantastically tactile 6×7 camera that allows an easy switch between landscape and portrait orientation due to its rolling back. The grey sky and mist had started to burn off in this late day, showing glimpses of blue, as we headed back to Hathersage. We raced down the slopes back to the village aiming to make the most of this new-found lighting and clearer sky in a new location. Exploring the quaint village of Hathersage will have to be left for another day as we jumped in the car and started up the engine.

Stanage Edge is the largest of the gritstone edges in the Dark Peak. Stanage edge has become well known as an ideal location for rock climbing, with many sections having fantastical nicknames such as Crow chin, Mississippi Buttress, Robin Hood’s Cave and Black Hawk. Unfortunately, the edge is now suffering due to its reputation as a great rock climbing location. The bracken and heather once surrounding and clinging to the edge is now more sparse and worn down by erosion caused by walkers and climbers attracted to the site. The climbing has caused many of the edges more popular climbs to become polished and much smoother than it once was.

We were away, rocketing to our next location. The winding roads summon images of Canada and lands further afield than the hills of the Peak District in little ol’ England. Suddenly the winding tree-lined roads emerge to open water, Ladybower Reservoir, reflecting the now reddening sky. A quick set up and we were ready to capture the breathtaking sunset across this stunning vista. With the sunset and it’s red and gold rays clinging to the landscape around us we threw caution to the wind and just drove, no planning, no aim, no direction, just a curiosity that was duly rewarded. The sun’s last rays illuminating the valley in front of us in a magenta and orange hue bursting through the hedgerows and pine trees as it is spread on the hillsides and reflected off the slow meandering river making its way down the valley.

On the second day after starting with a proper full English breakfast, we set out to just explore the Peak District. We found ourselves at Winnats Pass, snaking us through the normally verdant peaks, we were transported into what seemed like Scandinavia in the middle of England. We passed through in the car but stopped at the other side and trekked back up through and onto the edge of the pass amongst the sheep to see the proud Mam Tor with one side in mist hiding from us.

The national parks bring in large amounts of tourism into the area. This can have positive effects on the area such as increasing the number of jobs for the local people and an increase in income in the local area. This increase in local economy helps local industry through demand for local food and facilities. The increase in money to the local economy aids in the maintenance of rural services such as bus routes, post offices and other services. However, the tourism of the national parks do not just bring benefit to the local area there are some negative impacts. These impacts include damage to the landscape from tourists’ interactions with it comprising of litter, vandalism, erosion and disturbance to livestock. The rural roads designed for rural traffic can become congested due to the influx of tourists. The local shops have either changed their prices as tourists will pay more or stock seasonal products more beneficial to the tourists than the locals. These shops and many of the newer developing hospitality industry has seasonal jobs which are low paid and with long hours.

National park status is generally a beneficial thing for many rural areas due to the limitations on development and land use, allowing more to be used in animal conservation and maintain areas of outstanding natural beauty, there is always an impact on the local communities that existed here before the park did.

Film photography vs digital photography

During the weekend we were using film cameras despite both owning Digital SLRs, film and digital photography allows the capture of different qualities in an image with both have advantages and disadvantages. Film has the highest resolution, higher than the best digital sensors so for producing large prints, film is currently superior. Film can also have a larger dynamic range capturing more details in highlights and shadows than digital, this is, therefore, more forgiving when the photograph has been overexposed or underexposed. Film photography is currently less expensive to start up as a high-end film camera will cost the same as a mid-range DSLR. However film photography is not all amazing and you shouldn’t throw away your brand new DSLR just yet, despite the initial start-up cost of film photography being lower, the ongoing cost of buying and processing film will quickly add up. There is also a reduction of creative control with the prints produced as the resulting print is based on the skill and preferences of the printmaker, this can be negated by having the facilities to produce your own prints or finding an excellent print developer, that you are able to work well to get the desired result. Scanners have allowed film photographs to be stored and edited on the computer using software like Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom, however, this comes at a cost, there is a loss in image quality even using the best home scanners. High-end professional film developer such as Bayeux in London, can produce incredibly large scans of your negatives at increased cost.

Digital photography removes the restrictions of having a few shots on a roll, with memory sticks and storage allowing you to shoot hundreds or thousands of photographs in a single shoot, put simply digital photography is more convenient. There is ease in transferral of photographs onto a computer for storage as well as using image manipulation software such as Photoshop. Most digital cameras can shoot in RAW format allowing many mistakes to be rectified in Photoshop. Another convenience provided by digital photography is the EXIF data such what lens is used, the aperture, shutter speed and such is all recorded within the photo. As well as the convenience side of digital photography it also offers an immediate gratification showing a preview of the photograph on the screen at the back of the camera, this is not possible with film photography.