It’s not every day you get the opportunity to hike in the hills at 4am. So when the chance to photograph some climbers from the Tollymore Mountain Centre came up, it seemed like the perfect time to grab some shots that would hopefully capture the sense of adventure that is to be found in the Mournes.
These northern mountains are stunning and it is a real sin that I have not been a more frequent visitor to them. The vistas are breathtaking and the scenery is some of the best and wildest in Ireland. For our trip, we decided to head to Lower Cove, a popular climbing location about an hour’s hike along the Annalong Valley. The cliffs offer some of the steepest climbs in the Mournes.
Despite the early start,much to my frustration, the weather was not that kind to us.
As picture 1 shows, light levels where low and the sky was of the grey flat type that give a creative headache to any photographer. However all was not lost.
The Mournes were a riot of colour with purple heather blazing across the hillsides. This infusion of colour combined with some good composition would be key to capturing some successful images.
Getting a composition that utilised the background colours while avoiding the grey skies meant that I had to get higher than the climber for picture 2. Considering my lack of fitness and a heavy camera bag, getting to a high vantage point was easier said than done.However, this lofty vantage point gave me the opportunity to experiment with different compositions, which would create a sense of scale while utilising the background elements. An aperture of F8 was chosen to slightly blur the background while keeping the climber in sharp focus.
The result is an image that works both as a landscape and as type of adventure portrait. The background hues of green and purple combine well with the climber’s clothing to create a vibrant image.
On arrival the previous evening at Tollymore, my ears where immediately drawn to tales of a cave situated on Lower Cove. You don’t need to be a genius to work out that a guy abseiling on a rope like some kind of Spiderman over a cave has plenty of photographic opportunities.
So the next morning and with our climbers on top, I clambered in to the dark damp cavern and waited for the Mournes very own superhero to appear!
From a photographic point of view the biggest challenge for this image would be exposure. If I exposed for the dark tones too much, the light tones would become blown out. The opposite would be true if I was to expose for highlights.
To overcome this, I took a meter reading from the grass at the entrance to the cave and used this as the basis for my exposure.
A 17-40mm wide-angle lens set at 17mm allowed me to capture the entire opening of the cave and the surrounding landscape. An aperture of F9 and a shutter speed of 1/15th of a second was enough to retain some detail in the shadows and to stop the highlights from becoming blown out.
The resulting image perfectly captures both the spirit of adventure and the beauty of the Mournes.
For those of you interested in improving your mountaineering or other outdoor skills, the Tollymore Mountain Centre runs a number of courses throughout the year, including a number of winter mountaineering courses in The Cairngorms. The centre is located at the base of the Mourne Mountains on the road between Hilltown and Newcastle.
For more details, visit www.tollymore.com or e-mail: admin@tollymore.com. If you want to know more about photography on the other hand, drop me a line at e-mail: info@photoimagery.net.
