Mar 9, 20193 min read

Shoot 2 - Haytor, Dartmoor

Updated: Apr 26, 2019

Why Dartmoor?

I have grown up near the moors since I was quite young so it's always been somewhere I have visited. I visit it quite a lot as it's pretty much on my doorstep, however I did visit more when I was younger as I had more free time. Unlike London I can't remember every single memory when I have visited the moors but I can remember certain memories of different times I have gone.

The most recent memory of the moors was an emotional memory. My dad had a black Labrador who was getting more and more unwell so we were advised to let her go so we took her for her last walk on the moors before we had her put to sleep and we returned to spread some of her ashes.

I have had more positive memories on the moors as I used to go and play down by a river in a very small part of the moors and play on the rocks with my friends. We would take our little fishing nets and ball games and just play there for hours.

Where on Dartmoor did I want to shoot?

I really wanted to think about the places on the moors that I wanted to shoot because I wanted to think about where I have gone and really remember the memories. Haytor was the last area of the moors I visited with my family so I knew that was one area I wanted to visit as I've also probably visited Haytor the most. I also want to shoot at Dartmeet which is the little village on the moors which is where I used to spend quite a lot of my childhood with my friends. I wasn't really too sure what type of images I wanted to take before I got there because I wasn't sure if the stereotypical landscape wouldn't fit my intentions for the end of the project. At the moment I have only shot at Haytor but when the weather is nicer I plan to return to the moors but to Dartmeet. I have one image that I took when I was at college at Dartmeet which I am really happy with and aim to take pictures like this again very soon. I used a UV filter on my lens back then so when I go back to Dartmeet I will need to remember a UV filter.

Below I have attached the image I took at Dartmeet that I'm going to use as inspiration for my next shoot.

My contact sheet:

I took as many images as I thought I needed and stopped when I thought I had the images I needed. I tried different types of images. I had a thought to try and shoot images that showed a different view of the landscape so I took some images of the water draining down the moor. I also purposely took my camera out of focus in order to show that not all memories are remembered fully. I took some pictures out of my car window through my side mirror to show the view I was looking at behind me as well. I used both my 10-18mm and 18-55mm lens to capture the images.

I am having weekly crit sessions each week so have printed these images off and spoken through these images. Everyone seemed to agree that these images fitted in a lot better to my theme a lot better than my London shoot, and I would agree. Everyone liked the images that were blurred and the landscapes that didn't have any distractions in as it really showed how it was almost like it was another world that I had stepped into that had been abandoned and at the edge of civilisation. I feel that at least one of these images will feature in my final piece for this project. my favourite images from the shoot were actually the same as everyone said as the others were a little more bland in colour and looked a bit dull.

The crit for me was really helpful because I got some other artists to look at and some other ideas to think about for my project.

Some things that were mentioned in the crit: