Photography BLOG

by james.paul

In April 2006, I'd been enjoying a day out in Malham, one of the many picturesque villages in the Yorkshire Dales. For anyone who doesn't know Malham, the village is surrounded by some of the England's finest limestone scenery. I'd made quite a few images in Malham but was finished a little earlier than planned so I thought I would drive around and see some more of the local sites. Whist exploring I saw a sign for Scalebar Force so I stopped the car and went to have a look. The waterfall captivated me from the first minute I saw it. It's quite a high waterfall around 40 feet and has 6 steps, which change the flow and direction of the water. It's in a small wooded ravine and getting down to the lower level involved a tricky scramble down a muddy bank.

Unfortunately, It was a very sunny day not really conducive to photographing a waterfall. The sun's reflections were bouncing off the water and the surrounding rocks making it almost impossible to get a successful image. I decided to take a few shots to try an establish a great composition that I could come back and capture on another day. Once I felt I'd I found that view I decided to head back home thinking about the image that one day I'd make.

In 2006, I used to share my weekends between the Yorkshire Dales and the North Yorkshire Moors. If I went to the dales on a saturday, I would be on the moors on Sunday. On this weekend I woke up early on the Sunday morning and headed to Goathland, a village more famously known as Aidensfield in the television programme Heartbeat. I parked up and got myself ready to go down to Mallyan Spout, a nice waterfall which flows over the rocks into West Beck. As I got ready I realised that there was no sign of my tripod in the car. It suddenly dawned on me that I'd left it at Scalebar Force. A landscape photographer without his tripod is almost like a footballer without his boots. Feeling rather stupid I got back in the car and drove the 120 miles or so back to Scalebar Force in the hope it was still there. Suprisingly, at the bottom of the waterfall, there was my tripod. It was a bit wet from the overnight rain but that didn't matter.

The conditions that day in the dales were extremely overcast and a little bit wet. Fortunately, the rain was just drizzling at the time and I just felt this was a great time to capture the image I had been rehearsing in my head. The overcast conditions ensured that light on the waterfall was even and there were no bright reflections on the water or rocks to contend with. They conditions also ensured that the shutter speed would be slow enough to slightly blur the water without requiring any filters. I composed the image just as I had planned the day and captured the image. There was a huge element of danger to this shot as I was stood on the middle of the beck almost "welly" deep in the water. With thousands of pounds worth of equipment hovering a few inches above the water there is a huge risk albeit an exciting one when you know that a slight slip and that could be the end. Sometimes it's worth the risk, I call it the 'he who dares' approach.

On reflection I like this image a lot. I didn't try to capture the entire waterfall as many others do but tried to focus in on a smaller but attractive part of the waterfall. It is easy to turn up and feel compelled to fit everything in the frame, I still do it but you don't need to. I like the flow of the water which is an essential element to capturing waterfall images but what I like more is the colours and texture to the rock. It really compliments the smooth flow of the water.

I guess there is a morale to this story somewhere about always looking after your equipment. If this is a rule then sometimes things don't turn out so bad if you break them!!

Scalebar Force, Settle, Ribblesdale, Yorkshire Dales
Aperture: F22, Shutter Speed 1 sec, Focal Length: 14mm