Dartmoor Summer - Foggintor Quarry

It has been 4 months since I last photographed a wedding, which still feels surreal to type on an August Saturday. This is usually peak-wedding season for me where I’m normally out photographing weddings every week, it has been 7 years since I last had a summer of free weekends. They are a bittersweet blend of novelty, appreciating the extra time I get to spend with my loved ones, and sadness for my couples suffering the crushing disappointment of having to postpone their wedding days as well as yearning for that high from smashing epic wedding photographs every week (and avoiding looking at my bank balance). I’ve had a couple of months away from my camera, after us having been joined at the hip at the start of lockdown, with the easing of some restrictions my concentrations have been on catching up with long-missed friends and family, helping couples reschedule their wedding dates and keeping things ticking along behind the scenes as well as preparing for an incredibly busy 2021, and late 2020 if Coronavirus behaves itself. So it was with great glee that I decided to take up my friend Lee’s invite to go on a spontaneous camping trip to the stunning Foggintor Quarry on Dartmoor in Devon. And when I say “spontaneous” I mean, I made the decision to join him at 6pm…cue panicked scrabbling around for a tent, rucksack, charged up camera batteries and a race against time to drive up to Dartmoor, hike out and pitch my tent before it got dark…but then that goddamn sunset made a speedy hike very difficult, I mean, look at it, the golden light that dreams are made of. Thankfully pitching my tent for the first time in the near-dark was not as disastrous as it could have been (even if I did have to go and re-tighten the guide-ropes at 2am due to the strong winds up on the moor). Lee and I pottered around the disused quarry playing around with a bit of light painting and astro-photography, before the chilly wind got a bit wearing and we downed tools to our respective tents. A sleepless night of howling winds and it was soon 5:15am and time to hunt the sunrise…funny how sitting out in such a beautiful wilderness seeing the glow of the waking sun creeping up over the horizon is enough to invigorate even the most tired of bodies, such is the simple pleasure of being immersed within nature. Sunrise witnessed, it was time to pack up tents and hike back in what was an already blazing morning sun. It was such a treat to be out shooting again, even if tinged with a little melancholy at how epic that golden light would and should have been for someone’s wedding day (once a wedding photographer, always a wedding photographer). However, onwards, we are now in August and it is time to look forward, this month i’m excited to be shooting a blessing, a “non-wedding” BBQ for a couple who have had to move their wedding to 2022 and also a photoshoot for Bridal Reloved Tavistock - a pre-owned wedding dress boutique run by one of my lovely brides who had to postpone her March wedding this year. Really looking forward to getting back into wedding-mode, in the meantime, enjoy these pictures of my mini-Devon camping trip.