Shower Dodging

Dartmoor; National Park; Devon; photography

The old red roofed barn at Emsworthy, normally photographed surrounded by bluebells

“Thunder.”
“Excellent!”
The woman in the car parked next to me looked bemused at my reply. I downed my mug of tea and screwed the cup back onto my flask, started the car and whipped my seatbelt across and clunk-clicked. The bemused look turned to total confusion as I smiled politely and pulled away.

Sat in the car park on the east of Dartmoor I was contemplating my next location. The weather was decidedly iffy. Sunshine and showers were forecast: less of the sun, more of the showers. Perfect for long exposures to slow down water movement. Not what I was looking for though. Then God moved some of his furniture and that was just the signal I needed.

I headed towards the rumbling, hoping there was going to be some sun behind the slow moving shower and found myself hunkered down in an old red-roofed barn waiting for the rain to clear so I could start shooting without constantly wiping the droplets from my filters. After almost an hour I ventured out with my oversized golf umbrella tucked into the straps of my rucksack so I could use both hands and still keep my gear dry. It worked quite well, even if I looked a bit daft. I heard my first cuckoo of the year. Maybe it was trying to tell me something. Oh well, all in the name of art.

A few minutes later and I was on top of a little known tor, scanning for possible compositions while keeping an eye on the approaching shower hoping it would go north. It didn’t. After half an hour tucked under my umbrella and squat down behind the tor’s rocks, I decide to bale out and headed back to the car. I would return another day. Time for another cuppa before moving on.

By the time the sun headed off for it’s nightly trip to the other side of the planet I was on top of yet another tor with A. N. Other snapper just below me. The weather had cleared significantly. A gap had opened up where the sun should be as it dipped below the horizon. I waited for it to get low enough so I could shoot straight into it and the last of it’s golden light caught the edges of the rocks around me. One of my better shots I think. Time to head home. My flask has run dry anyway.