Landscape photography (of the conventional, natural, attractive type) is something I’ve never got into. Done properly it can be very rewarding and wonderful to look at, however, the photography magazines are full of Cornish / Waite / Prior pastiches, or what I call 10-20 coastal landscapes, i.e. something prominent in the foreground, colourful background, maybe a sunrise / sunset, possibly a long exposure to freeze the water, as taken on a Sigma 10-20. All very nice, all very predictable. But that’s the good stuff – done badly, it’s just snapshots from the side of the road, or when out hiking. And I once went to a camera club talk by a very respected photographer on the lecture circuit who spent the first half of the talk showing pictures of Larches. Yawn. I don’t know if the second half was any more interesting as I went home through utter boredom.

So, yes, I have a love / hate relationship with ‘conventional’ landscape photography. Suffice to say, I don’t tend to do much of it, except when something catches my eye, such as an irresistible composition or the light is just right. Unfortunately, these photos of Saddleworth Moor don’t have much compositional merit, as they were taken from the side of the road (yes, I’m a hypocrite……), but I’d never been above the clouds before without actually leaving the ground. And the effect of the light hitting the clouds was something to behold, although it was definitely one of those ‘had to be there moments’ as the camera doesn’t really capture the effect. So I call this an accidental landscape, as it was unplanned (on the way back from exploring an old mill in Slaithwaite), and shows a complete lack of composition, but I suppose that’s to be expected through lack of practice at this kind of thing!!