Cheddar Gorge

I’m sure like a lot of people who grew up in the west country, their first memory of Cheddar Gorge is almost certainly a school field trip, vague memories of coach trips, rock formations and learning about cave aged cheddar, which give it an odd familiarity as an adult.

It’s a great location, and it’s nice and close to me in South Bristol, so it’s in my regular rotation of dog walking routes. It’s very photogenic, the tall cliffs, cut through by a narrow winding road. I can never resist taking photos, even though I know it’s already been done a million times, as a quick search on flickr will prove.

These photos are from December last year, there was a period in between Christmas and New Years with bright sun and clear blue skies, but also bitterly cold. I knew there would be some good opportunities during golden hour. But I couldn’t believe my luck when that setting sun turned gave way to a creeping fog which slowly worked it’s way up the gorge.

Bright sun and clear skies, this is how it looked when I first arrived.

I’m torn in these perfect conditions, I don’t know if I’ll ever visit again in the fog, so I don’t want to miss any potential shots, the fog makes everything look so mysterious and ethereal it’s hard not to get carried away. But on the other hand, I know each shutter press is another photo that needs to be sorted, edited or potentially deleted later on. Sometimes the idea of having hundreds of very similar images to wade through, just fills me with dread.

I wasn’t really sure what I was after, I spent a while at this spot with the jagged triangular shapes, as I really liked how they looked in the fog, which also helps to hide all the other distractions. Cheddar Gorge is a beauty spot, but it’s also built for tourists and visitors (myself included) which means necessities like car parking spaces throughout the gorge, but the painted lines don’t help the photo, a lot of the time on this shot was trying to find angles which minimise them.

I’ve tried to avoid any cars or people in the shots where possible, which was made easier on this cold winters day, but did mean there was sometimes a bit of waiting around, trying not to look too awkward as I wait for the scene to empty.