As with most Landscape photographers I’m aware that the golden hour, during and after sunset and sunrise can deliver beautiful light on the Landscape and present the photographer with great opportunities for capturing the beauty of the scene with the bonus of amazing light. Or at least that’s the theory, it doesn’t always happen, but you have to be there to be in with a chance.

I’ve long had a list of locations I want to capture at various times of the day and in various seasons. Often my outings in the Lake District are location-scouting missions, looking out for compositions and scenes when you have time on your side during the day. Knowing I can return to the exact spot in time for the Golden hour is a major part of the pre photo shoot planning for me.

One such location on my list for a long while is Tewet Tarn in the Northern Lake District. Tewet Tarn is a fairly easy location to get to and offers a great vista towards the giants of Blencathra and Skiddaw.

I’d pre visualised the type of shot I wanted to capture and it depended on one thing, no wind so the water of the tarn was perfectly still. Approaching the Tarn it was obvious today wasn’t going to be the day, however I’d been up since 5am so might as well make the most of it.

The Tarn is surrounded by boggy ground and getting close to the waters edge would have been very tricky without decent wellies I’d imagine.

I setup at various locations around the Tarn and took various shots. As the sun rose and the cloud shifted from Blencathra I moved on satisfied that I made the best of the situation, one for another day……

On the walk back you get a fantastic viewpoint over Blencathra and the valley below, as the sun was rising the light was getting better and better. This view I hadn’t planned for and took advantage of the light as quickly as I could, as it wouldn’t stay like this for long. Not a total waste of time then.

From here I paid a visit to Castlerigg Stone Circle only 5 minutes away, again I was the only person around which was a real treat, usually when I visit there are at least 20-30 other visitors. As the sun rose the light cast long shadows behind the stones of the ancient circle and the morning locals.

From here I moved onto another location on my list. Latrigg. A Fairly minor climb on decent paths are made pretty straight forward thanks to the elevated car park. The view over Keswick from here is wonderful. Maybe I should have been here as the sun rose, either way it’s a fine view over Keswick and Derwentwater and around the Bassenthwaite Lake. Catbells clearly visible over Derwentwater.

I continued along the path and back to the car park where I headed back to Kendal.