What. A. Day. (or, well, evening)
I was so ridiculously excited for this shoot. Getting the chance to document a couple up in the peaks was one of my bucket list items and I was thrilled when the lovely Abbie & Joel agreed to Winnats Pass in the Peak District National Park for their pre wedding shoot location. If you've never been, I would highly recommend even just driving through it. My mouth literally dropped about 10 miles before reaching Winnats Pass as I drove through the beautiful Hope Valley. It's truly one of the most beautiful places in this country and I am once again so glad I got to capture these wonderful souls here.
We had originally planned to meet up around 2 in the afternoon but after a lot of obsessive researching I came to the conclusion that we'd never get a parking space at that time so we changed plans and opted for a sunset shoot and I am so glad we did! Quick shout out to the husband for making this possible and reassuring me that he would be capable of getting both our kids down to bed despite the youngest never having been put down by anyone but me (any breastfeeding mamas with me here?). If you're interested, he aced it.
I had heard Winnats Pass was one of the most beautiful locations in the UK to watch the sunrise from and considered (for all of 3 seconds) that perhaps we could make that work but as we were shooting in June I very quickly decided I wasn't up for dragging myself there for 4am.
I'm dedicated, but not that dedicated...
After a stressful drive through the city centre of Sheffield, I drove up Winnats Pass, turned right once at the top and parked up on the side of the road. There was plenty of space and, best bit, is free! There is the Mam Nick car park just a little further down the road if it gets busier though! (free for national trust members). From this car park you can walk to the top of Winnats Pass in about 10 minutes or you can do the Mam Tor circular walk if you're up for a wander!
Fun fact: the name Winnats actually comes from "Windy Gates" as it's one of the windier entrances into the nearby Castleton and the Hope Valley. I can assure you the name definitely fits. Just take one look at Abbie's hair and you'll understand the level we were dealing with. Both Abbie and Joel were wonderful sports about being battered about by the wind and didn't complain once when I made them run down a hill, run back up again and you guessed it, run back down again. If nothing else, you'll get a workout when you work with me. Hopefully a few pretty pictures too!
If you're worried about your upcoming time in front of a camera, I will just leave you with this quote from Abbie at the end of the shoot that will hopefully reassure you that one of our main jobs as photographers is to make you feel as comfortable as possible!
"This was far more fun than I thought it'd be" - Abbie
Comments