Adam Burton Photography

Judgement Day

Dartmoor National Park, Devon

Ref: BB047125
Gallery: Dartmoor

Without doubt the most atmospheric and dramatic evening that I have been fortunate to witness in my last few years of photographing Dartmoor.  After noticing the clouds beginning to break, I headed to Haytor for what I hoped would be a colourful sunset.  Boy was I in for a treat!  When I got there the moor beyond Haytor was blanketed in mist, which in itself was bizarre for a summer evening.  I crossed my fingers that this added bonus would hang around and headed into the mist, only for it to almost immediately blow through the moorland and disappear.  But I was not to be disappointed for long; as the sun descended I watched wave after wave of ice cold mist blow through the valley beneath Holwell Tor and up over Haytor.  Dartmoor is a landscape bursting with atmosphere at the best of times, but with golden evening sunshine being diffused by this mysterious mist, the moor resembled another world.  Eventually the sun popped behind the hills, its dying glows painting the sky above in the most intense colours.  Up until this moment I had been awestruck so much that I was struggling to photograph the incredible scenery, but this was my moment.  I quickly setup my camera, only to be met with a new challenge - rain.  I feared the rain would stop me from capturing the beautiful conditions, but luckily after a few minutes it stopped, and I hastily captured this scene just as the sky was fading.  An incredible evening at an incredible location.  This is what makes Dartmoor one of THE most spectacular locations in the UK.