We recently did a circular walk that takes in parts of other walks we’ve done previously, but never all together. It sets out from Kirknewton, takes you almost to Hethpool, and then brings you back via the Hethpool Linn waterfall, Yeavering Bell and St Gregory’s mount.

The starting point in Kirknewton is the Village Hall, on what3words this is roughly ///unfocused.meanings.giggles

Rather than talk through the route like a guide, the walk can be found on the Northumberland National Park website (as so many of the walks we do are) at the below link:

https://www.northumberlandnationalpark.org.uk/walk/hethpool-linn-and-yeavering-bell-walk/

The first trio of images are from around Kirknewton. With the barn, I was drawn to the tones in the shadows in the hay bales. I did take a tighter shot on this, but I preferred the wider composition with the wall in the foreground and the hills off in the distance. I don’t know why I preferred this image, I don’t think it was any better, maybe including more of the scene just tells a better story?

The next image, of the church, was defined in it’s composition by a tree I wanted to exclude. I had to get close and wide, but that still meant losing part of the building, the image was taken on my 16mm and I don’t have anything wider than that. I still think it works though. I like the colours, and the path leads nicely to the door. I would have preferred to get it lined up as a diagonal from the corner, but didn’t want to risk stepping on graves if I left the path (out of respect, not fear of zombies, just to clarify).

The third was taken more of a snapshot as we headed on our way. I liked it more that I thought I would. It shows the starting point, but also the largest hill on walking route looming over it (although maybe shot too wide to give that real looming effect to be fair).

The next shot is another from looking back. As you leave Kirknewton you follow the road until you cross the bridge in the image, and then turn off towards Hethpool. I like how the river cuts into that lower right portion of the frame, feeling a little unbalanced even though the bridge remains centred. The cairn stood proud on the hill above is then sat on a point from the thirds intersections. Mixing compositional tools probably shouldn’t work, but I still like it.

I mentioned that I wouldn’t do this as a turn by turn guide of the walk, and this is part of the reason why. I have jumped forward and skipped the waterfall, probably the highlight of the route for a lot of people. I have included some of it in my usual bottom of the page gallery. I think you get a glimpse of it from a more unusual perspective on this route, from the other side of the College Burn, as well as crossing the river to the rocks that you can descend to get to the waterfalls level, however without a tripod with me I don’t think I’ve done it justice.

I will normally edit in colour in the first instance. The tree here was one of several along the road that had a similar, weathered look. I couldn’t quite get them how I wanted them in camera (I often struggle with trees as subjects if they aren’t in a clean minimal environment). I don’t think the colour works, but I think it makes for nice moody black and white. If a better composition can be found I think they would make a good subject for a black and white long exposure of the clouds behind.

With the house below I wrote this frame off and took several more heading up the hillside. I was drawn more to this than those in post. You see less of the house from this angle, but I liked the road and dry stone wall more as a diagonal, as mentioned earlier with the path, and that was lost a little as you got higher.

We got our timing slightly wrong for the hike. We didn’t intend for golden hour or sunset shots or anything at the start of the day. It felt too overcast for it. But as we ascended the slopes of Yeavering Bell, as we got about halfway up the sun started to burst out from behind the clouds, dappling the surrounding hills in a golden light. There are lots more of the sunset images in the gallery at the bottom of the page.

I like the hiker in the bottom left of the first shot below, but my favourite of the trio is the third one. I like the light the most in that one, and I think that pairs well with the layering of the hills.

I must have taken about 20 shots of this barn as we descended from Yeavering Bell. I think I ended up with a bit of ‘paralysis by analysis’ in post and had too much to choose from. By this point it was blue hour, and I had my ISO cranked. I chose this image because I liked that it had not just the barn, but also the sheep in the foreground and the cairn off in the distance. I like how the bushes snake through the scene, past the sheep towards the barn and then off towards the hill behind. I like how the path also leads towards the barn, emphasising, along with the bushes that this is where I want the attention.

This was one of the last images I took on the walk. It’s a house that I have photographed before, there isn’t a story or a view on why it was selected from a bunch of shots due to composition. Sometimes I just like photos or pretty rural buildings…

There is a further selection of images below in a gallery format from our walk from Kirknewton.

If you would like to see more of my landscape work, moving forward most of the images will be here in blog format, but I will notify of new entries on my Instagram page for landscapes - @photog.righ

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