Paragliders on the Long Mynd, Shropshire

Whilst I’m recovering from surgery I’ve finally got round to sorting through and editing a whole bunch of photos I took back in July 2024 on the Long Mynd in Shropshire.

I went up there just to have a bit of a walk and take some landscape photos, but stumbled upon a bunch of friendly paragliders who were kind enough to invite me into the take off area to grab some shots.

Afterwards they even offered me beer in their camper van which was also appreciated!

The challenge with the scenario here, photographically, was balancing the extreme backlight with the gliders, as well as depth of field. I opted to try and include as much of the background as possible without having to ramp up the ISO too high or lose shutter speed. Most of these are taken at F10 and 1/640 shutter speed, therefore.

I’ve uploaded way, way, way more photos than I usually would in a blog post so the subjects can grab what they want!

Up Above the Streets and the Houses, Rainbow Climbing High (over the Wrekin)

I took a much needed walk up to the top of the Wrekin in Shropshire just before Christmas. It was a very cold and wet day, with huge muddy puddles everywhere and very slippery under foot. The kind of conditions where you need to be careful how you hold yourself and mindful of your surroundings. The best kind of conditions! Luckily, the sun was also out from time to time, for some lovely lighting at the top and clear-ish views over the surrounding areas.

As seems to be a common theme lately, I almost took a tumble a couple of times whilst scrambling around on the icy rock face. As I’m sure many other photographers can relate to, my immediate priority whilst slipping was to hold my camera out of danger, ignoring the potential breaks and bruises awaiting me on impact. Luckily I was fine and some well chosen swearwords seemed to aid my balance.

On the way back the light suddenly changed, covering everything in an orange glow and a lovely big rainbow could clearly be seen arching from one side of the Wrekin to the other. I could almost see the gold at the other end it was that close.

On the drive back, satisfied with a good walk and some nice photography opportunities I had to pull over for one final shot as the sun came down. This is (I think) part of the Long Mynd as viewed from the road by the Wrekin, looking very atmospheric in the cold winter light.

All photos of the Wrekin were taken in Shropshire by Luke Bennett.

Please visit the rest of my website, www.lukebennettphotos.com for much more content, including further landscape and nature photography from the UK and visit my Print Gallery to buy high quality prints of my UK landscapes.

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