House Of The Dragon?

Nikon Z7 28mm, f8, 160 Sec, ISO 64

Cornwall. A photographer’s paradise. Especially if you like seascapes. So why did I find myself 10 miles from the coast taking the image you see above? Well, it all started when I booked a holiday during the Easter weekend. Everywhere that I wanted to be, was crowded with day trippers. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to Cornwall and I’d always known how busy it can get but I was amazed by just how many people seemed to be at all the photography hotspots. Mental note to myself “next time, go out of season”.

So, I came away from the popular beaches and found myself at Roche Rock. The granite outcrop rises up and looks out towards Bodmin moor and clinging to it, is the 13th Century chapel dedicated to St Michael. Appearing to organically grow out of the rock itself, the building has been a place of worship, a hermitage and even used as a leper colony. It’s steeped in Cornish myth and legend with a fantastic atmosphere, if you are in the area I highly recommend a visit.

When I arrived, in early April, the gorse bushes were in full flower, a riot of vivid yellow. This seemed like the perfect foreground interest for my images. When I got closer, I realized that a far more compelling composition could be had by going to the base of the rocks and shooting up at a more extreme angle. This made the already otherworldly scene even more theatrical. To add to the drama the early morning blue skies were rapidly changing as dark clouds started to blow in along with the threat of some heavy showers.

The final piece of the puzzle? The crows.

I’d seen them flying around the peak as soon as we arrived. They continued to circle around for the entire time I was there. They’d settle on the ruin for a few minutes and then would take off again and do a couple of laps before returning. It felt like I’d walked into a film set. If ever there was a location that should have been used in Game of Thrones or maybe one of the Tolkien adaptations, this was it. All I had to do was wait for the dark sky to loom overhead and time the shot with crows in flight.

It was a blustery day, so I had to keep my shutter speed high, the gorse bushes were blowing about and the movement of the crows needed freezing in action. To accommodate this, I had to raise my ISO slightly from the native 64 to 100 or 200. Then, in post, I warmed the tone of the sky and rocks slights to really make the scene feel even more ominous.

House of the Dragon? Nope, but the crows certainly seem to like living there.