The Legend of the Cheesewring, Bodmin Moor

I went back to Minions a few days ago, to show some friends how beautiful the landscape is around Bodmin Moor.

I climbed up to the Cheesewring and tried to make the most of the dramatic lighting conditions... because the light was bright with a lot of cloud the light was very patchy - and didn't always light up the bits I wanted it to!

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The Cheesewring is a granite tor in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is situated on the eastern flank of Bodmin Moor.

The Cheeswring is a natural geological formation, a rock outcrop of granite slabs formed by weathering. It gets its name because the piled slabs look like a "cheesewring", a press-like device that was used to make cheese.

A local legend about this rock formation is the result of a contest between a man and a giant. When Christianity had just been introduced to the British Islands, the giants who lived at the top of the mountains were not happy about it. The Saints had invaded their land and were declaring their wells as sacred.

One of the larger giants, Uther, was given the task of ridding their land of the Saints. He confronted the frail St Tue, who proposed a rock throwing contest. If Uther won, the Saints would leave Cornwall. If St. Tue won, then the giants would convert to Christianity.

Uther took his turn first and easily threw a small rock to the top of nearby Stowe's Hill. St Tue prayed for assistance, and picking up a huge slab found it was very light. One after the other, they threw their rocks, stacking them up in perfect piles. When the score was 12 stones each, Uther threw a thirteenth stone, but it rolled down the hill. St Tue picked up this fallen stone, and as he lifted it, an angel appeared to carry it to the top of the pile of rocks. Seeing this, Uther conceded and most of the giants decided to follow Christianity after that.

Thanks Wikipedia

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Waves, Skies and Stones

I recently borrowed a Sigma 10-20mm wide angled lens for a week and decided to make the most of it by visiting a couple of my favourite places to see what I could take.

I went over to Gwithian Towans near Godrevy in Cornwall on my first outing and was blessed with the most beautiful sky. My first challenge was getting to grips with the lens, I wasn't used to things being so far away in the composition and I realised I had to step into the composition to get anything vaguely interesting. I was quite pleased with my results that day considering it was the first time I'd used it.

All of the photographs look a million times better larger, I promise.

The next time I took the lens out, I wasn't so lucky with the weather. Cold, damp and overcast, I wasn't sure if I was going to get anything at all! I headed up onto Bodmin Moor to another of my favourite places, Minions. Aside from the Cheesewring (which I didn't photograph that day as the light would have been terrible) there are a couple of stone circles called The Hurlers and numerous old abandoned Tin Mines.

I only took one strobe with me (I foolishly took one out to make room for the borrowed lens in addition to my other lenses - but since I only used the wide angle, I could have rearranged my camera bag if I'd have thought about it more) which presented some limitations due to the lack of natural light and me being a total novice in the world of off camera flash.

Still, I got the chance to have a go at balancing flash and natural light, so it's all part of the learning curve.

The Hurlers

Bodmin Moor : A Triptych

You can see Dartmoor in the background.

Visit my Flickr to see the large sizes and other photographs.