Peter Truman Photography

It's now early October in the garden and the weather has started to deteriorate once again, the nights drawing in, a chilly feel is in the air, leaves are reddening and dropping from the trees, and in-doors we've had to light the fire a couple of times already. The weather forecast is hinting at frost. Autumn is here. The borders are past their flowering best and seed heads are becoming the feature to look for.

A little research suggests that this wonderful Clematis cultivar was introduced way back in 1897 by Jean-Jacques Moser in his nursery in Versailles. I'm not sure where the "Nelly" came from, although I'm sure a little further diligence in my research will find out (anyone care to point me in the right direction?), but whatever the inspiration for the name he produced one of the most popular and attractive Clematis varieties. It's a one we have a couple of in the garden where they thrive to produce two shows of large flowers every year. It's a rewarding plant that produces lots of large pink flowers with a darker stripe down each sepal, grows fantastically over an arch or similar, and does better in partial shade otherwise the flowers fade to grey or white rather too quickly. That old maxim "feet in the shade, heads in the sun" should be partially ignored for the "Nelly Moser"; feet in the shade certainly, but head in partial shade is best.

My daughter Sophie regularly asks me to take her to Curbar Edge for a walk on summer evenings. It ticks all the boxes - it's easy to get to, the walks are as long or short as you like, the views great, lots to see and, if you're a child or still act and play like one, plenty to climb and scramble over.

Curbar Edge makes a spectacular backdrop to the village of Calver just along the A623 road from Baslow towards Buxton. The fields rise gently from the River Derwent and climb steeper and steeper until the exposed millstone grit emerges from the ground nearer the top at about 330m above sea level. A strip of exposed gritstone runs along Curbar Edge from the Curbar road and gap until it joins Froggatt Edge about a mile away to the west. This has created a paradise for climbers who are almost always to be found clambering up the many routes along the edge. To climbers Curbar Edge is known as the "Cloggy of the Peak" as there are so many difficult routes amongst the 280 or so recognised routes along its length.

The Peak District National Park doesn't recognise county boundaries and whilst the lion's share is within Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire also get a small share of the area. It's reach is one of the many factors that makes it popular with visitors and there are estimates that 50% of the UK population live within 50 miles of its borders. That's quite a large number of people, not all of whom have ever visited the area of course, but certainly helps to account for it being very busy on some summer weekends when the sun is shining. It is surrounded by large cities and towns: Derby, Nottingham, Sheffield, Doncaster, Leeds, Halifax, Rochdale, Manchester, Warrington, Stoke, Stafford, Birmingham, Leicester and many others are all within easy reach of the Peak District. It is the UK's first National Park, the highest peak is an accessible 631m above sea level, there's great walking, rock climbing, fishing, cycling, gliding and much more.

If all that sounds exciting, it is, and it makes it a vibrant and a popular place to visit. It is also one of the most beautiful parts of the English landscape with contrasts on a par with the rest of the United Kingdom. Sure, it doesn't have the high mountains of Scotland or the Lake District, but what it doesn't have in height it makes up for in the grandeur and beauty of its dales and valleys. It also has plenty of contrast from the high Dark Peak moorland areas on top of large expanses of millstone grit, some of which is exposed to reveal a strip of rocky edges that traverse the area from north west to east, to the rush of streams and rivers winding their way through the White Peak dales of limestone valleys and gorges.

As I have discussed in my musings about Southwold, it is difficult to create photographs that are unique in a place that is already so well photographed and recognised. To do something different it is necessary to be a bit more creative and let your mind wander a little further to try something new, at least new to me.

The garden was a mess and we were still pondering and waiting for building work (which didn't actually get done until a couple of years later, but that's another story). The weeds were doing well in the garden and the brambles in particular. A bunch of flowers from the local supermarket to cheer the place up and sat down one evening to stare at the form of the flowers using a simple table lamp to light them up. After picking each one from the vase and twiddling them about to look from every conceivable angle, I separated this one from the bunch and went to work.

Ten tips to improving your garden and plant photography, most of which applies to any form of photography of course. Most should also be fairly obvious, but its is just too easy to forget those:

1. Get out there

Go take some pictures! You can read all you want, but reading about photography will not make great pictures. You must get out there and take some pictures, and do it as often as conditions allow. You do not have to take as many pictures as possible, but take the time to think about the picture and practice your approach to turning the vision into a real picture. Experiment so you intuitively know what to do when confronted by the best view you have ever seen, the best bloom or the best planting combination. If you have your own garden practice. Get outside, irrespective of the season or weather and take some pictures. Move around, look from different angles and perspectives, take pictures!

2. Know your gear

Become intimate with every piece of gear you have. That means being able to operate and adjust it without looking at it. If you must, try with the lights off, but become one with the camera, lenses and any other accessories you find essential to your own photography. Never, ever, go to a shoot without trying the new piece of equipment and be able to operate it instinctively.