Ladybower Reservoir is probably the most photographed subject in Derbyshire's Peak District. At first glance, Ladybower is nothing special to look at; it's just a large expanse of water surrounded by green hills. But digging a little deeper with a camera though and I can start to see why so many people visit!
Ladybower was built between 1935 and 1943 to supplement two other reservoirs nearby in supplying the water needs of the East Midlands. It took until 1945 to fill it! At one end of the reservoir are two giant "plugholes" I say plugholes because that is literally what they are!
Ladybower Star Trails
Not believing my luck yet again, I visited Ladybower with the intention of shooting Polaris (aka The North Star) over one of the pump houses on the dam wall. It was a moonlit night and the sky was quite bright. It was however very easy to see Polaris so I lined everything up so the trails were centred in the image.
My own critique with this shot is that the stone wall I was shooting from behind was so high I couldn't get enough of the pump house in the image.
This is 180 images of 20 second exposures shot at f2.8 with ISO640. The dynamic range on the Sony A7iii is still impressing me every time!
The Giant Plughole
Moonlit skies over Derbyshire and the plughole on Ladybower Reservoir. I've driven past this place literally thousands of times but never bothered to shoot it.
After heavy rain or snow, the plugholes overflow making for a mesmerising spectacle. Literally thousands of people turn up to photograph it in daylight hours clogging the local village with parked cars giving the traffic wardens a field day issuing tickets! And on Zuckerbook, all I see is endless shots of the plughole with people acting like they were the first to discover it!
I chose to visit after dark when all the tourists were gone so I can have the place all to myself!
There's two plugholes, one at either side of the dam wall. Each is approx 30mtrs in diameter and I understand there's about a 60 mtrs drop down in to the depths of a large tunnel system where the water flows further down in to the Derwent Valley.
This was shot with a full frame 12mm fisheye lens under a moonlit sky:
The View from the Other Side
Always trying to be different, this is a view I hadn't seen photographed that often. I shot a quick 7 shot panorama over the other side facing away from the reservoir. This was shot in complete darkness with light cast by the moon.
Bilateral Plughole Dimension Jumper!
From a fun evening with @fadetoblack in the dark on Ladybower Reservoir. Here I've used a camera rotation tool then tripod swapping to Tim jumping with a flashgun in hand. Nailed it first time which was just as well as my evening was cut short (!) due to circumstances beyond my control...
All shot in one photographic exposure, this is not a Photoshop creation.
The Plughole Star Trail Shot
It's not easy shooting star trails with clouds which keep rolling in and on this evening, we had quite a bit of light pollution. With clear weather forecast I couldn't resist having a go at star trails again but on somewhere around shot "57" the clouds rolled in. I lit the plughole itself with my LED Lenser X21r2 flashlight "beast" with it's focussed beam which really helped to avoid spilling light in areas where it wasn't needed.
About me:
I usually specialise in shooting lightpainting images but occasionally dabble in urbex and artistic model photography. I'm always on the lookout for someone to collaborate with; please don't hesitate to get in touch if you'd like to create art.
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Those plugholes are really fascinating. Think there are none like that around here.
The roar from the water in full flow is amazing and scary at the same time!
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Thanks, it's somewhere I keep returning to that's for sure!
man you got amazing photography skills.
Thanks, it's my obsession :-)
welcome mate.
Would love to shoot these plugholes looong.
Great stuff MAN!
Cheers mate, in the summer after a dry spell, it's possible to get in to the circular 3 mtr diameter tunnel on the outflow from these plugholes. I've never felt like a stunt man enough to get down there but Tim has...
Tidy set of these awesome spectacles. Great stuff.
Cheers pal, I realised these were all shot within a 100 ft radius....
Another great set of shots mate, did you know one of the plugholes was in one of the Mission Impossible films (the one where he had to go underwater to change a chip on a computer or somthing), anyhow, it's all cgi around it, but you can see the plughole on the film.
Also, check out this video!
It's a great little film about what's down them and gives you a real sense of scale.