Waiting for the Rainbow – A Yorkshire Dales Photography Moment
6th March 2026
There’s a lot to be said for patience in landscape photography.
This photograph was taken on the limestone pavements at Winskill Stones in the Yorkshire Dales, looking out towards Pen-y-ghent. It was about 2pm and I was out teaching a photography workshop. The weather was… honestly, pretty grim. Heavy rain was blowing across the pavement and we were getting soaked.
But sometimes the best moments happen just after the worst weather.
I could see a break in the cloud behind us where sunlight was starting to push through, so I asked the group to stay put for ten minutes. Standing on exposed limestone in the cold rain wasn’t exactly appealing, but I had a feeling something might happen.
And it did.
Within minutes, sunlight broke through the storm clouds and a vivid rainbow appeared over the landscape, quickly forming into a full double rainbow arcing across the sky. Suddenly the wet limestone pavements, the twisted hawthorn tree, and the distant outline of Pen-y-ghent all came together in one of those rare moments where everything aligns.
Moments like that are what landscape photography is all about.
The Photograph
This image was taken using my Canon EOS R5 with a 24–70mm lens.
Camera settings
- 1/200 sec
- f/13
- 39mm
- ISO low for maximum detail
The smaller aperture helped keep everything sharp, from the textured limestone pavement in the foreground to the distant slopes of Pen-y-ghent in the background. The rainbow itself lasted only a few minutes, but long enough for people on the workshop to capture the moment.
Returning to Work After a Difficult Time
If you follow my photography you may have noticed things have been a little quiet recently.
Over the past couple of months I’ve been spending time on the Isle of Skye, looking after my mum and then dealing with everything that follows when someone close to you passes away. It’s been a very difficult time and, understandably, my photography business and website updates have taken a bit of a pause.
Grief has a strange way of slowing everything down.
But photography has always been a grounding thing for me. Being outside in wild landscapes, watching the weather move across hills and mountains, reminds me why I started doing this in the first place.
A Moment From Skye
While I’ve been on Skye, I’ve also spent a little time with the camera when I could. One of my favourite images from the past couple of months was taken just in my mums garden of three stags. It was a real moment!
I’ll share more about that photograph soon.
A Yorkshire Landscape Print
This photograph is now available as a Yorkshire landscape print, perfect for anyone who loves the dramatic weather and scenery of the Yorkshire Dales.
The limestone pavements at Winskill Stones are one of my favourite places to photograph. Combined with the iconic shape of Pen-y-ghent and a fleeting rainbow, it captures a moment that feels very much like Yorkshire: rugged, unpredictable, and beautiful when the light finally breaks through.
If you’re looking for Yorkshire wall art or a Yorkshire Dales photography print, this piece would make a striking addition to any home.
Photography Workshops in Yorkshire
Moments like the rainbow at Winskill Stones are exactly why I love teaching photography workshops in the Yorkshire Dales. Landscape photography often comes down to reading the weather, waiting for the right light, and sometimes simply staying in the rain a little longer than everyone else thinks is sensible.
If you’d like to learn how to capture scenes like this yourself, you can find details of my photography workshops and tuition on the website.
Thanks for following along and supporting my photography.
Paula
