The Sherman in The Peak
A landscape photography blog by Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire based landscape photographer Rob Thorley Photography.
I’ll be the first to admit that a banged up Sherman tank isn’t exactly the first thing you think of when thinking about landscape photography, but it can make for quite an interesting foreground subject.
This had actually been on my to-do list for a number of years. I first came across it whilst researching the location of an abandoned half track that someone had photographed in an undisclosed location in the Peak District. My research on where the half track was drew a blank, but whilst trawling the internet the Sherman came to light. Understanding the general area that the Sherman was located in, it was then just a case of a bit of zooming in on Google maps to pinpoint it’s location.
That was a couple of years ago though, and it wasn’t until I recently watched a YouTube video on this location, and subject that I was prompted to nip over and do it myself.
I checked the MOD website to ensure that the firing range wasn’t in use, and therefore accessible before heading out. Something I strongly suggest you do to avoid any disappointment if you’re thinking of just rocking up. Sure enough on arrival there were no red flags out, and the closest parking spot was free. Bonus!
It’s a short walk down a track that’s a little rutted, but absolutely fine underfoot.
The first thing you come to is a number of small buildings. I assume they’re used for infantry training, but I’m not 100% on that one. Then just slightly behind and to the left of them is the Sherman itself.
Buildings at Upper Hulme firing range.
To photograph the Sherman itself is a bit of a creative dilemma. This effectively boils down to . . . do you ignore the sign and hop over the wall, or don’t you. I’ll leave that creative choice to you. I just “did me”.
For this shoot I pretty much just used the 14-30mm and went wide, and low for the most part, trying to emphasise the Sherman in the landscape. I also managed to get a few time-lapse videos as the clouds were nicely aligned in their movement over the tank.
UPDATE: Further research has identified this “tank” as a Canadian Kangaroo armoured personnel carrier (APC). The APC was converted from the RAM tanks.
You can view more images from The Roaches, and my gallery of other Peak District locations.
