October 2026 we spent the day on Exmoor with the Somerset group of the Trail Riders Fellowship (TRF) for their forest ride day. The TRF is a group of trail riders who ride legal green lanes and byways on motorbikes, and look after them too. This wasn’t a paid job. We went to sharpen our skills, get some fresh air and come away with good footage and photos we can use across the business.
Exmoor is a great place to test yourself. Within a few miles you go from open moorland to deep, wooded valleys, and the light changes every time you turn a corner. Under the trees it can be dark and patchy, then a rider comes out into bright sunshine and the exposure needs to change straight away. We spent a lot of the day adjusting settings on the move and reading the light ahead of the riders, so we were ready before they reached us.
Capturing moving targets was the other big challenge. Trail bikes don’t slow down for the camera, and the lanes are rough and unpredictable. We picked our spots carefully, on bends, climbs and water crossings, where we knew the riders would be doing something worth capturing. We used fast shutter speeds to freeze the mud and spray, and slower ones with panning to give a sense of speed. For video, we mixed fixed shots with tracking shots to show the riders moving through the landscape.
The scenery did a lot of the work for us. With the moor, the woodland and the valleys as a backdrop, we framed the riders as part of the landscape rather than just filling the frame with bikes. Wide shots showed how remote some of these lanes are, and closer shots picked out the detail of the riders and their bikes.
Days like this are important to us. Working outside our usual shoots keeps us sharp, and the skills carry straight over into our client work, whether that’s events, sport or anything fast-moving in tricky light. We also came home with content we can use across our social media and website.
Thank you to the Somerset TRF for having us along.
If you’re planning an event in Somerset, Devon or the South West and want photography and filming that can keep up, get in touch. We’d love to hear about it.
