Onegav

This morning I went for a wander down the Weaver again, but this time in the opposite direction, up river, where I have not been for a look before. The air was heavy with fog, and the ground was water logged from the rain, it made for a really atmospheric scene.

The fog can be really difficult to capture at times, sometimes it just totally obscures the scene, and sometimes you just don’t capture enough of it. Today I used my polarising filter to cut through some of the glare on the fog and mist, and used my legs to position myself at a distance that the fog was evident, but not all consuming.

The track took me a little way off the river as I went futher down, and I lost sight of the water but I could still hear rowers, so I knew I wasn’t far away. I spotted these three trees that I really liked, the two either side in full autumn colours, and the one in the middle totally devoid of leaves. I was pleased with this image, pleased to have captured it mainly; because capturing it in the morning mist, with autumn colours, and the stage they are at in shedding their leaves all meant that it was only possible at that very moment, at that time of year, at that time of day and in those weather conditions.

I think its a really interesting image, I captured it with 55mm focal length – f/8 – 1/60th second shutter – ISO100 – polarising filter.

Just after these trees, I stopped on the right as I’d joined back up with the river, and there were some nice views over to the hills across the water. The rowers were still going up and down too, and so I thought it would be nice to incude one in a composition.

A this spot, another walker came past and stopped to say hello. Turns out he was into photography too. He normally rows in the sunday morning, but today he’d decided to walk, to get closer to nature. He normally photographs birds and wildlife, using his Nikon camera. We chatted for a little while about the intricacies of capturing the fog and mist, then we wished each other well and he went on his way.

I framed up the rower with a solitary tree, and a background stretching away into nothing as the fog consumed the layers of hills.

With that, I was sure I had been out too long by now, and so I packed away and headed back home.

Learnings – I experimented with varying levels of polarisation today, to get the “fog level” I wanted in the images, though I have to admit I do regret not taking the filter off completely too, to compare the results.

Still, it was a really enjoyable morning walk, and I got some unusual and interesting images, from what is a new location for me. I could tell the trail continued up river too, so there may well be more to explore down there.

I spent quite a long time setting up the composition for todays main photograph, and whilst it doesn’t exactly fit any of the composition “rules”, I’m really pleased with how it came out. I like the shapes, the way it dissolves into the fog, the leaves that pin the mid ground and the leading lines taking you in, down the path and the river. I’m pleased with it.