Mathematical Trees 3: My third interpretation from the same negative

I am now on my third iteration as an exercise of looking at a single negative and finding new ways to express the image. This one like the previous is based on some serendipity during the first image making effort. I found the underexposed images had a different quality.

My first take is to make a smaller image placed in the center of a large white area. Since the image is essentially surrounded by white then the whole scene might look like it is imbedded in a snowstorm with a greater feeling of isolation. 

Mistaken print I used as a departure from something new.
(f32 #5 8 seconds 15x9" on 12x16 Ilford MGFB Classic)

For the exposure I want to keep with the hard filter (#5) as I don't want a hint of gray tones in the sky or snow. Bringing the exposure down renders the silhouettes in a grayscale which is what gives the feeling of snow or fog. 

My earlier mistaken print indicates #5 at 8 seconds at f32 is about right. However, I want to reduce the image size and place it in a square frame. I think an image size of about 5 1/2-6 inches across in an 12x12 inch sheet of paper would seem about right. 

I ended up with a 6 1/2" wide image as that was as small  an image I could make on The Beast without raising the easel. A check with the light meter had me going from Ev6.1 to Ev 7.5 so a little over a stop difference. I didn't want to shorten the exposure too much so I added a stop of ND filter below the lens. 

Because I could fit 4 copies of the reduced image on the paper I opted to make one big test print with 4 images at 8, 4, 2.8, and 2 seconds. I should have instead put a half stop between the 8 and 4 second exposures. This is because the 8 and 4 second exposures were the only ones to show anything and the 4 second was incredibly faint. Never-the-less 8 seconds looked perfect. 

Next  I set up the composition. I adjusted the easel for an 11x11" image with 1/2" borders making at 12x12" overall. I centered the image left and right by measuring the edges of the copses to the edges of the easel. Top to bottom I centered the horizon line. In the full negative there are dark spots in the foreground where dirt and grass are not snow covered. These were distracting so I laid a piece of card over this foreground area to keep them from the image. 

I then made my 8 second exposure with the ND and #5 filter and I was done. Run down stairs, three minutes in the developer, stop, then fix for a minute, five minute wash, ten minutes in washaid then five more minutes wash. The on to the drying fixture.

The result is outstanding. It really achieves what I wanted. The image has a nice fragility to it. 

Final Print (12x12" on Ilford MGFB Classic)