Holme Fen Dec 2021: Fog for Two Days
Day 1
Well the forecast said fog and so I set the alarm. Mollie got up early with me and we gathered the Intrepid and jumped in the car for the drive down to Holme Fen. It was a little depressing driving to Holme Fen in the pre-dawn light. There were thin patches of fog on parts of the road and a thin haze generally but not what I would call proper fog. Still, I said to Mollie, a good day to be out and Holme Fen is her favorite woodland.
We arrived and parked up and I assembled the camera with 150mm lens and put it on the tripod. This is my usual routine of having it mostly setup and slung over my should as it makes it easy to decide to compose and make an image without unpacking everything. I packed a mish mash of different film including HP5+ B&W, Portra 160, Ektar, and Velvia 50 for color. Today would be about trying to shoot a little softer f-stop and concentrate on 'ma'.
We headed out and I have to say it was a lovely morning but in the ascending pre-dawn light I wasn't sure there would be much to get my attention. One thing I have learned after having done this woodland gig a couple of years now is that I have a real sense of what will work for me and what will not. It means I find myself pretty picky and sometimes I get frustrated at not making an image after lots of walking around. On the other hand I have fewer wasted images composition-wise.
In my opinion the greatest compositional challenge in woodland photography is reducing the visual complexity which becomes a problem of not being able to see the tree (or anything else) for the trees. Once you stare at a bunch images of dead sticks and wonder why you took that photo you begin to tease apart what works and doesn't.
I took a first image looking out on the birches. Not an especially notable image. This was before the fog changed and I was probably a little too desperate.
 |
| Portra 160 ASA 100 f32 8sec no GND 150mm |
The lack of color range gives this image a great feel. Not quite black and white it keeps one interested in the detail and structure.
I also made some black and white versions. I was determined to experiment with a softer look in the fog. To this end I shot some at f11. I also tried for over exposed for a high key look. The problem with the softer f-stop is there was too much foreground that ended up blurry which I don't like.
I metered these with an EI of 200 and developed in HC-110 dilution H at 70% of recommended time. I am so far liking this formula. Not that this scene was challenging but the scan histograms sit well away from the edges.
 |
| 'Normal Exposure' Ilford HP5+ f32 4 seconds |
 |
| Soft (f11) overexposed 1 stop (1/4 second) Ilford HP5+ |
About 10 minutes later the mood shifted,suddenly. A soft breath of cold wind as if from a Norse frost giant wafted through the trees and suddenly the space between the trees trees got that much more opaque and white. The Holme Fen magic had returned.
In these conditions you immediately understand why woodland photographers like fog so much. The opaque background solves the visual complexity problem. In such an obvious way, as scenes you would walk right past suddenly seem interesting. I inhaled the cold saturated air and felt that buzz of such an intense visual setting. The air so full of moisture it catches your breath and brings on a soft cough.
I was scouting an oak overhanging the path and as I approach as if on some cue, as there was no wind, leaves rained down like a benediction with a soft papery noise as they struck the branches and floated to the ground.
This tree I captured here in black and white and color.
 |
| Looming (Ilford HP5+ ISO 200 f16 1/8 second) |
Mollie and I proceeded down the path. I was aware I now needed to be parsimonious as there seemed to be candidate images everywhere. So we walked further heading to my favorite area to see what was there. Almost there, I could see where the top of a tree had toppled into it neighbors. It felt powerful to me and initially I felt a kind of unexplainable dread. There cradled in its neighbors this great forked body. I maneuvered as best I could and I think got a pretty decent impression of it.
 |
| Cradled Dead Fuji Velvia 50 f16 2/3 1 sec (1/3 stop overexposed) |
 |
| Cradled Dead Fuji Velvia 50 f16 2/3 1 sec (1/3 stop overexposed) |
Further on to the scots pines where I was reminded to examine what I think of as the Dr Seuss tree. For a couple of years this tree has puzzled me. It seemed a great subject with a great looping branch and yet I could never find the right position or composition to make it work for me. Usually the forest in the background would have obscured the shape or bushes are in front of it and so I have always declined to photograph it.
Today, however, the fog made it look possible. I decided to go behind it however and found the 210mm too tight and when I moved back it caught some neighboring branches in the edge of the view. This is the problem with woodland work for me is trying to keep the margins around a subject uncluttered. I switched to the 150mm lens that made me move closer, putting the distracting branches behind me.
I made a small study as I could not decide the best composition. My hope is the great scots pine behind it and some of the smaller trees on the margins make the image really work.
 |
| Dr Seuss Tree I Fuji Velvia 50 f16 2/3 1/2 second 150mm |
 |
| Dr Seuss Tree II Fuji Velvia 50 f16 2/3 1/2 second 150mm |
Mollie and I wandered on; she was really have a great time. Crashing through the broken bracken, tunneling under, hopping, chasing small birds through the undergrowth. From time to time as I was photographing, Mollie would scribble-scrabble up my leg. This means she wants to be picked up. Usually for a cuddle but also to look around from a Doug's-eye view.
We wandered into an area I hadn't seen in some time. This is a wide open area. My mind and the fog had been taking me to the Japanese concept of ma or empty space. This fog was perfect for it if I could get enough out in the open to just leave a white background. This clearing was spellbinding as the white increased when combined with the white bark of the birch which gave crystal-white aspect to the forest.
I found a single tree and made a tree portrait. All very high key. Next I went even more spare with some soft bracken mounds in the foreground and the faint outline of the birch forest in the background.
We shall see...
 |
| Tree Portrait Kodak Portra 160 |
This image is disappointing. It seems like a good idea poorly executed. I don't like the branch jutting in from the right and I was well aware of this at the time. I could not find a place where I could isolate the tree effectively, There were some branches on the left as well. Short of switching to a 90mm lens I could not exclude the branches and keep the entire tree in frame. In retrospect I should have taken the time. The image lacks some sharpness due to the more open aperture I was determined to shoot that day.
I made another 'ma' image hoping to just catch the form of the trees on the edge of the forest.
 |
| Forest Ma Kodak Ektar 100 210mm f32 1 sec |
The image has nice contrast of warm and cool tones. The forms of the humps and trees do nothing to make this a compelling composition.
I then determined that we should be heading back, being some distance from the car. I also worried that although Mollie was really enjoying herself she might be getting knackered. We made it across the clearing onto the trail and went back through my favorite area.
We came upon another photographer apparently setup with cameras to film for YouTube. I called Mollie away not wanting to interfere. The photographer turned around and she wanted to meet Mollie. Mollie was unsure I think because she had her backpack on and ran in loops getting closer and closer to her until she became brave enough to get in reach. We had met Lynne Luxon-Jones a YouTube photographer who was down from Yorkshire to catch the fog today. We had a nice chat about the conditions, cameras, etc. Having looked up her images I would recommend her as she has some extremely nice work. She mentioned she has a local friend Jamie Overland who photographs at Holme Fen as well who I had not heard about.
We parted company and Mollie and I made our way back to the car. We nearly made it, but I found a subject for my last sheet of film. Some yellow grasses and a well shaped tree behind. As I setup of the composition I found that a soft breeze was unsettling the grasses and that the consequence was what with the depth of field I was headed for multiple second exposures. So I opted for just the tree. This one on Ektar f32 1 second with the 210mm lens. Being close to the trail I suspect I am not the first to make this image.
 |
| Drooping Birch Kodak Ektar f32 1 second with the 210mm |
It was a great day and if the fog persists I may be out tomorrow as well. Mollie got home an went fast asleep for hours. She was exhausted but happy.
Day 2
After the first day I skipped the next day as the fog looked lighter plus I had other things to do. The following morning however Mollie got me up early as I had apparently reset her alarm clock. I said fine lets go as it look pretty good before I went to bed. In fact it looked quite good out the kitchen window though the sun wasn't up yet.
Mollie is getting better with the car. When she was younger I think she got car-sick and so didn't really want to get in the car. This morning she was happy to jump in. She is beginning to associate it with good times and can prop he self up on the console now and get a good view out the windscreen.
We drove out and stopped for some diesel then drove through the fog which thickened as we dropped down into the fens. It was so damp I had trouble keeping the windscreen clear. As we approached Holme Fen I had some trepidation that it might be crowded and parking might be difficult. However there was only one car when we arrived.
Again I setup the camera, then leashed up Mollie and we headed into the woods. Still very dark but looked like a decent morning. The ferns were soaked with 3 days of falling mist and were a wonderful deep brown color.
I turned into an area I had been in before and found a more intimate scene that is more my style. The reeds in the fens have a very delicate feel to them and next to this birch with a straggling limb made for an interesting composition. For me it 'felt' like Holme Fen the mix of birch and fen grasses. I took a black and white and a color version. For this composition I suppose I felt a bit guilty about not using the fog; but you got to shoot what you are presented. As a nod to the fog I decided I need to keep some of the context so I switched to portrait. It helps to bring in the forest behind the scene and hopefully some sense of the mood. Portrait also emphasizes the vertical trunk. I chose f22 for a smaller depth of field to hopefully keep the forest out of focus but still retain the detail in the foreground. The range of focus was about 4mm between the ground and the reeds.
It was still pretty dark and surprisingly even with the GND I would struggle to keep the shadow detail with the little bit of sky.
I loaded up some HP5+ black and white. HP5+ I expose at ISO 200 so this halved the shutter speed to 8 seconds which reciprocity pushed out to 22 seconds, at f22. The GND was on today to cut the sky through the background forest down 2 stops.
 |
| Tree and Reed HP5+ f22 8 sec exp 22 sec with reciprocity 150mm lens GND |
This image is encouraging; at least I can see that I got the exposure and focus right. I think the color will do better as the reeds are yellow and should separate out better. I had to do some post-processing in this one to burn the reed tops and add contrast there to get a more consistent tone from top to bottom. I think getting the forest into the background worked to give a context of being in the forest.
I decided to shoot Ektar for color as the dynamic range looked a stretch ( about 6 stops between the skyw/GND and the base of the tree) for chrome film. It metered out as 8 seconds at f22 but reciprocity put it at 30 seconds. There were small puffs of wind but I think I steered clear of them; though 30 seconds is long time to hold your breath.
 |
| Tree and Reed Ektar f22 15 sec exp 30 sec with reciprocity 150mm lens GND |
The color really works better I think. Not a lot of manipulation to get the elements separated owing to the colors. There was some movement however in the reed tops so it wouldn't suffer much enlargement.
 |
| Movement in reed top |
I decided to push to the north end of the reserve as I hadn't been out that way in a while and I could circle back to more familiar areas. Mollie was happy to lead the way sprinting down the trail and exploring side trails before sprinting past again. We met black and yellow labs on the way. Eventually we ended up coming back to my favorite area. There were some 'almost' places but I could not find the right combination of factors to make anything work.
My intention was to work my way back to the clearing I had been at a couple days before for more ‘ma’ work. As I was thinking of this again I realized the fog had thinned. This was why I was having trouble with some earlier compositions. The fog was lifting and now we were in the 'mood' stage of fog where it helps give an ethereal feel but does not simplify the scene by obscuring more distant objects.
We got to the clearing and sure enough you could see clear across it which means my ‘ma’ plans were on hold. We also noticed a pair of photographers in the clearing.
Probably time to make our way back to the car. I again noticed a set of alder trees with a particular lean to them which I had first noticed the other day while speaking to another photographer. Seeing this again I decided it must be a sign. I have recently learned of alders in Holme Fen and my non-scientific observation is they seem to flourish along old drainage ditches. These were not different and like many trees in Holme Fen have a difficult time remaining vertical in the soft peaty soil. I used a set of silver birch to anchor one end of the image and offset the greyness of the overall scene. My hope is the graceful sweep of trees will be apparent in the image.
Just off the trail I took the image on Fuji Astia, trying to capture the leaning trees. I shot with the 150mm lens at f32 with a 4 second shutter speed with GND. I wanted overall sharpness.
 |
| Leaning Trees Front Fuji Astia 150mm lens at f32 4 second |
I walked past the line of trees and took a look back and decided to shoot the same trees from the opposite side. This was the same exposure as the other as the lighting and had not changed so f32 at 4 seconds. This one I took on Ektachrome.
 |
| Leaning Trees Back Kodak Ektachrome 150mm lens at f32 4 second |
Of the two compositions I like the 'Back' version best though I think I missed the best by cropping the trees on the left leaning into the frame. This was shot on expired Ektachrome which I had good results on before but this was very blue/purple. (This was Ektachrome EPN 1421 which does not recommend exposure beyond 1 second.) The result is very desaturated. Still the forms are apparent. I will have to return to this subject at some point again.
Now it was time to head back to the car! My feet were soaked as was Mollie, she looked like she had been swimming. The mist had drenched the ferns and undergrowth. I was a little pre-occupied this morning with what I had learned the other day that Holme Fen was a kind of YouTube place (not exactly Antelope Canyon) but it did change the wood from ‘my place’ in my mind to now wondering how many images I had taken were ones others had also seen.
Halfway back and a small detour but still nothing until I saw a small tree growing from a stump. I stood in the middle of the bracken and framed up an image. I switched to the 210mm lens and moved even closer. As I got it set up I had Mollie scrabble up my leg and she wanted a cuddle and/or look around. I hoisted her up and we took a look around together, she was wet but really happy. I put her down, loaded some Ektachrome metered and found the same exposure. Mollie could hear a photographer on the nearby trail and was standing on her hind legs to see over the bracken to have a look at him, a kind of black meerkat.
 |
| Small Tree in Stump Kodak Ektachrome f32 4 seconds |
We made it back to the car. On the way another breath of wind from The Wash brought thick dense fog again. I had to be home no matter how tempting the improved conditions were.
We spoke with some dog walkers in the parking lay-by before I put Mollie in the car and I packed up camera and gear. We then drove home in the thickening fog.
These were two fun days out. I got some decent images and a couple of not so great ones. I am not convinced of the idea of shooting a softer aperture. I tend to like sharpness so perhaps I need to either be more precise in my focus or learn to embrace a different aesthetic. My Ektachrome I have to remember to expose ideally 1/10th of second or faster. (good to know!)
Comments