Printing Recent Work: North Yorkshire, Monk's Wood, and Woodwalton Fen

Recently I have been shooting more photos in my woodlands exercise.  I started this project last November and it has been useful to help focus me on a local subject and explore some less obvious images. So much of landscape photography is of a few well know places I wanted to do something that was unique and personal. 

On another visit to North Yorkshire I found this magical little stream near the main road. It is richly populated with lush vegetation and lends itself to many small vignettes. Except for some rain and a lack of time I would have probably shot many more images. As it was I had to finish up this roll of HP5+ in Monk's Wood. The prints I made from North Yorkshire are discussed here. 

A recent post on self-critique had its genesis in the visit I took to Monk's Wood. I took a number of photos there which got me thinking more deliberately about how I find and take these woodland photos and what I have learned along the way. Later,  I also went to Woodwalton Fen again. This is a very different woodland with a mixture of meadows, waterways, ponds, and forest. I had been here a couple of times before and I have to warn others that in the summer the mosquitos are vicious and the tax for visiting is big itchy lumps for a few days. ( I am scratching them now!) I think it is worth it, though my wife does not; to be fair she responds much worse to mosquitos though.  The result was I finished a roll of HP5+ I started in Monk's Wood.

The last couple of days I took to printing the more promising results. 

I was blessed that on this roll I found 3 good woodland images and a good landscape image to print from the Monk's Wood and Woodwalton roll.

I have been recently breaking with my tradition of making big prints. The primary motivation for this evolution is not really trouble or economy but that many intimate landscapes lend themselves to a small format. In fact many of them are not far from actual size and that seems to increase elements of the aesthetic appeal. I have also been working more with a square format and also increasing the white space between the frame and photo. 

I also tend to make my own frames now. I work to a very stripped down form of the frame without glazing so they are very light weight and thin. They fit snuggly against the wall. The lack of glazing means the paper texture becomes more important and so I tend to print these exclusively on Ilford MG Art 300 paper which uses a Hahnemühle cotton rag paper. 

Prints

I start with an image of ash leaves from Monk's wood. The ash leaf for me is uniquely delicate and in summer fans out over the trail with a soft shadow. The challenge is finding ones low enough to capture at the right scale. This one does it for me. I made two prints. The first I sepia toned for 4 minutes in a 1:100 dilution. It shows a strong warmth to the tones. 

The second I sepia toned for 1 minute. I find a short sepia toning takes off some of the colder edge the normal developer gives without being obviously sepia toned. This was given slightly more exposure as well so the sky areas of the border are faintly defined. 

In both prints I opted to not print for dark blacks. I explored that area but think the more subtle use of grays enhances the delicacy of the image. 

Both were toned in selenium at 1:19 for 3 minutes. These are printed on 9 1/2 inch square paper with an image size of 5 1/2 inches square. 

Ash in Sky (sepia toned 4 minutes)

Ash in Sky (sepia toned 1 minute)

The next print I took at Woodwalton Fen. I was walking in an area I had not visited previously. The reeds are flush with new ripening seed heads. A birch sits silently in the background. I took two versions one at f32 for maximum depth of field and another at f4 for minimum. I selected the latter as the birch was not quite in focus in the former version. 

These are printed as 8x5 1/2 inch images on 12x9 1/2 inch paper. I made 3 versions as I tried to balance the exposure for good contrast while retaining some tone in the reed leaves. The best I treated with my minimal sepia tone the others I did at 8 minutes and almost 2 minutes. This latter I intended to tone at 2 minutes for minimal tone but the color changed faster than I anticipated so I pulled and washed it early. Not sure why this happened but perhaps it was warmer as I did this all outdoors to keep the sulfur smell out of the house. 

Reed and Birch (Sepia toned 1 minute)

Reed and Birch (Sepia toned 8 minutes)

Reed and Birch (Sepia toned about 2 minutes)

On my way over to Woodwalton Fen that morning I was driving through a lifting light morning fog. After the previous evening's thunderstorms the air was still thick and lots of scattered cloud. I was too focused on the task ahead to notice immediately how nice the sky was. I did finally turn around and took a number of photos one of which I show here. This was taken with my 80mm f1.9 lens while others were with my 150mm f4 lens. I like the layered look of the trees as well as the soft light in the sky.

Morning Sky over Wistow #1

Finally my favorite of the batch. I call this 'Sheltered', a small plant nestled in the crotch of this tree. The image was very easy to print with only a little burning required in the corners. I gave this print a short 1 minutes sepia tone again. 

Sheltered

 

Printing Notes

Sheltered

• 5.5 x 5.5" print on 9.5 x 9.5" paper
• MG Art 300
• 150W lamp
• 2x ND filters
• F16
• 00 filter 32 seconds
• 5 filter 45 seconds
• Burn corners (4) 00 filter 16 seconds
• Selenium tone 1+19 3 minutes
• Sepia tone 1+100 1 minute

Ash in Sky

• 5.5 x 5.5" print on 9.5 x 9.5" paper
• MG Art 300
• 150W lamp
• 2x ND filters
• F11
• 00 filter 16 seconds
• 5 filter 4 seconds
• Burn blank side (top) 00 filter 8 seconds
• Selenium tone 1+19 3 minutes
• Sepia tone 1+100 1 minute

Reed and Birch

• 8 x 5.5" print on 9.5 x 12" paper
• MG Art 300
• 150W lamp
• 2x ND filters
• F11
• 00 filter 22 seconds
• 5 filter 45 seconds
• Selenium tone 1+19 3 minutes
• Sepia tone 1+100 1 minute

Morning Sky over Wistow #1

• 11.5 x 7" print on 12 x 9.5" paper
• MG Art 300
• 150W lamp
• 2x ND filters
• F8
• 00 filter 16 seconds
• 5 filter 32 seconds
• Burn sky #5 45 seconds
• Burn sky right edge #00 11 seconds
• Selenium tone 1+19 3 minutes
• Sepia tone 1+100 1 minute