Holme Fen: Early November

The last few days have been poor photography-wise. A lot of wind and some rain have been blowing through England the last few days. It is disheartening to see the leaves stripped from many of the trees around my house. It seems the fall season of color will be short and strange this year. 

I did get out this afternoon. I was feeling anxious (perhaps the upcoming American election) so thought a walk in the woods with a camera would help. I decided on Holme Fen as I had not been there for a week. 

As I drove down the sky was bright and nearly cloudless near my home. However by the time I arrived clouds thickened over Holme Fen. This was a shame as the justification of bringing a camera on a windy day was the hope of some bright sunlight to keep shutter speeds up. I brought the Mamiya 645 Pro and had 2 frames of the Ilford 3200 Pro film I was shooting at ISO 1600 as an experiment in faster black and white. I plan to write up this experience when I finish the roll and get it developed. I also had about half a roll of Kodak Ektar ISO 100 film. 

The first thing I noticed was that many of the silver birch were much yellower than a week ago. As I got into the woods it was also apparent the tops of many trees had their crown of leaves completely blown out. Those where this had not happened still  had a lot of green leaves. I am not sure if this is normal or due to a lack of a frost yet this fall. It was also apparent that virtually all the bracken was brown except for the sword ferns and in some areas the bracken seemed untouched. 

As we are heading further into winter the sun is low enough in the sky that even at 3:00pm it has a nice yellow warmth characteristic of UK winters. Not quite golden hour but more useful than mid afternoon sun in the littler latitudes. The sun will set before 5:00 PM today. 

I walked some familiar trails. The oak that I had captured before lying down had most of it leaves stripped. I found a few subjects but was often frustrated by the ephemeral changes to the sunlight as the clouds cam and went at all the wrong intervals. There are some graceful pines I liked as the sun lit half the trunk and emphasized the graceful lines as the bend to the sky. I used my 80mm f1.9 lens and the Ilford 3200 film for this one. Hopefully I framed it right. 

Leaning Pines: Holme Fen (80mm f1.9 tripod)

There is a silver birch here that I really like the form of. I hunted for a composition but couldn’t find a way of isolating it from the complex background. I settled for it framing a the green back-lit glow of some oak trees. I stopped down to f16 and took two exposures one at 1/2 second the other at 1/4 second. I had to wait quite a while for the wind to settled long enough. These were taken with the Ektar. Risky in this wind. 

I wandered for quite a while longer and realized I had to work near the edges of clearings to get the light when the clouds parted. I worked my way to an area that had been logged out. I tried my 150mm with and without the 2x teleconverter to get some well lit trees on the far edge of the clearing. Difficult to get the balance right. Again more waiting for the wind.

Image Review

The color and vertical elements are what attract here. The first image below has this small tree on the lower right quadrant that attracted my eye. It get lost however. The second image I like more as I had used the 2x teleconverter and this helped emphasize the vertical.

Edge of clearing 1

Edge of clearing 2

I then found a cropped section of leaves and tree trunks and leaf shadows which I hope will work well.

I ended up with one frame each of color an black and white. I chased the fading sun around the clearing looking for good back lit subjects. On three occasions I had what I liked bad had composed and focused but the light shifted as if began to dip below the tree tops. 

Frustrated I decided to head back. I finished the black and white on a long image into the trunks of 4 birches. (This image worked really well in this grainy film. The speed allowed me to capture this in the fading light. The yellow leaves show brightly in this black and white image. I like that the darker tree trunks frame and define the birch trees.)

Distant Birch: Holme Fen (150mm 2x Teleconverter f7 tripod)

I then saw the silver birch I mentioned earlier in this visit and saw how I might get it. We shall see when I get the film back. 

Update: I don't share these images as there was a strong glare and the images are not very nice.

The evening ended with my anxiety having been dissipated as I walked back. The weather says that in two day we have a high pressure system moving in. This means no wind, and possible frost and mist. I have higher hopes and now must decide where I should go.