Holme Fen Late October

The clocks have changed. I got up too late and rushed to get out of the car before sunrise. A very clear sky and I don't need a headlamp this morning. I don't really have a plan except to take photos and explore some new areas along the south edge. The sun will be up very soon and I want to see if the light looks good going into the forest along there. A cormorant like a black arrow streaks across the azure sky. 

I walk along the ditch and see again the open field before the sparse forest. The birch look good, very white. I have often contemplated photographing this scene. Since I have nothing special in mind I think perhaps a 6x12 with the SINAR Zoom 120 film back. I setup, compose, and focus, drag out the film back and begin to load some Velvia 50 into it. Alas I forgot I put a fresh roll two days before. It should have been apparent had I bothered to check but I just opened it up and saw the film leader in the take-up roll. I decide to unload this roll and put in fresh film. I don't want to guess right now in the heat of error how much of the film was ruined. Not really worth it. I curse myself, reload the new film and take the photo. 

Image Review

I like the raucous range of color in this scene. The morning sun makes the leaves glow and  the normally white bark pick up this color in places. In the shadows the bark keeps a cool tone from the light of the sky. In the foreground is whole palette of color from white frost, through yellow, orange and green in the ferns. The image is sharp front to back. The 6x12 panorama lays all of it  for display. 

Birch forest from the road Velvia 50 6x12 150mm?

Why do I feel so bad having made a mistake like this? It has already ruined my mood for the morning. What should be a nice morning now suffers from my poor mood. I pack up and carry on. I am half in mind to just go home. The mood will pass and nothing is better for that than a day in the woods.  

I continue down the ditch then turn right and follow along the forest field boundary. In the clearing there is a thin layer of mist and the heavy dew is actually frost on some places. There is the light on the field makes nice shadows and I step over a ditch to see what the view looks like. I keep walking. The path turns right again back into the forest; I keep an eye out for subjects. The birch still don't show much color but are at least mottled with yellow and green leaves now; better than a month ago. 

I end up back at a familiar crossroads the sun shining down the path brings steam off frozen bracken. I start to setup for a photo but my mood is still off. I know I will regret it but my heart is not in it. I walk back to a familiar area but notice how an area has been cleared that I hadn't noticed before. I walk over there and under a big oak amongst the bracken I get out some coffee and a little food. Perhaps breakfast will rescue my mood and the day. I sit on a log and contemplate that the network of trails between the trees and believe this is where deer sit and wait out a rainy day. 

I roust myself and feeling fed and caffeinated I notice some walkers going by. They come from a direction I had not noticed before. I walk in that direction and notice a young foxglove plant. They are common in the clearings and when young I have thought their symmetrical splay of leaves might be a good subject. I collapse the tripod legs all the way down and aim my 150mm lens onto it. The breeze this morning will bedevil me. I load up Velvia 50 metered to ISO 40 which doesn't help with the wind. I take one exposure then another as I recall after the first I have to compensate for the bellows extension; about .8 stops according to my scale. So I open up another stop wait for the wind to die then snap another. It is always this way it seems; learn then apply. I just learned now I need to apply the concept consistently.

Foxglove (Fuji Velvia 50 metered exposure)

The second photo has one more stop of exposure to compensate for bellows extension. The image was indeed lighter and the transparency looked almost overexposed but the scan was great. The shadow is better exposed in the latter. The two images also show how the Velvia 50 color palette changes with exposure. The above image is the underexposed version. The dead leaf to the right of green leaf is a nut brown. In the image below this same leaf is almost yellow. 

Foxglove (Fuji Velvia 50 1 stop bellows extension compensation)

The trail the other walkers came from winds nicely through the woods. The sun keeps breaking through clouds that have blown up this morning. 

One scene looks nicely lit. Aware the light may well shift by the time I setup I go for it anyway. I compose and indeed the light dies. I am again waiting for light and wind to bless me. I am shooting Astia but the scene seems to fit in the range of light Astia tolerates. I finally snap a less brilliant version of what I had first seen.  

Image Review

This image doesn’t do much for me. It is almost unrecognizable and fails to capture what I felt at the moment. I try and avoid the sky in my woodland photographs. The sky adds more dynamic range and glare and so are difficult to expose well and the light is distracting. I show a crop that solves this problem. It makes a better image but still not great. 

Woodland Scene (Fuji Astia)

Woodland Scene Pano crop

I wander this part of the trail and wind up near the railway right of way. It is getting late and I am tired so I decide to make the long trek back to the car. I pass back past the fallen oak I have photographed before and notice the leaves have browned more and many more are missing. I scout a different perspective but see nothing to excite me. Heading back to the trail I see another photographer mooching about and wave and we exchange greetings. 

Never sure what to say in these encounters. I am reluctant to intrude on ones private activities fully aware that solitude may be what someone seeks. I continue heading back to the car. The sun backlights some silver birch leaves and I am seduced enough to try again. I finish the photo on Velvia 50 with my 6x12 filmback after waiting for the wind.

Image Review

I think by description above made before seeing the result tells the tale. I was indeed seduced by the color and glow of the birch leaves. The image is reasonably exposed and mostly in focus except for the extreme foreground on the left which is a little soft. There isn't really anything of special interest in the composition or scene. It is merely a photo of an opening in the woodland.  

Silver birches in the sun. (Velvia 50 6x12)

Heading back to the trail I meet the same photographer I greeted earlier. I ask him what he is out for and we have a nice chat. He is up from London on two weeks holiday. He works with lots of people and has decided to take some time off as the COVID infection rate is rising in London. I suggest he looks up Monk's Wood as the field maple has turned out some nice color. He says London has turned completely now and was surprised how little progress the color had made here. We then went on our respective ways. 

 Closer to the road I met another photographer from London and we chatted a while. He had Holme Fen on his list and was out to explore the area. He manages to sell some of his prints based on feedback from Instagram. I congratulated him on being so intrepid. 

I completed the walk back to the car in a much improved mood. It was really nice meeting some people. I think we are all starved of interaction with this pandemic on. At least I know I feel that way at times.