Puddle

 This is a photo I took with my Fuji GSW 690 (65mm f5.6 lens on a 6x9 negative). Taken on Ilford HP5+ pushed to ISO 800 for the dark winter conditions. The occasion was a visit to North Yorkshire to help my wife look after my father-in-law last winter. Sadly he passed not long after this and I will miss such a gentle and intelligent man. 

I shot this on a cold wet December day. There was not a lot to inspire me but I whimsically decided for a reflection in the puddle. I had to lower the tripod right down near the ground to have the puddle occupy all the viewfinder. Then should I focus on the the reflection or the bottom of the puddle which was covered in dead leaves like a mosaic? I focused on the reflection and had enough depth of field to catch the puddle bottom. Water was dripping from the tree branches overhead and so I set a reasonably fast shutter speed of 1/30 to 1/60th second. I wanted to catch the ripples from a droplet. I then poised with the cable release until I had a still puddle and a single drop struck the surface. 

The result is that at first glance one thinks this is a view into the naked winter canopy or perhaps a double exposure. Then the eye travels to the ripple to understand it is instead a refection. Finally one might notice that the tree bark is the leaf mosaic at the bottom of the puddle.  

In the end I was surprised and delighted by the image that resulted. 

Print on Ilford MGFB paper 8x12"
(105mm enlarger lens, F11 Ev 6.4,
f16 #00 11 second, #5 11 second, #00 burn upper right corner 11 seconds.)