Frost in Holme Fen

(Note: This has the black and white photos I processed today while I wait for the color film to be processed. The color should be here in about 10 days. Placeholders for color photos marked <<>>) 

With the forecast for frost at -7C, Mollie and I got up early and got the car defrosted, extra warm clothes for me. Hot coffee and energy bars for me, Steaklets for Mollie. I had brought the film out of the freezer the night before. A real mix of Hp5+, 1 sheet of Ektachrome EPN, some Astia, 2 sheets of Portra 160, and some Ektar. 

We loaded up the car and got going. One would hope for some hoar frost but the weather was blowing in from the west so a long way from moisture here in East Anglia. We slipped down the dark salt-wetted roads against the prevailing commuter traffic. High beams flicking up and down in acknowledgement. As we got closer to Holme Fen the sky lightened in the east and was mostly cloud free but for a gossamer of thin patches. 

I had an idea of where to go. The frost would likely land in the open spaces, in fields and cleared areas. There has to be a prolonged freeze to penetrate the forest. There is a great open field with grass, reeds, and brambles. We park nearby the only ones here this early. It was light enough to not need a headlamp on the hard frosted path. With Mollie off lead she sprinted down the path. She loves Holme Fen like no other place she has been in her short existence.

When we got to the field we could see the frost was not heavy. We looked around the canal edge to see  if the water had created any hoar frost, alas none. The air was very still with the morning trains sluicing down the line and blue-green sparks and the crackle of electricity alarming Mollie. 

I tried my luck with some grasses in the corner of the field with eastern sky as background.  My first image on Portra 160 and as I tried to replace my darkslide I had the same curse as I had had in the field about a month ago. The film was misloaded and jammed when the darkslide was inserted. Nothing to do but pull it out and start again. So I know what my first color image looks like before sending it to the lab... 

Porta 160 f0 100 seconds.

I made another image in Portra 160 but as luck would have it in the 6 seconds of exposure a breath of wind caught the grasses. Not wanting to risk it I loaded up a sheet of Ektar and made the same exposure again. Mollie wanted a 'pick me up' so she could look around. Barking dogs in the distance unsettled her. This was also the first time in this kind of cold for her. I had to finish up quickly as she started to shiver.

Portra 160 GND 150mm f32 4 (metered) 6 (reciprocity) seconds

Ektar GND 150mm f32 4 (metered) 6 (reciprocity) seconds

Both of these are remarkably mundane images. The colors are delicate, the sky gives the thin wisps of cloud but the foreground grasses are out of focus which is a shame. The reason I made the second image was fear the wind had shaken some of the grasses. Now I see a sheet of film wasted as I wasn't careful enough with focus. Mostly however there is nothing here to see, just a lovely winter morning. Also I can see a theme here where the light frost which seemed so appealing is very hard to feature in a final image. 

We packed up and Mollie sprinted off down the trail as we headed north. The sun still not up, Mollie warmed quickly with her renewed activity. We walked around the north end of the covert where I had seen men cutting trees a couple of years ago. It was all very stripped back and the forest looked thinner and smaller now. I don't know what the management plan is but ugly seems to be part of it. We circled back to the road and crossed to the next covert. Again more cutting and clearing, stripping the understory to the soil. Yeech! 

We pressed on across this and into my favorite area. I looked for a frost limed scene of small plants and trees. The frost probably did not extend above 2 or 3 feet from the ground. It made the stems and branches seem to glow though I wasn't sure this could be captured. 
I made an image on Astia, HP5+ , and finally I recalled my earlier revelation about the Ektachrome EPN suffering from very short reciprocity failure. There is definite blue shift with longer shutter speeds. This might help me! 

Frosted Growth
HP5+ f32 1/2" ISO 200 GND 150mm

I tried to process this image as best I could to convey what was happening. Very challenging to get that across in an image. The frost was quite subtle. Perhaps the color images will be more compelling. 

Astia  f32 1/2" ISO 100 GND 150mm

Again not an impressive image. It took a lot of Photoshop to get the frost to feature properly both in color and black and white. I had to create luminosity masks that highlighted mid-tones. 

<<Ektachrome EPN f32 1/2" ISO 100 GND 150mm>>

The Ektachrome version unfortunately was ruined in processing. Peak Imaging who has always done stellar work for me called and the technician confessed he misread the edge notches and dunk my E6 Ektachrome in the C41 process. I had 4 sheets of 3 of the other stuffed into one black bag. We discussed what happened and I asked if it would help to segregate them into separate bags and he whole heartedly agreed. I have sent a second mixed back and have submitted it this way. i have sent mixed batches almost every time I have used them so this was quite unusual as I have sent them at least 90 sheets so far. I knew this was not a great image so I felt no heartache and was happy they fessed up right away. Peak Imaging has credited me £9 (2 development charges) so the development and essentially film costs can be recouped which is all one could reasonably expect.

The warm rays of the sun were starting to touch the tops of the trees across the clearing. I decided to have some coffee and food. Mollie and I wandered to a tree that had blown over earlier this fall during a storm. I wanted a place to sit. Mollie has learned logs are great for elevating her view. She hopped right up, ran the length to the root-ball and climbed up to have a look around the clearing. She then ran down the other end of the tree to have a look from there as I sat down and had a cup of coffee and energy bar. It was cold but warmly dressed, comfortable. 

These are always enjoyable moments to take a break and soak in the surroundings. Sure there is the noise of the trains and some traffic but you can still tune into the peacefulness of a cold early morning. After some time I walked around the area sipping coffee and eating, I found patch of my favorite grasses that spring out of central clump evenly in all directions. The light was sifting through the trees so I hurried back to camp to get my camera. I got a couple of images here. One looking into the sun backlighting the frost on the grasses. This I got in HP5+ and Astia. 

Sun on Frost
Ilford HP5+ ISO 200 f32 1/4 sec GND 150mm

This image works. I cropped the foreground and the right side of the image to keep the 4x5 aspect ratio and eliminate distracting foreground and tree branches. This also makes for a formal centered look to the composition that suits the symmetry of the grasses. We will see if the Astia holds up under the bright light. I would have preferred Portra or Ektar here but had none left. 

Astia ISO 100 f32 1/2 sec GND 150mm

This image is not very satisfying. It was underexposed which is probably why there is so little color in my attempts to rescue an image. The metering is off probably because of the strong sun and despite the GND filter it looks at least a stop off. 

As the sun rose there was more to see and tried another angle from the side again in Astia. I had the shield the lens from the sun's rays with my body. 

Astia f32 1/2sec GND 150mm

This is a better image. Better exposed it shows the delicate warm light on the tips of the grass with the regular back drop of silver birch. Again the frost is barely apparent.

Basically out of film we started to head home. Too bad as the morning brightened and light shot through the forest it lit little scenes and vignettes. It was a gorgeous morning to be out.