MorseBlog

It seems I am making regular rounds to my 3 local woodlands. Each has a unique character and rather than being repetitive I find new areas to explore afresh in some and comfort in the familiar places of ones I know better. Of course these woodlands change all the time, with the seasons, the weather. If one looks carefully enough and is sensitive to subtleties there is change all around.  This morning it is Monk’s Wood. Growing up a a hillside on determinedly clay soil it is markedly different from the he two fen woodlands of Holme and Woodwalton. These latter two are pancake flat being in the drained marshes of the fens. They are also relatively new.  The silver birches of Holme would not have turned up until after the draining of the fens as they prefer well drained soil. The nearby area of Whittlesey is the last of the fenlands to be drained so the forest is perhaps 150 years old.  Woodwalton Fen was purchased by Charles Rothschild in 1910 as a nature reserve. I am not ...

I almost didn't bother getting out of bed when the alarm sounded at 5:30AM. The weather report indicated clouds and some rain. Not promising and I have been through a lot of film this past week. However I thought there won't be much color left soon as I heaved myself out of bed and walked quietly downstairs.  I found the cafetiere washed it out and boiled the kettle. Meanwhile I got into my insulted hiking trousers, found the dry pair of boots and some dry socks. Made the coffee and filled the thermos. I stealthily went out the door with my pack, thermos and boots. I placed these in the boot of the car. It feels unseasonably warm. It is very dark with some light through the partings of the clouds. Venus shines brightly through a gap and the waning sliver of moon glows behind some thin clouds. There is a thin fog but not terribly promising.  I make the drive in silence. I really don't like the radio to break the relative quiet of my mood in...

I was looking forward to this morning for the last couple of days. The gale that has been blowing winds is finally done and a high pressure was due to park itself over the area. Finally we would have the first frost of the year (extremely late historically) and perhaps some fog. So I scraped the windshield (windscreen) and bundled myself into the care at 5:30am. The sky was deep blue with just a rim of orange on the eastern horizon. Venus was up as was the moon along with a couple of wisps of cloud. It was dead still.  It didn't feel that cold when I got out of the car. There was frost but the sense was it was barely freezing and hadn't been that cold for very long. I had been vacillating about where to go amongst my 3 local choices. I settled on Woodwalton Fen on the theory that with lots of water about the place perhaps that would improve chances of fog. On the way I didn't see any signs of fog patches so probably any choice was bound to disappoint on that front.  I pulle...

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....

Autumn nears, it is mid-September about an hour before sunrise. To the east a faint orange glow and deep blue sky above. Small clouds fleck the dark sky like sheep on the moors. The diesel engine rattles down narrow dark country roads. The trees are scattered along the horizon as black silhouettes past the expanse of stubbled fields newly harvested of wheat, oat, barley, and bean. The flick of headlights up and down as the early commute from the villages rushes past. I am not in so much a hurry and impede those impatient drivers traveling in my direction this early in the morning. They must wait for a clear stretch of road to overtake.  The radio is off only the sounds of the engine, tires and wind. Looking about the scenery in case there is something worth stopping for, the quiet morning roads are good for this. The weather was forecast as fog and though not immediately apparent the further northwest my progress the hazier the air becomes. Descending from the table flat grain fiel...

I have noticed a small trend of a couple folks I follow that are film users. They are moving more to digital. Steve O’nions here and here  discusses a partial switch over due to cost. Justin Lowery has a new project that he uses digital on. Neither of these are full conversions to digital and their choices are their choices. Driven in large part by cost though it is a concern. Fuji and Kodak have both put up their prices in the last year. Color has become much more expensive especially in large format. This lead me to contemplate if I should consider moving to digital for part of my work. It didn’t take long to realize how difficult this would be for me. I enjoy film for the same reasons many do. The slowness and deliberate nature. There is an aspect of connecting with my grandfather and my late brother who were avid photographers as well. However the thing I would miss the most is the tangible nature of film and the sense it has because of that as a craft. Now I don’t want to ...

(Note: this was originally posted on the 18th of Jan 2020 but has been updated with the color photos just returned from the lab.) I continued my woodlands project this morning with a return to Holme Fen. The morning dawned cold (0 degrees C) and cloudless. My hopes were I might have some good fog and perhaps some heavy frost to work with. I watched the sunrise as I made my way to this patch of Birch forest on the fens. I loaded up my Intrepid 4x5 camera which I have been using a lot lately and am becoming increasingly comfortable and confident with. Mistakes have been few and my exposures spot-on generally. The subject matter and composition remain their inevitable challenges. I brought along 4 sheets of Ilford FP4+ black and white film. I also had 2 sheets of Velvia 50 and 3 sheets of Fuji Astia, these later two being color transparency film. I typically come prepared for both color and black and white. In addition to the aesthetics of black and white I like to shoot it because ...