Home.

It’s been roughly five weeks since we returned to the UK and it’s like we were never away. The last week in KL was spent avoiding being outdoors due to the unpleasant haze apparently caused by fires in Indonesia. These fires resulted in visibility being severely restricted and the government recommending schools close and people work from home if possible due to the poor air quality. Consequently we weren’t sorry to leave for home. Unfortunately the reality of being home is that we both miss everything about being in Kuala Lumpur. Nights out, food, warm weather, even the daily thunder storms!

Having said all that, the reason for this blog is really just to share some photographs taken since returning to the UK. As the countryside is displaying all the wonderful colours of Autumn I find I’ve taken to woodland photography. Having followed Simon Baxter’s woodland photography on Youtube for a couple of years now, I decided that the time was right to have a try myself. The first obvious benefit from trying woodland photography is that there are opportunities closer to home. I always seem to have to drive a hundred miles or more to find landscapes I think worth shooting. One of the images I’m sharing here was taken at Hay Woods which is less than ten miles away from home. However by way of a contradiction of everything I just said, the first image is from a trip to the Lake District. Lynne and I left home at 4.00 am to be at Blea Tarn in time for sunrise. Unfortunately the light wasn’t great and there was a slight wind creating ripples on the water so the reflections I had hoped for never materialised. Hence those photographs were consigned to the digital bin! Instead I’ve decided to share this image from the River Brathay just outside of Ambleside. It has the reflections I was after but I missed the best of the mist by about two minutes, seriously, there was a beautiful mist when we got there but in the two or three minutes it took me to set up, it was almost gone, just a tiny wisp remaining in the far left of the frame.

Most people love a blue sky but for landscape photography it’s pretty boring. This photo could have been so much better if there had been cloud in the sky to add a little drama to the scene. The next picture is from the same location, just a little further up the river.

This is taken around nine in the morning and because of the lack of cloud the photography is already a bit of a battle with the really harsh light. The top left hand corner is dangerously close to being completely overexposed and burnt out. Later in the day we climbed Loughrigg Fell to reach a viewpoint over Windermere. I’d seen this many times online and there was always a stile over the wall which people used as a focal point for this image. We got there after a long circuitous route which at one point entailed us both climbing over a high dry stone wall only to eventually get to the location and find that the stile which I thought was so important to the image I had in mind is gone! They seem to have replaced it with stone steps let into the wall which provide no visual interest whatsoever. This photo was another battle with the harsh light as the sun was in completely the wrong place and it was difficult to avoid lens flare.

It turned out almost ok in the end although normally you wouldn’t bother given the relatively awful light but having almost killed ourselves getting up there, I was determined to come away with something by hook or by crook! Annoyingly, we tried a different route for our descent and found that by following a tiny path that slowly turned into a stream we got back to the car in a quarter of the time it took us to get up.

This next image is from Hay Wood in Warwickshire. I had driven by in the past but never thought to take a walk through the forest. This is a mental block I need to get over as I seem to have a mindset that says there is nothing worth photographing close to home. Well, as you can imagine, a three hour drive to Wales or the Lake District or even a two hour trip to the Peak District starts to work out to be pretty expensive once it gets to be a regular thing. Hence I’m quite happy with my new found passion for woodland photography because as I already said, there are plenty of opportunities for that within a relatively short distance from home. It’s just a matter  of finding them!

So, my first real attempt at woodland photography. I was really quite pleased with this image. I was there really early and because it had been raining everything was wet which I think gives a nice sheen to the foliage. Added to that the flash of Autumn colour in the ferns in the left of the frame and the leading line of the path disappearing into the distance gives a nice depth to the image.

The next few photos are from the Peak District. My intention had been to be at Mam Tor overlooking the Hope Valley in time for sunrise but after a tedious drive following a long line of lorries through the countryside I arrived just a few minutes late and missed it. There were some other photographers there who very kindly informed me that it had been the best sunrise they had ever seen there and that the mist in the valley had only just dissipated a matter of minutes ago. Thanks for nothing guys, another missed mist! I did get lucky though because not long after sunrise the sun disappeared behind a cloud and gave the following amazing affect.

So all was not lost and I’m quite happy with this image. I particularly like the sun rays popping out from the top of the cloud. These are actually known as crepuscular rays in case anyone is interested. The following photo is at the same location but using a longer focal length to show the Hope Valley Cement Works. I know it doesn’t sound like something you would want in a landscape photograph but it’s been there for so long now it’s widely accepted as part of the scene. I’ve photographed it many times and I have to say I actually quite like it!

I like the fact that the sun is casting shadows from the trees throughout the valley and also the cement works chimney!

Next is the view in the opposite direction from the great ridge at Mam Tor. I’ve tried on numerous occasions to get this shot but with limited success thanks to the weather. The most notable occasion being in a snow storm with the snow coming in sideways directly in my face making photography impossible when that was specifically the shot I had driven all that way for! The road is really the main point of interest here as it winds away into the distance.

Here are three more examples of my attempts at woodland photography taken at Padley Gorge in the Peak District. Two of them are quite dark and spooky and I couldn’t resist the ubiquitous waterfall image with a splash of Autumn colour.

The last photos in this blog were taken in Savenake Forest. This forest is ancient woodland with lots of huge ancient oaks. There’s another bonus from shooting woodland in as much as you don’t necessarily need to be out at some ungodly hour in order to catch the sunrise. We left home at about 7.15 am and as a consequence of going out of our way for cheap petrol we didn’t get to the Savernake forest until about 10.00 am. However, it didn’t take long to find my first photo.

 

Well, this was my most self indulgent blog yet focusing entirely on the photography I’ve enjoyed since returning home from Kuala Lumpur. It’s been a relief to be able to get out with the camera and indulge in some proper landscape photography. Lynne and I both love life in KL but from my point of view it doesn’t tick all of my boxes photographically! As much as anything this was also an attempt to fill the massive void since my last blog which was a classic Brummie whinge from Thailand 5 or 6 weeks ago. Hopefully there’ll be more in a little over a week as we are preparing for a trip to Scotland in the motorhome. Watch this space!