Forest of fire!
Holidays over I returned to work slightly befuddled by my lack of activity during my 16 day break. I had been out with the camera on several occasions and managed to get some images I was happy with but overall it had been a bit of a meh two weeks off photography wise at least. For the most part wind had played a part in my lack of success and by that I mean the stuff that blows over your neighbours fence not the kind that comes out of my bottom on an increasing basis, it seems, as I get older! I am not a fan of wandering through a woodland or forest during high winds as it just opens you up to a potentially fatal clap on the head from a falling branch or squirrel.
If you had read my last blog you would be aware of an excellent couple of days spent out with my camera but something was missing still.Go on, guess……got it?……go look at my latest images from the last two trips out then come back and tell me……still not got it? Okay, it was fog, its always the fog! I hadnt seen a single drop of the stuff. It was simply not present in ANY of my images from my holidays, not one! Now, thats not neccessarily a bad thing as I think as a woodland photographer you should be capable enough to work a wood without fog to get some good images. But the magical white stuff (not the one that makes babies) hanging in the air, draping itself among the layers of trees just adds that little bit of much needed magic.
A nice image but just imagine it with fog!
Anyways, I had been eyeing up the forecasts for the Sunday after my holidays and it was looking increasingly likely that there could be fog over at Savernake. A slim chance but a chance nonetheless. Putting the feelers out to see if anyone fancied a meet up as Dave couldn’t make it, I ended up agreeing to go with none other than Lee Cooper. This handsome devil is an outstanding photographer and all round top bloke so was looking forward to spending some time alongside him exploring Savernake and getting mutually disappointed when the fog never showed up as promise!
I arrived at just gone 6.30am and Lee was right behind me in his newly fitted out camper van which I spent some time ogling over (cannot wait to get mine next year!). There was also another chap in the parking area who I recognised but couldn’t quite put the name to the face until he introduced himself. It was Sam Binding, another excellent photographer whose work I highly respect. We were friends via the wonders of Instagram but had never actually met in the flesh so it was good to finally do so. He also informed us Neil Harrison was coming too, yet another photography friend I had admired on IG but never actually met! If nothing else this morning was going to be a good social meet up!
I had driven through thick fog to get to the forest but as is usually the case at Savernake, it had failed to penetrate the trees. We all wandered in after gearing up trying to gee each other up and admiring the obvious colours, visible even in the predawn light.
Once Neil had arrived and caught us all up we headed to the well known section which housed a lot fo the character oaks in a small area of the forest and proceeded to wander off in different directions in search of compositions! This, to a non photographer may seem odd that a we do this but trust me its perfectly normal for this to happen. The social meet up turns into a game of hide and seek as we all wander around the forest occasionally spotting one of the others in the background of your shot or navigate randomly to the same spot as we mutually spot the same composition. At this point another photographer, Kirk joined us. I didnt know him but he seemd like a nice chap and after a quick introduction and chat we swapped IG details for a mutual follow.
One of my first images of the session. Note the lack of fog! But the colours!
After around twenty minutes I had worked my way round most of the section we were in but started to notice through the gaps in the trees that the area nearest the road was starting to look decidedly….smudgy. Was there fog drifting in from the fields on the opposite side of the road? I hastily discarded my current composition and stumbled through the bracken towards where I thought it was beginning to mist up and boy oh boy it wasn’t my imagination! The fog was coming in! I knew there were a few of the gnarly oaks along the edge, although they were not as characterful as their brethren nestled deeper back among their younger beech siblings. I headed for the nearest one and after a brief scout around it, set up for my first foggy image of the autumn.
Still not much fog about but enough at this point to soften the background
After this, I proceeded to wander along the edge of the forest, tracking a barbed wire fence that mirrored the direction of the road, I assumed to keep deer from wandering into the paths of oncoming cars. All the while the fog was thickening up nicely!
As you can see, the colours were simply incredible!
Eventually I worked my around to a section containing both Sam and Neil and after a brief chat about how things were going I set up for this next image. Now, I know in my last blog I said the image of the sticks in the lake was my favourite of the year but that title hasn’t lasted long as I think THIS shot is now my favourite image of the year and quite possibly one of my favourite ever! Let me know in the comments if you agree!
I love how this tree looks like Iron Maidens Eddie. Can you see it? But those colours!!
I eventually came full circle and bumped back into Lee who was working on a composition of the fallen branches I had photographed earlier in the session. The atmsophere warrented a second attempt of the scene from e too so we had a chat while working the scene and this is what I ended up with.
THe fog was dissipating quickly at this point but still just enough to add some atmosphere to the scene.
Kirk by this point had headed off to another part of the forest and Neil and Sam were nowhere to be seen so I said my cheerios to Lee and headed off to explore a bit further into the forest but sadly with the fog gone and me needind toget back home soon I decided to call it and head back to the car a happy boy. The colours alone would have made this a great session but the added smattering of fog tyo give the scenes a sense of depth really made this one of my best trips out of the year. You really cannot beat autumn woodlands here in the UK and even if I hadn’t gotten any images it still would have been a fantastic walk through one of Southern Englands most spectacular forests.
thats it for this week, thank you for reading!
Toodles