I hope nobody is getting bored of mist yet? There are still more to come – some of them in colour! 🙂
I think the lone tussock of grass in this helps the shot a lot. It would still have had a pleasant abstract nature without, but it being there in the foreground anchors the image.
Apologies for the somewhat short posts this week. I’ve had some other things to keep me occupied so not enough time unfortunately.
A companion shot to yesterdays trees in the mist. You can see that same copse of trees on the other side of the footbridge, but this shot was made before the ones posted yesterday. I collapsed the tripod down to get the low point of view.
I’ve undoubtedly said this before on here somewhere, but I’ll say it again: Fog and mist are a gift to photography. The diffused light; the sense of calm; the way they hide and obscure distracting detail; and – most of all – the sheer atmosphere (quite literally) that they bring to bear is a wonderful thing to behold.
I do admit to saying this as someone for whom fog and mist are relatively uncommon – at least at the times I’m usually out of bed! I can fully understand the “grass is always greener” sentiment that this bears, and that for those who live in places with regular foggy conditions that this might all be a bit business-as-usual. But for me, well, I love these conditions.
So, when I saw the weather forecast showing this day as having fog, I was up early and out with my camera. I went somewhere I’ve been a number of times before – a walk that takes me across the River Rother, through a copse of trees (it’s probably a plantation as the tress – Poplars I think – are in somewhat orderly rows), and then either up to the Trans-Pennine Trail, or looping alongside the river, then down to Renishaw golf-course, and back around to the starting point.
I’ve photographed these trees on a number of occasions and know that the look their best in a veil of mist. It’s not a large area and on clear days it’s easy to find a distracting background element creeping into the frame. In fog, however, the trees feel like they go on forever.
A couple of photographs serving as a direct follow on from yesterday’s pictures of the flyover – the first taken when I was stood almost beneath it, the second featuring it as a subject.
I wasn’t sure the second would work as it was shot with the sun directly in frame. While there’s a little flaring, the Telemax’s lens has coped admirably though.
These gates sit at the north-western end of this field where the path leads beneath the arches of the railway viaduct. It allows passage for the herd of cows who roam the fields on either side of the railway line. It also allows passage for walkers.
On this morning the gate was lit by the low, rising sun that was burning through the ground mist. It makes for a semi-rural scene, but the area is surrounded on all sides by human activity, whether the houses and businesses on the hillside to the east, the river and remains of the old marshalling yars to the west, and the flyover to the south, just about visible through the gap in the gates. I don’t mind any of this, plus great light makes the opportunity for good photography regardless of location.
Two more photographs of the flyover that spans the Rother Valley not far from where I live. I posted a couple of medium format shots of the same location about a week ago here.
The first shows a very similar viewpoint as the previously shot image in the linked post, albeit made on a different day and with misty conditions.
The second is taken from the western end of the field where it reaches the river and looking back to the east. I think this one works much better compositionally as the eye is led along the shaft of sunlight from bottom left, up the bridge support, along the curve of the road deck, and then – thanks to a lucky shadow – down into the field and to the electricity pylon. I’m really happy with this one.
I like the sense of scale in this photo. I’ve never really considered how tall these trees are before, but the figure in the distance gives some sense of their size. There is, to be fair, a little bit of perspective to take into play – the person in the shot is beyond the leftmost bit of the trees, but not by too far.
Continuing my series of photos from the misty morning walk I took a couple of weeks ago, here’s someone walking their dog. Without the mist this would have been rubbish, I think, but as it stands the conditions plus the grainyness in this photo (and the ice filled potholes) work pretty well.
One thing I’m unsure about is the stuff in the upper-left of the image. At first I thought it was a mark on the film, but then I realised that it’s actually part of the cable-waterski equipment at the lake. I find it a little distracting and did consider cloning it out, but then I would have felt deceitful – I have a particular attitude to cloning stuff out of my photos. I’ll happily remove small distractions or fix flaws, but there comes a point where, even where could make a success of it, it feels like I’ve gone too far and have altered the reality of the scene too much. And so I decided that the cables would stay in the shot, even if they perhaps spoil it a little.
But hey, it game me something to talk about in today’s post. 🙂
This is a photograph the lake at Rother Valley Country Park, not too far from where I live. It’s not generally a place I find condusive for taking photos because, while it’s good for walking, running, cycling etc., and there are a variety of watersports (as well as waterfowl) to enjoy, it’s location means that any sort of wide shot features the surrounding hills, most of which have either houses or industrial units upon them. While I’m sure there are plenty of great photos to be had, I’ve probably been spoilt by familiarity and don’t tend to find it very inspiring.
On misty days however, all that (literally!) fades away and the place takes on a wonderful serenity. The background distractions melt away into the haze leaving much more subtle sights.
Today’s photo is one of a pair I took at this spot. The first one shows just a ripple as the coot decided to dive beneath the surface just as I pressed the shutter. This one was taken shortry after it re-emerged.
A couple of weeks back I awoke to a beautiful misty morning. Alas I was at work that day – plus I had to get the kids sorted for school – so I thought it would be another one of those occasions where I feel robbed of the opportunity to take advantage of the conditions. Thankfully however, the mist persisted past the time the kids left the house and left me a short window of opportunity to get out and make some photographs.
I managed to get to the local country park, which is just a short distance from home (you’ll see some of those pictures in the coming days, hopefully), and today’s picture is of some houses sat beneath the rising sun which I passed on my way.
Steel City Snapper photography 