Friday 1 February 2013

A flick of a switch

After the last evening of heavy snowfall in Derbyshire I headed out for an early morning wander for a final stint in what may prove to be the final snows of winter.  I was headed for a group of lone trees in a field in The Derwent Valley near to my home where I often walk my dog.  I thought they would make a distinguished subject if a particularly nice sunrise were to turn up.  More than anything, I think these photos can represent how fast light can change and completely change a scene infront of you.  Hopefully this may inspire a few of you who are in to photography yourselves and looking to improve, to stick around a subject a bit longer.  Things may change, scenes unfold, different things will happen and its that change of perspective that could really make a difference.   It may even persuade you to get out of bed a bit earlier and see a few more sunrises, especially in winter when the sun rises at a much more acceptable time than the selfish sunrises of summer that appear around 4.30am!

Anyway, the photographs below were all taken within 40 minutes of each other so this wasn't even a long time to endure.  I could have been more than happy wandering off with just the first image in hand, but I waited, and I think it really paid off.

When I arrived at 8.08, mist cloaked much of the landscape as this particular field lies right next to the river Derwent.  The pre-dawn colours meant that blue was dominant in the sky, and with the mist and snow these hues were reflected nicely creating an overall wintery glow to the scene.
  

 By 8.15, the sun was on its way up, the mist was beginning to clear and the sky was starting to add a little more colour to the backdrop.


 8.33 and I walked over to the tree behind for a change of subject to see if a single tree might work better.  I'd walked back into the mist, the sun had risen over the brow of the hill and the oranges reflected across the whole snowy scene to give a somewhat false impression of a warm morning - it was not!


 8.40 now and I headed back to the first set of trees to take advantage of the low winter sun.  With the sun now just heading above the horizon, long shadows stretched right up to me and positioning my tripod and camera so it just peeked through a fork in the middle tree, it created an entirely new picture once again.


I finally turned around a few minutes later, happy with my images to witness a completely different landscape unfolding behind me.  I'd noticed a jogger making his way around the fields, waited for him to run into the frame and snapped this at 8.48.  And so I ended with a rainbow.  Things are always better when you end it with a rainbow!


4 comments:

  1. Beautiful photos. How I'd love to be that jogger right now!

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  2. Thankyou! Certainly a stunning backdrop but it must have been a killer on the calves! Mine were aching just walking through that fresh snow so his must have been made of metal or something

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  3. Thanks very much Angela! Appreciate it

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