For this assignment I decided to use my local area, restricting myself to an area that I could reach within half an hour so that I could visit and revisit conveniently at will in order to catch different weather and lighting. I am also conscious that I will need easy access to my chosen location in order to shoot images at different seasons for my portfolio. I have chosen the northern Lincolnshire Wolds and Coastal strip close to my home in Grimsby. I also am a firm believer in the fact that the more familiar we are with a location the better will be the images produced. I would love to emulate Galen Rowell's images in Yosemite and the Californian Sierra but that was his local patch and it took a lifetime for him to gain his deep knowledge of the area.
I include below my short list of images that I have chosen from three months of winter photography and my thoughts about each one. From this short list I shall select my final 12 photographs to represent the season of winter. I have tried to include a variety of lighting, weather and image format.
This is a typical Lincolnshire winter sunset. I deliberately exposed for the sky in order to produce a horizon of winter tree silhouettes. I have place the horizon low to make the most of the dramatic sky.
This image was taken in my local churchyard. I placed the camera on a tripod reduced to it's lowest height in order to be on the same level as the flowers. I used a wide angle lens and a small aperture so that everything would be as sharp as possible. Although I took this shot in February (very definitely winter still) and as much as I like it, I may not include it in this assignment as I feel that it smacks too much of spring. If I do not use it now, it will very definitely be a candidate for my portfolio.
This is an image I had been wanting to take for some time. The church is in the village of Worlaby on the scarp slope of the Wolds and the view is across the valley of the River Ancholme looking across to the limestone Lincoln Edge just north of the steel town of Scunthorpe. I had been waiting for a weather forecast that gave early morning mist in order to get a temperature inversion. It is taken at sunrise, Galen Rowell's magic hour. I place the horizon and the church on thirds.
I took this image at sunrise on a visit to the local nature reserve of Messingham Sand Quarry. This is a place I know well from my wildlife photography and I hoped that the early morning light would provide some pleasing winter images.
Another early morning shot at Messingham. I like the way the sun just catches the far reeds. I think it has a real winter feel to it with the leafless trees and dead reed stems. It will look very different here in a few weeks. The swans add interest but they are rather obscured by the reeds.
Again this will look very different in a few weeks as the new reeds grow through and the flag irises and ragged robin appear. I am pleased with the reflection and like the way the ditch leeds the eye into the frame.
Another winter sunset, this time on the Lincolnshire coast. The drain leads they eye into the shot. It would have been nice if the sun had been slightly to the left. I'm not sure about the flare in this shot.
Very typical scenery on the Lincolnshire coastal marsh. I like the way the drain leads they eye into the shot. I have placed the horizon low in the frame to emphasize the big Lincolnshire sky. Pleasing reflections in the water. I have selected a portrait format here to enhance the straight narrow channel. To my mind a real winter feel to the scene with the bleached dry grass and dead reed stems.
I like the linear perspective here with the trees diminishing in the distance. The hedge and tractor lines lead the eye into the frame. I'm not sure about the heavy shadow in the foreground. A real winter feel to the shot though - again bleached dead grass and leafless winter trees.
I am pleased with the curved line of trees in the valley leading the eye to the winter tree silhouettes on the horizon.
Another image taken at a local reserve that regularly visit for wildlife photography. Dead reed stems, leafless trees and ice and snow on the pond all give a good feel of winter.
The above two shots are of the Humber Bridge with snow on the ground and a cold blue winter sky with a foggy high pressure haze over the horizon. In the first shot I have managed to include the moon out during the late afternoon. In the second I included the post to provide a point of focus in the foreground and to mirror the bridge uprights. The channels in the mud that are picked out by the snow mirror the direction of the road platform on the bridge.
A simple image of snow here with side lighting bring out form in the bank of snow. The hedge line provides linear perspective enhanced by the vertical format.
Another simple snow scene with the hedge line leading the eye into the picture.
Rolling Lincolnshire Wolds scenery with the hedge leading the eye to the winter wood on the horizon. The other three hedge lines lead towards the wood as well and I managed to place the small isolated tree on an intersection of thirds. Pleasing side lighting brings out form and detail with some interesting shadows.
The snow here says winter but so does the cold blue of the sky and the blue shadow of the tree. I carefully framed the church in the arch of the tree branch. I used a similar image for project for project 5: interacting subjects but in this picture I wasn't constrained by focal length and could include more of the tree.
Another rolling Lincolnshire landscape with linear perspective and snow. A real winter feel.
The above and the next three images were taken on a foggy morning while we still had snow. I have already used this shot to illustrate Project 7: figures in a landscape so may not use it for the assignment. Also I am not sure about mixing panoramas with '35mm format' shots. This image, like the one below had a bluish cast which I have corrected but I am not sure which version I prefer.
I am pleased with the linear perspective in both of the above shots. They both are good examples of the use of soft muted colours as in Project 10. The fog lends an air of mystery.
This shot is taken on the edge of a local Wolds beech woodland. I like the shapes of the trees and the shadows they cast but I am not sure that the warm late afternoon light and the fact that there are still autumn leaves clinging to the trees makes it wintry enough.
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