A couple of weeks ago, I finally made the time to get out to the woods on a misty morning. We have a few pockets of woodland around Bedfordshire that are stocked with tall pines, which can be hugely photogenic in the right light. I’d wanted to photograph a Bedfordshire woodland in fog for quite a while, but it was never convenient to go when fog was forecast. On this occasion, I was able to get out for sunrise, and the results were well worth it.
I really love trees, and I’ve never been totally satisfied with the woodland photos I’ve taken before now. So this was a very enjoyable and rewarding trip out.
When I first arrived at the woods, this was the scene that greeted me. I couldn’t believe my luck. I’d headed out hoping for foggy trees, but never expected to get such spectacular light combined with the mist…
This sprawling woodland stretches across much of mid-Bedfordshire, and the area was selected by Center Parcs for their “Woburn Forest” holiday village. For good reason – it’s a lovely, peaceful place, and holds many childhood memories for me and many thousands of others who grew up in the area. Though this development inevitably leads to some logging, and loss of trees, it’s nice to think that the resulting managed woodland will be enjoyed by many more people every year. It’s has to be a good thing that those travelling from more urban environments will see the beauty of the forest, and experience sunrises like this themselves.
This last shot was more the kind of thing I was expecting to see on the day. I’m a big fan of blue toned landscapes, and so I processed this one using a blue colour balance. It results in a more cool, muted image, but one equally photogenic.
I also used a lot of wide-aspect crops with these woodland photos. This is a shape I’m very fond of in general, but with woodland scenes, it really helps to accentuate the vertical lines.
Although I’m immensely happy with the results I got on this occasion, I’m still as keen as ever to get back and try again another time. I’ll be watching the weather forecast, and looking for an opportunity to add to my woodland portfolio.
To see more photos from this shoot, see my Flickr account. Or have a look at my Landscapes collection here.
–
George
