Trees are beautiful in all the seasons but I personally find them to be at their most perfect in that really short spell of time between bud and full leaf. Those small, almost luminous green baby leaves are perfection! This was taken about a good hour and a quarter after sunrise but the light was still very special - very high light cloud and mist both diffusing the sun’s rays beautifully.
When I left the house on this particular March morning, I was completely oblivious to the fact that there had been a full supermoon that night. However as I walked to the park it was impossible to miss - a large glowing orb, hanging in the sky. Up to this point I hadn’t tried to photograph the moon, or anything at all in such dim light, and found setting up in darkness an interesting challenge. The results of my faffing were definitely worth it as I really love this shot. The moon just encroaching on the right hand tree, those hints of pink in the cloud that elude to the coming of a new day, and of course the atmospheric mist, make a lovely composition.
The swan came by and I had a little chat to him, and jokingly asked if he would mind swimming into my shot. He very graciously obliged. Afterwards, I went to the shore and he got out of the water and came over to nibble my gloves and trousers and I was sad that I didn't have anything to give him as a reward for being so photogenic. I do sometimes chat to the wildlife. I know they have absolutely no idea what I’m saying, but I always hope they get an inkling from my voice and intonation that I am friendly.
I stumbled upon this spot while on a local walk and sensed it had potential for a lovely photograph, in the right conditions. The next morning that looked promising for mist, I set the alarm early and hiked to this spot before dawn, set up my tripod and camera and waited. It was magic!
A stunning March morning spent at the lower Pen Pond in the park.
Having spent a lovely misty morning in the park with my camera, and about to walk back home, I noticed a heard of fallow deer standing a little way away on the opposite bank of the brook. I was certain that they were thinking about crossing, and I also know how skittish they can be around people. Being in no rush, I sat down on the wet grass so as to try and remain inconspicuous, and just waited for the whole thing to unfold in front of me…
Pastel Dawn
On the back of my Setting Supermoon 1 photograph, the following May moon was also classed as a ‘supermoon’. Armed with foresight, I was determined to attempt another shot of the moon on my travels in the park. I had a specific location for sunrise in mind, and was on the look out for a nice ‘supermoon’ image as I walked. I found this composition in the nick of time, as my journey was about to take me behind a hill and out of site of the moon, which was just about to dip below the tree line.
An epic sunrise at the Pen Ponds. For a number of weeks, what I assumed to be a submerged branch was close to the shore, it’s twigs poking up above the water, and I really enjoyed including it in my compositions. On this morning, the mist really billowed up just before the sunrise, turning fiery orange with the emerging sun.
