Continuing my attempt to find the time to photograph pushes me to explore locations close to home. Like the Finchampstead Ridges last week, this Saturday morning found me on the fringes of Swinley Forest – a huge chunk of land that I have driven past almost everyday for years (!) What was probably the last of the frost this year pushed me out of bed. I had missed all of the snow or at least failed to do anything creative with it and so this mornings  effort was a small attempt to establish a location for next years winter.

The vast size and 2 hours of opportunity meant that I had no opportunity for a proper scout of the location but it does have potential! The forzen bud below was unique as the rest of the buds on the bush had leaves that were all hanging down. It seemed to have been caught as the frost hit. From a technical perspective, the aperture was reasonably wide open at F8 for such a close up image and combined with the lens I was using the background has been rendered nicely out of focus. I took a LF image of this as well and left the lens wide open at F5.6…will be interesting to see the slide

Tech: 24-70mm, 0.5secs (including 2/3rds stop to account for brightness of the frost) @F8

So I’ve lived in this area for years and frustratingly I have never really found a good location for landscape photography. Problem is is that I never applied the same amount of reserach that I do for more exotic locations with my home environs. So after a thorough examination of the OS map for this area I found the Finchampstead Ridges…about 15 minutes from a home and it’s fantastic. Maybe it’s becasue I have been on an enforced photography diet or just maybe I’m opening my eyes a bit more but it’ somewhere I intend to return to every month (we shall see…) I was drawn to this image simply because of the shape and colours. This time of year the landscape is almost holding its breath, getting ready for the spring push. Everything is well, a little bit dead (!) and messy…ahem.  But as always the moss is ahead of the game and the fallen silver birch (which I now discover is everywhere in Berkshire) just adds a strong line through the composition. Below is a digital image, a sketch really, of the LF image that should be back with me next week. The real nagging issue is the fern – did I get enough or too little into the frame…though moving the camera in either direction was not a good option…not sure