With Autumn in full swing, Bacton Wood was chosen as the location for a woodland shoot with a 06:15 meet time.
It was dark when we met in the car park so head torches were the order of the day.
We made our way into the woodland and there was some morning mist around which is a highly desirable component of superb woodland and tree photography.
The issue was that the mist was concentrated in the open field areas – some of the guys made their way across the nearest field to some trees on the other side of the field, whilst the rest of us made our way down the main path through the woodland.
As is usual on shoots, we soon split into smaller groups or individually started roaming to capture our own preferred compositions.
To start with, I was struggling to see anything worth a click of the shutter button but persevering and taking my time wandering soon triggered my mojo and off we went. The first shot was these ferns which I quite liked.
I tried a slightly wider shot to get the impression of the wider woodland and path ahead, but I think I prefer the shot above which concentrates on the ferns themselves.
Wandering down a side path, I really wanted to grab something that featured the mist so I focused on this tree and liked the way an overhanging branch and leaves perhaps creates a bit of framing to the capture.
Next up was a deliberately very simple image of some leaves that have turned autumnal brown/green/yellow with some tree green in the scene too.
As I turned around, I was beginning to notice lots of cobwebs and found a composition which I quite liked that emphasised the cobwebs, and also showed off the autumnal colours.
The morning light was really on show now and starting to get a little too harsh for shots with any sky visible.
As I made my way up to where the guys where gathering on the main path, they showed me some intentional camera movement (ICM) shots which looked really good.
I got my longer lens on and half-heartedly quickly grabbed a couple of shots – they looked no good on the back of the camera screen but post production, I’m amazed that they’re in the keeper pile!
My wife said she thought these shots were Hockney style, which has to be a compliment.
I had another shot just before this one with a fellow photographer in the scene.
And that was a wrap.
What started out as a difficult start to the morning ended up being a trip with some keepers in the bag.
Our customary post shoot chat and coffee back at our cars saw us then make our way home.
There was to be another stop on the way home of course! My post sunrise photo shoot treat courtesy of Ronald.
Onwards and upwards…