A few club members proposed Herringfleet Mill in Suffolk for an ad-hoc sunrise trip.
Herringfleet is quite an iconic location due to its mill. The forecast looked favourable: Sun, Fog and frost.
About Herringfleet
Herringfleet is a place and former civil parish in the north of the English county of Suffolk. It is located 5.5 miles (8.9 km) north-west of Lowestoft in the East Suffolk district. The parish was combined with Somerleyton and Ashby to create the parish of Somerleyton, Ashby and Herringfleet in 1987.
The western edge of Herringfleet is marked by the River Waveney. Prior to local government reorganisation in 1974, the former parish included the village of St Olaves to the north. This was combined with the parish of Fritton and the new parish of Fritton and St Olaves transferred to the county of Norfolk.
The Great Yarmouth to Beccles railway line opened in 1859 and passed through the former parish, with a station at St Olaves. This operated until 1959.
Herringfleet Windmill
On the western edge of the former parish, Herringfleet Windmill, a timber smock drainpipe windpump, was built in about 1820. It is a Grade II listed building and is within the area of The Broads national park.
Herringfleet Mill is an octagonal three-storey smock mill with a boat-shaped cap. Winding is by tailpole and winch, the last mill on the Broads. The mill was erected c1820 by millwright Robert Barnes of Great Yarmouth.
It was disused in 1883 but later put back to work. The mill was worked by wind until 1956. Her owners, the Somerleyton Estate were keen to ensure that she was preserved.
East Suffolk County Council agreed in principle that the mill should be preserved, and approached the Ministry of Works who agreed to pay half the cost of the restoration.
The Shoot
We met at 07:00 and as the car park was closed at that early hour, we made our way across the field and through the woods to get to the mill.
The early morning frost was looking very nice with the fields and marsh dusted in a white colour.
We bumped into some other photographers who were already there, and so began a walk around looking for compositions.
I first went to find the large part of water at the the front of the mill which was frozen. Although the ground was frozen and hard, there were still parts which were soft and care was needed when wandering around.
I took a shot here, but given the flat white sky, tried to tip my tripod down a bit to get more foreground in. In my opinion, the bland sky reduces the impact of the shot.
Trench foot anyone?
I went back to this location again not long after this shot as I was convinced something awesome was here. That was a big mistake, since in my quest to get such a shot, I foolishly tried to move closer to the water, and one my wellies suddenly sunk into the mud right up to the top!
In my panic, I stumbled, my tripod with camera on it wobbled, and as I reached over to hold onto the tripod, my foot left my wellie and I put my foot down on the ground to balance, and then my foot then went into the frozen water and mud.
Thankfully, no one could see me, but I was desperately trying to get my sock back on properly so I could put my foot back in my boot and stop wobbling about.
I couldn’t get the sock fully on as the damp and mud laden sock was heavy, and my foot having gone into the frozen water meant I couldn’t feel anything.
I dare not let go of the tripod while it was at risk of falling over! I had to accept that my sock was only going to remain half on. The wellie boot was caked with mud and water inside but in went my foot, and I was able to walk about albeit uncomfortable.
I spent the next hour wandering around with an increasingly cold and frozen foot, and pretending everything was fine.
I wandered closer to the mill and did this shot below.
As I milled around, a fellow club member pointed out this next scene which may well be my best shot from the trip.
One other club member didn’t attend this trip as they felt the missing sails on the windmill made it not worthwhile. However, we disagreed and felt there were many compositions here, and even more in terms of abstract plants frozen in the water or frosted reeds.
I took my turn in taking the following shot looking towards the mini bridge towards the mill.
Finally, I climbed over the fence and took the shot below looking back at the mill. I like this shot as I like the curve in the river as a leading line to the mill. Once again, the bland sky detracts from what should be a great image.
Replacing the sky – now, don’t get all high and mighty on me…
I have revisited this image and replaced the sky in Photoshop thoughtfully.
Using as near to the original sky as possible just to add a dash of colour. Then I’ve played with the temperature scale and ensured the tones are cool rather than my usual warm style to fit the wintry scene.
For me, this manipulated shot rescues the image and make it much more pleasing on the eye.
As many of us know, sky replacement is a contentious topic – I wrote a blog post about the subject here.
As the white sky became very bright, we decided that was it and made our way back to our cars. I had a spare pair of socks and with some difficulty, I got a clean sock on but could not feel my toes on that foot.
Flasks drinks consumed, we all agreed this location was worth more visits in future.
Learning from this trip
My learning from this trip is that I feel somewhat disappointed that the landscape provided some good shots but the flat dull sky held the images back. However, I am able to manipulate one or two images if I wish.
What I possible should’ve done is taken two or three landscapes but spend the majority of time looking for some abstract shots of frozen plants or frost dusted reeds.
All part of the learning process.
Onwards and upwards…