While some people spend their St Patrick's day in the pub in drunken revellry, I set my alarm for 5:30 in the morning and rushed to Fontill Lake before work.
Remarkably, for the second time in a week, fog was in the forecast and happily the weathermen called it right once again.
I was early enough that it was still dark when I arrived, and so for my first image I thought I'd try and get the moon setting through some trees; a shot I'd been hoping to get for a few months. At the point I framed the scene, the moon didn't touch the surrounding trees, but by the time I'd pressed the shutter it had moved. Sadly, my Photoshop skills aren't good enough to fix this!
I did think about adding the moon to the image below in photoshop but sadly my pho....sorry I think I've done that bit already.
Seeing as it was early and I was feeling f̶u̶c̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶l̶a̶z̶y̶ creative, I thought I'd turn the camera around and try and capture the scene to my left. It took some focus stacking but as that was something I could do in Photoshop, I had nothing to lose. The shot turned out to be very average so actually I lost several minutes editing an image I could have spent playing with my kids or talking to my wife
I seriously misjudged the timing of sunrise, so I still had a bit of time before there was any danger of some light. I've done shooting across the lake to death at Fonthill Lake (seriously - check my website, there's loads of photos..) so I walked further around the lake than I would normally venture. As a throwaway shot I quite liked this scene below in Black and White.
The image below was my favourite shot of the morning, which is why you get it bigger. I could have removed the ripples on the water by using a longer exposure, but I think I've already covered that previously when I said I was f̶u̶c̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶l̶a̶z̶y̶ tired from it being early in the morning.
I really loved the colour of the branches on these Willows(?), which at this time of year have a very striking orange hue. So naturally I thought the best way to present this element of their anatomy was to edit the image in black and white.
As the sky gradually brightened I revisited a patch of woodland I'd had some success in earlier in the year (success being a generous description). The light didn't develop quite as much as I'd hoped but I had some fun anyway, and isn't that what it's all about really?
The scene below is one I really want to do justice at some point, but spoiler (literally) shortly after this visit I discovered that fisherman had been using this spot to 'release their catch', so to speak, so once I've finished scrubbing myself, I don't think I'm coming back. I may never be clean again...
(Note the image below is bigger which means I like it...it's messy but it kind of holds together, a line I've stolen from my boss from my recent work appraisal)
It wouldn't be a Fonthill Lake visit if I didn't take a picture of the tree in the image below - it looks better in the spring, but you can judge for yourself if you look through my galleries (will someone please look at my bloody galleries!)
Before I left I thought I'd line up one more scene which I think deserved both a vertical and horizontal treatment. I was hoping that I might be treated to some sun rays but on this occasion it was a case of close but no cigar. I did like the light on the mossy tree though....
The third week in March was proving to be a profitable week for my portfolio, and I was really pleased with my hour in the field. Would I get lucky with the conditions again? Keep your eyes peeled for my next blog in the coming weeks.... (I write this like someone reads my musings - to round things back to St Patrick's day, in actuality these blogs get similar page hits as there are snakes in Ireland!).
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