Epic Week of Weather Part 2

Tuesday Continued.....

Hi Everyone!

This is a continuation of my last post: Epic Week of Weather Part 1

To recap, I had waited outside the park gates in the freezing cold, walked to the brook, and taken a handful of shots. The sun has just risen and the light is absolutely epic....

Here's another image of the sun shining through the trees and mist. Usually I'm drawn to quieter and more subtle images, but the light was so amazing it would have been rude to not take more photos....

This shot was bracketed to cope with the high dynamic range of the light and consists of 3 images that have been merged together. I would have lost highlight and shadow detail if I'd taken this image as a single frame.

I decided to go for a little paddle to see how things looked from the water...

Another bracketed shot.

I could have remained in this spot but I wanted to see how things looked further up. That's when I realised that one of my favourite willows had come down. It was lying in the brook, and had been obscured by all the mist from where I had been stood.

This tree has been in loads of my photographs. Unfortunately it's not the first tree that has been lost since I started photographing the park 3 years ago. I think it's the 5th one to come down in this short time. Every loss has been sad, but this one particularly so. The sight was shocking and it brought be back down to earth with a gut wrenching bang.

I walked across the bridge and back down the opposite side of the bank. The poor tree. So many compositions that are now unrepeatable...

Looking back up the river the light was still unbelievable.

(Another bracketed image)

There was another photographer also shooting up stream, and I was conscious that I didn't want to get into his shots. There is nothing more annoying than when people do that. Had he not been there I'd have probably taken a slightly different composition here, but I still really like this shot. There are 2 people walking along the bank on the opposite side, but I don't really mind that they're in frame. The fallen willow is now visible through the mist...

I decided to walk back to an old favourite composition that I've photographed in all light and seasons, and it always seems to work.

(Another bracketed image)

The light beams were amazing. I think the sun is in a particularly good place at the moment for the tree shadows to create such dramatic light and shade. All in all it was a successful morning and it was the most amazing light I'd seen in quite a while. The only downer was the fallen willow....

So that's the end of Tuesday. Only Wednesday and Friday to go! :)

Thanks for reading and have a good Sunday!