The Worst Time to Try Woodland Photography
Too Tired
I've always considered myself to be a bit of a morning person. I enjoy getting up early, before it's dark, and heading out for a spot of landscape photography. I like the excitement of arriving at a location and not knowing exactly what is going to happen. There is always that sense of anticipation as you wait for your viewpoint to be filled with the light of a new day.
As I looked at the weather forecast I already knew that great morning light was out of the question so I decided that it was time to try something a bit different. For a long while now I've been wanting to try my hand at woodland photography. I've been very much inspired by the work of photographers such as Simon Baxter. Given the weather forecast, I thought this would be a good time to try my hand at some woodland photography and scope out a new location.
For reasons I can't remember I really didn't sleep well that night. I never sleep perfectly if I have to get up early, but this sleep was particularly unsettled. Normally I don't exactly wake up with a skip in my step but waking up that morning I knew I was tired. Really tired. Any sensible person would have gone back to bed but I was determined not to waste this opportunity so I jumped in the car and headed up to Dartmoor.
Too Dark
For a dawn shoot, I like to arrive around an hour before sunrise so I can get myself set up, pick out some compositions and get some of the pre-sunrise light that is often more attractive than sunrise itself. Arriving at my location thought I realised that it was too dark to go exploring and looking for compositions in a field of outdoor photography I had no real experience of. I decided that I'd wait for it to get a little lighter before heading out. I still felt incredibly tired and I ended up having a few power naps in the car.
As it got lighter I headed out to do a little exploring but I knew deep down I was still feeling tired and not very creative. However, I was here and I was going to give it a try. Try I did, but it was hard. Even if I wasn't feeling tired, trying woodland photography was going to be hard. Even with the light I did have, I was clearly here too early, especially as it was very overcast.
I wondered about looking for compositions but just got increasingly frustrated. I tried to visual some of the woodland photographs I had seen and the emotions they had invoked, but I just couldn't get myself started. I would have an idea, shoot it and then when I looked on the back of the screen I felt disappointed.
Dartmoor Woodland #1, Devon - Panasonic Lumix S1R, Lumix S 24-105/F4 at 47 mm, f/8, 0.5 seconds at ISO 100.
Too Short of Time
The other problem I had was time. I had to be home by a specific time so I was also rushing my photography. I wasn't taking the time to really have a proper look around the location and pick out compositions. This really wasn't working for me. The new location, new type of photography, flat light, being tired, and lacking creativity don't add up to a good photographic experience. It really was the worst time to try woodland photography.
Dartmoor Woodland #2, Devon - Panasonic Lumix S1R, Lumix S 24-105/F4 at 105 mm, f/8, 0.5 seconds at ISO 100.
As I headed back up the hill towards the car I looked back on the area I had been exploring. While I had been looking for simple compositions of individual tress and I hadn't paid much attention to wider woodland that stretched out in front of me. In an effort to salvage something of the morning I got my camera out and took a photograph of something that was a little more familiar to me.
Dartmoor Woodland #3, Devon - Panasonic Lumix S1R, Lumix S 24-105/F4 at 105 mm, f/8, 1/6th second at ISO 100.
It wasn’t my greatest morning of photography that was for sure. Has this put me of woodland photography? Of course not. Maybe next time I'll wait for better light and get a good nights sleep.