Blog #4a – Autumnal weekend in Wiltshire – 1 of 2
November 2023
Is it me, or have the last few years always felt like as soon as the autumnal colours seem to come around, we have a series of ‘named’ storms across the UK and, for those of us that still have the 9 to 5 getting in the way, the limited time we have over a weekend to get out and photograph the magnificence of the seasons colour, is possibly over before we’ve even packed the camera bag! On top of that, whilst I always say to myself “I’m definitely going to spend some time photographing Autumn next year”, other ‘things’ seem to come up and the season blows past with storm ‘Babet’, ‘Ciaran’ or even ‘Debi’!!
But this year was different, the long weekend of Friday 3rd to Monday 6th November was not just pencilled in but ‘Sharpied’! I was determined to dedicate some time to the season this year and the only decision now, was where? I’m lucky, I live amongst the beauty that is North Wales, I’ve done so for nearly 3 years now, I’ve got sandy beaches, rugged coastline, stunning mountains and historic towns and cities within easy reach of home, and whilst there are numerous forests around me, my relatively short period of time up here and hasn’t leant itself to discovering anything like what I knew previously, I felt a calling back to what I guess, due to the number of years I lived there, is still my real home, Wiltshire. I knew that at the very least, I could spend the whole 4 days in Savernake Forest and not cover much of it at all, I know some of it from numerous previous visits but I also knew I could call on some friends to join me and I could cheekily tap into their knowledge of the vast woodland, whilst clearly enjoying time in their company too…..if you don’t know Nigel Hudson (@nigelhudsonphotography) or Anya Hope Medlin (@anya_earthwise), or follow them on Instagram, I thoroughly recommend checking their feeds out, they produce some wonderful work. I also wanted to visit a canal or two, the Kennet & Avon around the Pewsey area sprung to mind and it’s there that I would eventually go.
Dates & locations sorted and days off work booked, with that commitment came the variable us photographers fear (I know we can embrace it too)…..the weather! Apart from the aforementioned storms, what about the other main elements that can, in my opinion, make or break some landscape photography, rain and flay grey light….please no, not this year!! Well, I’m happy to report the weather was favourable, it wasn’t wet (most of the time) and the light was OK, the dreamed of frosty, cold & possibly misty conditions didn’t present themselves, I couldn’t be too greedy, I was 4 hours from home (I stay with family when I’m back down in Wiltshire) and the days had been planned far in advance, I really couldn’t complain.
I started out on the Friday morning, up with the larks and heading for the canal at Wilcot, it was nice and still which was great for reflections, the trees were looking majestically autumnal and surprisingly, there was some contrasting summer greens around too. A trek up and down the towpath gave various opportunities and as is my way, I couldn’t help myself but to throw in a bit of ICM too, the temptation was too much for me.
Kennet & Avon canal at Wilcot, reflections, contrasting tree colours and a nice narrowboat.
ISO200 153mm f11 1 Second
Intentional Camera Movement (ICM), one of my favourite techniques. Autumnal colours reflected in the Kennet & Avon canal.
ISO100 182mm f5 2 Seconds
I think the next image was my favourite from the time by the canal, the framing of the colours, the archway of the bridge and the reflecting narrowboat were great, the little bit of mist that appeared was great…however, don’t be deceived, that was actually some exhaust fumes from a, shall we say for want of a better expression, ‘speedboat’ beyond the bridge….effect great, atmospheric impact, not so much!!
Narrowboat perfectly framed on the Kennet & Avon canal at Pewsey Wharf.
ISO100 400mm f11 1/10 Second
The afternoon was spent in ‘West Woods’, they used to be part of the vast 150 square mile expanse that made up Savernake (pronounced ‘Savvernack’) Forest back in the day.
(check out en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savernake_forest)
Mostly known for its amazing bluebell displays in Spring, it’s still an amazing wood in its own right, with beech the dominant species, having been replanted there following the clear felling in the 1930’s. My ICM head went into overdrive amongst the tall colourful trees, with the image below really representing what I had visualised walking around.
ICM Beech Trees at West Woods…it’s not all about the Bluebells.
ISO100 50mm f14 1 Second
A second image wasn’t too far behind, with a multitude of paths helping you around the vastness, I wanted to incorporate one as a thanks for guiding me.
An ICM interpretation of a guiding pathway through West Woods, near Marlborough, Wiltshire.
ISO100 85mm f16 0.8 Second
It had been a good first day, rounded off with a visit to the Charlton Beech Clumps, a location near Upavon on the vast openness that is Salisbury Plain…..the location is next to a live firing range for the MOD, watch out for the red flags, albeit you’re outside of the boundary when visiting. The location was brought to my attention in the ‘Fotovue’ ‘Photographing Wiltshire’ book from their popular photo-location and Visitor Guidebooks, this one authored by Robert Harvey, I use these books as inspiration, something I’d recommend (this is not a sponsored blog but credit where it’s due). The scene was fairly flat, a bit of colour in the sky made the scene worth photographing but I’ve been there before in much better conditions.
Charlton Beech Clumps, near Upavon, Wiltshire.
ISO100 50mm f8 0.5 Second
And this one from a visit a few years ago (Dec 2020), it called out for a black & white conversion, with the long exposure (128 seconds) producing some nice movement in the clouds.
The same set of trees, different angle, there is 4 of them!
ISO100 76mm f10 128 Seconds
I think that’s enough for this blog, I’ll follow this up with a part 2, until then……
Cheers for now…...
Lawrence
