Its all about the light.
What started off as a cracking day to be out in the hills, quickly turned desperate, the almost alpine day on top of Kinder Scout changed within the hour. Windchill and deep powder snow made movement almost impossible. Out of the gloom appeared a tiny pinprick of light illuminating the landscape looking down the valley from Kinder downfall toward Hayfield. My camera gear almost frozen pulled out from the shelter of the bag, quickly set up the manual exposure, several different frames taken, the now snow covered camera quickly wiped down back in its bag. Within minutes of the the shot being taken, the gloom rolled back in and near darkness was upon us.
A moment in time, that little shaft of light cheered us up no end, then it was back to plodding back off the hill to the safety of civilisation below us. Despite the conditions an epic day was had, and one image stood out over the rest. Totally summing up the day and conditions, the bleakness of the peak in deep winter.
Fuji X pro 1 18mm f2.8 converted to monochrome.
An autumn day
Managed to get out for a few hours yesterday, but a real gloomy November day. However the diffused soft light really worked well, it allowed me to shoot quite slow exposures without any contrast or deep shadows. The only problem was the rain and keeping it off the lenses. I chose to go up to Grindleford as they always have some wonderful woodlands, showing off a fantastic array of autumn colours. I was not disappointed. My favourite of the day was this one.
I just love this old abandoned shed, this was taken with the 35mm 1.4 on my Fuji X pro 1
Some other images taken with a variety of lenses 14mm, 18mm, 35mm, and the 55-200 zoom. What I have noticed over my year of X pro 1 ownership, is that they may not make the best camera in terms of ergonomics or af speed. What Fuji deliver however is incredible files, maybe this is due to their years of knowledge about making film. It certainly seems to show in the quality of the images I get.
A sunset to remember
A couple of weeks ago after a fairly desultory day weather wise, the cloud disappeared to reveal a wonderful sunset. I quickly grabbed the camera gear and got to a local spot with a good aspect and also a kindly positioned tree that would look great against this blazing sky. Looking through the viewfinder it was an amazing spectacle, it was like literally looking at molten metal in a furnace. The different layers of similar colours gave the sky such depth. Even the picture I shot doesn't quite do it justice. As a print it looks wonderful and one I am pleased to have made from this image.
The image was taken using a Fuji X pro 1 with the 55-200 zoom. A killer combination.
A break from a wedding
I was lucky enough to shoot a wedding in North Wales last weekend, at a rather plush hotel on the banks of the River Conwy. fortunate to witness the sun going down whilst the couple were enjoying their meal. I took the opportunity to shoot some images of the river estuary. All the images were shot using the X pro 1 with 14mm and 55-200mm lenses. Having shot the wedding all day I was down to my last battery, but only had the speeches and the first dance left to shoot. Anyway a few of the images from my break.
Sometimes you forget
Often I shoot a bunch of images, quickly edit them, look at the potential for a gallery print. Then off to another project. Whilst doing some cleaning in lightroom I came across a set of images taken a couple of months ago, that lay neglected and unloved. I had not even looked at these. So I started to think about making a print with this image. I love the mood in this, the view up the valley, and the stonework in the bridge. The cloud had started to clear of the fellside revealing the colour. I tried to look at this in monochrome but for me it didn't work as well. The tones didn't separate enough.
I have just made a large print of this for framing, the colour and tone work well to create a fine moody landscape. So something that was forgotten now sits proudly on the gallery wall.
Image taken with Fuji X pro 1 14mm lens