The Mendip Hills After Snowfall

Last weekend I made a last minute decision to travel to a spot I know well on the Mendip Hills in Somerset, only a half hour drive away but which I thought could potentially still have a lot of snow on the landscape, with my immediate local area having been covered in snow a few days previously but had by now pretty much all melted away.

I picked this area, not only because I know it very well but also because it doesn’t require too many icy and dicey narrow country lanes that could be a real hazard but luckily the B roads from Chewton Mendip were relatively ice free.

When I arrived there was still nearly an hour until sunrise but I had enough light to see with the sky to the South East over the rows of pine trees starting to show some very promising red hues, so, naturally I started to make my way over in that direction and found a small hill to get some elevation to frame up some pre-dawn images. This didn’t work too well as although the sky was turning a more intense, fiery red I just couldn’t find a composition that would work. So instead I pointed my camera in the opposite direction to where the clouds were catching some wonderfully subtle pinks and purples and I framed up a couple of compositions that I was fairly pleased with, one with a solo tree and other showing three main trees on the horizon, both in portrait orientation. I used the patchy snow as a lead in line in both cases that I think works pretty well, although I prefer the solitary tree as it’s a much more prominent feature for the eye to fall on.

A Pink, Pre-Dawn sky

Both images shot at ISO100, 65mm, f/16 for 1/5 sec

As the ambient light levels increased and the sky became more and more dramatic I found myself being drawn to certain areas to photograph but so desperately wanted to include a lot more of the sky than would actually work well as a composition but nonetheless I tried a panorama made up of 5 vertical images. Although the visual elements in my opinion don’t balance very well together I just loved the shapes, texture and colour in the sky.

5 Vertical Images Stitched Together in Lightroom

Each shot at ISO100, 84mm, f/16 for 1/5 sec

After the sun had come up (clouds soon descended on the horizon snuffing out the light) I worked on a few more vertical compositions similar to before but this time with a much more prominent foreground. I feel that including the three main trees here actually worked better than pre-sunrise, especially after waiting for some light to give them more dimension and prominence in the scene.

After Sunrise

ISO100, 55mm, f/16 for 1/5 sec

It was at around this time that a woman walking her dog called up to me and asked what I was photographing. When I explained to her that I was just photographing the scenery she commented on how awesome the sky looked this morning and I agreed with her, it was the best dawn sky I’ve seen in a little while.

Time was marching on and I had an appointment to get to so I carefully made my way down to a path below, being careful not to slip on any rocky ledges. After a short walk along the path I found a large body of water that had frozen over with lots of interesting patterns where the ice had cracked in places and tall grasses poking through. I don’t photograph too many abstract or ‘small scenes’ but it is an area that interests me and I would like to explore further. I ditched the tripod and handheld the camera to make some more spontaneous images, the best effort is below but I’m sure with more time I could’ve delved into this a lot deeper and got some very interesting results.

Breaking the Ice

Handheld, ISO200, 70mm, f/8 for 1/100 sec

A few minutes away from the car I got to the top of a prominent hill and noticed a group of Beech trees over on a hillside that I had initially been drawn to much earlier but now I could see a potential image to make. So with the clock ticking I quickly got my camera and tripod back out, framed up a composition that included some of the browns and dark colours of the grasses and gorse for contrast against the hillside and waited - and waited some more for the light to finally break through the clouds and light up the hill. This may be my favourite image from a day I won’t be forgetting in a hurry. The frustration of weeks of dull, uninspiring conditions make days like this so worth it.

Beech side view

ISO100, 50mm, f/16 for 1/30 sec

Thank you for reading my blog, I’ve made it a goal of mine to post more regularly this year so watch this space.