Radiant Ruins | Weekly Photo #126
Although I enjoy the craft of photography and the ability to be creative with the landscape, photography is also my excuse to be outdoors, exploring, thinking, relaxing, recharging…all of the above and more. So, a few weeks ago, eager to be out the following morning, I was struggling for inspiration as to where to go.
The weather forecast wasn’t great for my style of photography. I tend to avoid clear blue-sky days and the woodland wasn’t yet on the turn from the late summer greens to the golden colours of autumn. What to do? Contemplating an extra couple of hours in bed, I considered for a moment not going out at all but that thought was short-lived. As I mentioned above, I don’t just go out to capture a photo, I need that time out there and photography is just one of my excuses for doing so.
After pondering for a while, I decided to take the opportunity to revisit Bodiam Castle, one of my favourite historic places in East Sussex. I’d been meaning to visit it again and just love the peace and tranquillity of the place first thing in the morning. With my photographic expectations low but enthusiasm for a morning walk high, I set off before sunrise the following day.
Fujifilm XT2 | XF10-24mm | 10mm | 1/550th Second | f/8 | ISO200
As I drove towards the castle, the light levels started to increase and the conditions were as expected with clear, cloudless skies but as I arrived on location, things could not have been more different. I found the castle surrounded by fog and boy, was it a sight for sore eyes. A real surprise indeed, as I’d not come across a single patch of fog during my entire drive down. Expectations were on the rise.
It’s not the first time I’ve photographed Bodiam castle in the fog. Last time though, it was much thicker with very little light filtering through and it took a good hour or two before the fog was thin enough to photograph the castle. Although I managed to take some photos I was really happy with, back then, I remember longing for some defused sunlight to filter through as I knew it would have been the icing on the cake. With the mist looking thinner this time round, the chances of catching some of that glorious light appeared much better. Leaving the car park with a bit more haste, I set off, walking the path that surrounds the caste in the hope of finding a new composition (well, new to me anyway).
Using some of the foliage to help frame my first composition, I spent some time photographing the castle with the sun behind me, capturing some of the subtle light bouncing off its solid medieval stone walls. I even managed to take a photo that eluded me last time around due to the heavy fog, so I was already pleased with how the morning was going so far.
Once finished taking photos with the sun behind me, I decided to continue around to see how the scene might look with the sun behind the castle. I don’t usually like the photos I take when the camera is pointing directly towards the sun but with plenty of mist still hanging around, the bright, harsh light from the sun was defused just enough for me to take a photo featuring a somewhat silhouetted castle in the foreground.
Compositionally, I placed the imposing castle to the right-hand of the frame so I could include the wooden walkway entering the scene from the left towards the castle’s entrance. I was worried this might leave too much visual weight on the right but I think I just got away with it as the tree entering the frame on the far left adds just enough weight to rebalance the composition to my eye at least. With plenty of ambient light, I was able to shoot handheld for this shot and by using my wide-angle lens I could capture the entire scene, including those fantastic reflections in the water. I dialled in my settings, exposing to the right so I could include as much detail in the shadows as possible but at the same time being careful not to blow out the highlights in the sky and went ahead and took the shot.
As expected, it was a beautifully quiet, early autumnal morning and photography aside, it felt great to be out there, but, with the unexpected bonus of having some perfect conditions for photography, I was so pleased to have set the alarm the previous night.
Until next week.
Trevor
This post is featured in my Weekly Photo series where I post a new photo every Monday. To have this delivered directly to your inbox, you can subscribe to the mailing list here.