Get It Right Next Time - a photo on Flickriver

            Maybe I still haven't quite yet, although I think we're gradually getting there with this woodland lark.  I don't know about you, but it's not quite the same as working at the coast or in the mountains is it?  Getting an image from the trees is an altogether different game.  You see the thing is I love being in the woods.  During lockdown, our daily exercise was through our local woodland just across the road where we would be soothed by the endless birdsong and the gentle sighing and creaking of timber.  There weren't really any leaves of note to whisper back in February, but it didn't seem to matter - we were in the woods and for a moment we were lost in time as the traffic noise was lost somewhere on the distant breeze.  

That's what being among trees does for me.  They create an unparalleled sense of wellbeing, even if trying to make pictures among them is a bit of a struggle.  It's certainly an environment where I hope to develop and improve in the coming years as my free time expands with the eagerly awaited retirement that gets ever closer - less than five months to go now.  I'll be free just in time for the autumn colours.

Those of you who've been kind enough to read the meandering tales that accompany my posts may remember that I'd spent five years thinking I'd been visiting Pendarves Wood near Camborne, when in fact I wasn't.  I only learned I'd been labouring under a misapprehension for so long when Katie and I were discussing our weekends over morning coffee one Monday and she described her visit to the woodland, with its lake, its rhododendron arch and its duckboards.  I'd seen no such things despite my own regular excursions, and when we looked at the map we established that the unnamed nearby woodland I'd been visiting was not where she'd just been to.  She'd been to Pendarves Wood.

The bluebell season is amongst us now, although the driest April in a gazillion years hasn't helped them.  However, it was the wild garlic that I was really hoping to capture, and this narrow glade had already been identified as a likely subject on a visit two days earlier.  It was a visit where the conditions were ideal, but my focusing skills left much to be desired.  Consoling myself that I'd rushed to the scene after a day at the office and not properly focused (in both senses) on the task at hand, I knew the opportunity to return would come quickly with the bank holiday weekend upon us.  And so on Saturday I was here again, leaving the full frame at home in favour of the crop body, with what should have been the obvious choice of lens to me all along.  To think I came close to selling my Sigma Art lens last summer - it still makes me shudder.

I left the scene happy, and confident that a shot worthy of sharing with you was somewhere on my SD card; a confidence that suffered a temporary setback on first view of the results.  Sixty odd raw files later at home (via an impromptu detour to Godrevy which may result in another post later) and I began to learn what was working and what was creating far too much noise and distraction to the viewer's eyes.  This one was taken quite early in the session, and I liked the hint of the curving path in the centre of the image.  

It's Bank Holiday Monday here in England, and the warm sunny weather of the last few days has vanished into featureless grey skies, chased by a chilly westerly wind.  It seems strange to be sitting inside with the heating on, when yesterday afternoon we were dozing in our sun loungers in the garden.  I'm hoping the accompanying rain might enliven those bluebells a bit.  After all, my next lesson under the trees awaits.  I love that there's still so much to learn.

Apologies I've been a bit quiet recently.  The excuse is pathetic.   Good weather.  You have to make the most of it in this part of the world.

Taken in: UK / England / Camborne / Camborne (show map)

Taken on: May 1, 2021

Tags:

garlic

wild

wilderness

nature

trees

treescape

woods

woodland

Pendarves

wild garlic

Bluebells

glow

Cornwall

West Country

west country clickers

forest

Flowers

Camborne

Kernow

Spring

Sigma

Sigma Art 18-35

Sigma Art « less

Sets appears in: • Book - Landscape • Trees more » • Pendarves Wood « less

Groups appears in: • Amateurs • Cornwall more » • Flickr Social Club • Photography Week • Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 Art • Amateur Photographer Magazine • Flickr Social « less

Camera: Canon EOS 80D, f/6.3, 1/50 sec, 23mm, ISO 250 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 80D
Lens:	18-35mm
Aperture:	f/6.3
Exposure Time:	0.02 sec (1/50)
Focal Length:	23mm
ISO:	250
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Partial
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 10.2 (Windows)
Show full info

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