The forecast was for a hard frost during the night, but mist was scheduled to appear just before sunrise in several locations, not wanting to drive to far in case of a now-show, I decided to head for Derwent Water, as this is normally a good location for misty conditions.
My plan was to head for the southern shores of the lake to try and capture something a little different form the images that I already have of Catbells etc bathed in mist.
Myrtle, and Abbots Bay’s were my intended locations, for which I did not have a pre-determined plan on what I wanted to do, or capture, one of them times when you just shoot what appears at the time.
I soon found a partly submerged fence which had collapsed in the middle, I managed to get a couple of shots using this as the main interest, with the bank of mist in the background.
A broken fence at Myrtle Bay on Derwent Water
From here I took a 2-minute walk along the path towards Great Bay to find the trees and shrubbery were covered in a Hoare Frost, so I had a play-about here trying to pick out some of the frost covered shrubs and trees against a dark background.
A shrub covered in Hoare frost
Back to the lakeshore, but slightly further along, I came across a lovely little lone tree which was growing on a partly submerged rock, the water was flat calm, so allowing the tree to create a lovely reflection in the water’s surface, I played about with this composition for a while, capturing a couple of very nice images as I did.
I then found another frozen puddle, this time on one of the rocks that protrude out into the water, I thought the ice formation would make an original fore ground item, so set about taking a image of this.
A frozen puddle in the rocks on the shore of Derwent Water looking towards Walla Crag
By now the sun was up and most of the mist had dispersed, but a huge bank of mist remained at the northern end of the lake, even though the sky was cloudless, the sun was illuminating the wintery Skiddaw with its brown winters colour, so I grabbed a few images of this view, and of course captured a panoramic of the whole scene, as I do!
After this I went back to the car to set off home, but has I drove along the lower slopes of Catbells towards Portinscale, I notice that the mists were moving along the lake towards Lords island, which was becoming swamped in mist, I stopped the car jumped out and grabbed a image of this scene, no planning, just point the camera and shoot, surprisingly, (I think) that this is one of the best images form the whole mornings trip.
Lords Island slowly being engulfed by the bank of mist flowing along the lakes surface
Until next time, stay safe, enjoy your photography, and please feel free to comment on this news article or on any of the images contained within it.
As the 2023 autumn season comes to an end, the weather forecast for the weekend was looking very promising.
Mild daytime temperatures with cold nights and the prospect of frost which create good conditions for a misty morning.
I had one day available, Saturday, so plans were made and alarm set for an early rise the next morning.
Once underway, my hopes for a misty morning were heightened has I passed Bassenthwaite Lake, it was covered in a canopy of mist, then has I drove around Keswick and began the rise up towards Castlerigg, I could see Derwent Water was also covered in mist.
I was very happy, but, once alongside Thirlmere, not an once of mist anywhere, as was Grasmere and Rydal Water, my hopes of seeing any morning mist were now evaporating as fast as the vanishing mists.
As I turned out of Ambleside and headed for Elterwater, signs of mist along the rivers surface, could I be in luck after driving all this way?
I pulled in to the roadside parking area at the Skelwith Bridge Hotel, I was surprised to see it nearly full, surly there wasn’t that many photographers at the River Brathay already, after all it was still 25 minutes to sunrise.
As I opened the gate on to the meadows that border the River, I could only smile to myself, cold conditions, with ground frost, and, banks of mist, YES.
I walked not 50 meters before I had the camera out of the bag, 1 shot, 2 shots, 3 shots, I was in seventh heaven.
First View of the River Brathay looking towards the Langdale Pikes.
I eventually got to the path that follows the rivers route and was planning my pitching point, but has I got closer I could see a line of people, then another couple, then some more, and more, all photographers hunting that elusive photograph, I counted at least 16 in total, in all the years I have been shooting landscape photography, I have never seen this may photographers in one place.
I was late, too late to grab one of the “honey pot” locations, so I had a stroll about, and decided to go up the bank, a place that I have never shot form before.
One set up I stood and watched the ever-changing flow of mist, intertwined with the rising suns light, looking down the river and back towards Elterwater and the Langdale Pikes.
The mist just kept rolling in.
I was perplexed, the views along the river were astonishing, but when turning to my right the views towards the Langdale Pikes were just has enthralling.
The house is hidden by the bank of mist.
I was like a kid in a sweet shop, snap, snap, snap, as the conditions changed and differing compositions came and went.
A hour and a half went in the blink of an eye, some of my fellow photographers had departed the scene so I had a stroll down to the river side to view what compositions were available as the sun began to rise over the ridgeline to the east.
I found a lovely scene which forms the featured image for this post, the sun breaking over the hill to illuminate the mist that was glued to the waters surface and helped pick out the gorgeous reflections in the waters surface.
The sun then began to strike the various copses of trees that are spread around the meadows, it was then a matter of picking out the images that attracted my interest, what I ideally wanted was any side, or backlight autumnal coloured leaves.
I think that I managed a couple of good images, here is one, what do you think of the photo, does it capture the autumnal colours of the leaves, please comment if you wish.
A copse of trees which are back-light by the rising sun, surrounded by a carpet of mist.
I now began to notice the excellent reflections in the water which were becoming more noticeable as the mists began to rise revealing these lovely images, a example of these views is attached below.
Lovely coloured autumnal trees reflected in a perfectly still water of the River Brathay with a hint of remaining mist.
To finish off I could not omit to include one of the many panoramic images that I took which (I think) capture the atmosphere of the morning. All told a thoroughly enjoyable 3 hours, which were arguably the best mornings photography of the year.
A panoramic image of the view that enthralled me.
Until my next adventure, thank you for finding the time to read this news update, stay safe and enjoy your weekends.
This years Autumnal season has passed me by in a blink of an eye. I was astonished to find that it was over a month since I was last out with the camera, the joys of being a “Weekend Photographer”.
Even though family commitments were again taking preference, I was determined to get out on the Sunday morning, even though the forecast was not the best.
Because of the poor weather forecast, I was not prepared to plan a long journey, so it was off to Borrowdale to see what materialised, and hopefully include some woodland photography.
Has I approached Keswick there appeared to be the possibility of some mist over the Lake, so a short detour was the order of the day.
Upon arriving on the Lake Shore via Crow Park, the light was very nice indeed, Derwent Island was dressed in its Autumnal colours, a photograph waiting to be taken.
From here I quickly shot round to Isthmus bay, where I captured a lovely image of the old jetty looking out towards the Cumbrian Mountains.
Isthmus Jetty, Isthmus Bay, Derwent Water,
From the shore of Derwent Water, I made my way to Grange Fell where I was hoping to secure some woodland photography images, this is genre of photography is well outside my comfort zone, but I really wanted to get some images of the remaining Autumnal season.
Once up on the lower slopes of the Fell there were gorgeous shades of oranges, browns and reds on the trees, but the hard part is always finding compositions form the surrounding chaos.
Disappointingly the whole area was in shade, but the rising sun was beginning to strike the surrounding ridge lines, this was my starting point.
Silver Birch trees on a ridge line on Grange Fell in Borrowdale.
I then found several knurly old trees covered in green moss, (I’m sorry I am not sure what type of tree they are), these really attracted me to them, but by god, it takes some time to pick out a suitable composition, still you have to learn somewhere, haven’t we?
Knurled trees on Grange Fell in Borrowdale,
I then found what appeared to be a tree with three trunks, again a little pottering about to find the best place to shoot it, what do you think of this photo, does it create interest for you ?
A tree with what appears to be three trunks.
As I was walking out of the woods a stumbled across some small toadstool or fungi like plants hidden in the undergrowth, time for some macro photos, these plants looked really nice, so I was careful not to tread on any has I retuned to the path.
Fungi hidden on the floor of the woods on Grange Fell
After a really enjoyable time in the woods, I decided to head to the southern shores of Derwent Water to try my luck in capturing some images of the lovely morning light striking Otter Island and the surrounding areas.
As I arrived the light was really nice, shining on Otter Island and the far side of Abbots Bay, as I began to set up sods law struck again, the sun became hidden behind the bloody clouds.
Despite waiting for just over an hour, there was no sign of any improvement, so I decided to grab the panoramic image and head home for a well deserved breakfast.
Abbots Bay & Otter Island, Derwent Water looking towards Blencathra and Walla Crag.
It Just goes to show, the weather forecast is not always right, and I was well pleased to have made the effort to get out.
I thoroughly enjoyed the six hours that I was out during the morning on my adventures, I makes you relies how much I enjoy what I do.
Thank you for your likes, comments and shares, as always, until the next post, take care.
We were fortunate to have a short visit to Glencoe planned between Christmas and the New Year where we would be staying at the Kingshouse Hotel.
The forecast for the days that we would be there was nothing special for this time of year, wind and lots of rain, how this was to change.
On the day we travelled up to Glencoe the weather was bitterly cold, and as we travelled further into Scotland snow became more evident, when we got to Loch Lomond the road verges were white with snow, but the roads remained clear.
As we began to gain height after Loch Lomond on the way to Crairnlarich we passed several snow ploughs, which was a worry but exciting at what may lay ahead, when we reached Rannoch Moor the conditions were unbelievable, thick white snow in all directions, with the islands in Loch Ba looking exquisite, being covered in snow which contrasted against the dark background, sadly we were unable to stop to take any photos as the roadside lay-byes and parking areas were buried by snow, so we had no option but to reluctantly continue driving to our destination.
When we got there, we faced the most challenging part of the journey, getting form the A82 to the hotel car park, a distance of several hundred meters.
This road was compacted snow, which had layer of ice formed on the top if it which made driving a very interesting! We checked-in and took stock has we unpacked, was it really practical to drive out in the conditions bearing in mind that we needed to get to the A82 from the hotel, then were reliant on finding parking spaces from where we could take photos.
We decided that the logical option was to stay put and enjoy the Hotels hospitality.
The Kingshouse Hotel, Glencoe, Scotland
We arose early the next morning to go and get an early breakfast from where we tried to glimpse what the conditions were like outside through the dining room windows. Once breakfast was had (it was gorgeous) we took a stroll outside only to find it was freezing cold and that the car park was still covered in a layer of compacted snow and the road from the Hotel was looking quite treacherous.
So after considering our options we decided that the photography options would be on foot and local to the hotel. So off we went to get changed and wrapped up for what was in front of us.
As I went for a walk around the area close to the hotel, before I trudged up to the Cauldron Falls where I spent some time taking shots of the falls and looking down the valley towards the Buchaille Etive and Beinn a Chrulsaiste, from this view point it could be seen how much the snow had been washed away by the falling rain through the night.
I spent a couple of hours setting up compositions around the falls before I set off back down to the hotel where we had a bite to eat and a lovely hot cuppa to warm us up before we got in the car to head up to Rannoch Moor to see what the conditions were like, hoping for these to be as good as they were the day before.
Red Dear at the Kingshouse Hotel, Glencoe, Scotland
Frustratingly I had to drive past the place where I wanted to stop on Rannoch Moor due to a bloody lorry being about 6 foot off my rear bumper, not to disappointed, the 1-mile detour wasn’t that bad. At the parking area I set off looking for some compositions as I have never visited to this place before.
I soon realised that trudging over heather that was covered in 9 inches of snow was quite hard, I was soon huffing and puffing like the old man I am becoming.
I followed the stream round the headland hoping to find a good composition, unfortunately this was not to be, so I retraced my tracks back to the road then decided to trek along the road to the next inlet,
I again headed for the water’s edge to try and pick out any compositions, I soon became frustrated again as the background was blending into the flat sky’s. I didn’t spend too long here as I was struggling to get any decent images.
We decided to head down the valley to get to Lagangarbh Hut that sits on the lower slopes of the Buchaille Etive Mor. Unfortunately, even though the distance travelled was only a couple of miles from the hotel, the rain was belting down, there was no way that I was getting out to try and take a photo in these conditions. We sat in the car for 20 minutes or so before we called it a day.
Buachaille Etive Mòr, Glencoe, Scotland
During the evening we got to really appreciate the staff of the hotel, they were so friendly and helpful, nothing was any issue to them. The food service and drinks were excellent.
The next morning we arose with the same plan as the day before, an early breakfast and then assess the conditions to what we will do. After another hearty and thoroughly enjoyable breakfast, we waited for the light to improve only to see that the heavens had opened again.
I decided to head down the valley of Glencoe as I was looking to photograph the large waterfall at the meeting of three waters, and to try and get the shots at the hut that we didn’t do the day before.
I pulled up at the hut, but new immediately that the constant rain would make this a nogoer, so I continued to the falls where I parked up and began waiting for the light to improve.
After a 30 minute wait the light was still very dark, due to the heavy cloud cover and the constant heavy rain, so even though I was intending to get under the bridge to take the photo, the very dark conditions would not allow me to get the shutter speeds that I was looking for, yet again another location was a washout, there was now nothing more to do, other than head to the a few hours relaxation before we began out long journey home.
Cauldron Falls in Glencoe, Scotland
The conclusion to this short trip up to Glencoe is that we had a very enjoyable stay at the Kingshouse Hotel, we can highly recommend this hotel for its location, facilities and its staff, who we found to be excellent throughout our stay. The photography was a little disappointing, especially when you consider how lucky we were to arrive in such wonderful snow-covered conditions, but just to be out and about in these weather conditions was a joy.
Until the next chapter, thank you for reading, and viewing this blog and photos.
