On this particular day I had been shooting down at Waterhead and having made the shots I wanted I decided to take a drive north and see what I could see. There is an ideal parking place beside Rydal Water that is a moments walk to this location, however there is room for one car and that space is often taken by a white van belonging to a fisherman. On this particular occasion and for no other reason that the parking space was free I decided to mount the kerb and go for it.
I guess my visit to the Rydal Tree was one out of convenience, I could easily stop and the light was fading fast, I suspect had I of carried on by the time I’d of got to the next place the light would be gone.
I have been in two minds whether or not to post these images as I don’t think they are the best of this location but they do serve as a exercise in trying to be unique, trying to find a different composition and a reminder that professional etiquette is a good thing.
Here’s what I managed to capture from various angles.
The Very last of the evening light skimming the top of the Loughrigg in the distance. I was right, had I have kept going I’d have missed the light.
A wider shot, I like this composition better than the portrait format, however I think the scene is somewhat penalised with the weed in the water breaking up the reflections. However the reflection of the vapour trails adds a lead in line. Just goes to show you can’t control the environment or indeed the conditions. Jus make the most of what you’re presented with. Like life I guess.
Stepping back from the waters edge to include some of the grass into the foreground with a hope of detracting form the weed on the surface of the water. I had to recompose a couple of times as this place is littered in Swan droppings, if that is indeed the right terminology.
With the sunlight gone from Loughrigg the scene is left a little flat and from now on its an exercise in composition and avoiding Swan Sh*t.
Out of all the compositions here I really like this approach. Ive not seen it done before, maybe because the tree doesn’t have as good a shape from this angle.
You need to get down low here to make sure the small tree breaks the horizon, without that it is hard to distinguish the tree from the background.
Now I have my Tilt and Shift Lens Id like to try this composition again as I could capture every part of this scene in sharp focus by tilting the lens down. Im not a fan of combining multiple exposures into one to get a greater depth of field. Maybe this show would benefit from more reflection of the tree in the water.
In orde to get the tree reflecting in the water and the tree itself breaking the horizon there is only one position to compose this shot and its here. I suspect this would give the best composition from here, just need favourable weather conditions, good light and a parking space to develop this further.
I think since Colin took his shot from here, this location has seen a lot more visits from photography enthusiasts. Rightly so, its a nice spot and one I will likely visit again, but always mindful of someone else creative efforts.
You can see my current collection of Rydal Prints here.
