A Trip Without a Plan

So I’ve had a lot of annual leave days left over this year, since we’ve not been able to go far this year (thanks Covid), so I decided that I’d work 4 day weeks until the end of the year to use them up. It’s been quite nice as it’s meant I’ve been able to get out and about with the camera on my own, which allows me to take my time looking for those perfect shots. I recently decided to just jump on my bike, loaded up with my gear and a coffee and just see where I ended up. In total I ended up biking almost 8 miles and if I’m honest, not having a plan of where I was heading made the trip even more enjoyable.

I headed towards the town centre, following the Witham all the down, looking for potential compositions. I eventually ended up in the town centre and decided to look for potential spots which would include the bridges which cross the river. I finally pitched up just down the road from the police station, opposite the Stump. The composition would look down the river to the east, which showed the river twisting a turning towards the mouth of the wash. With the Stump to the left, I tried various setups starting down low and slowly raising the height before I finally settled on the shot. In all honesty, it wasn’t the shot I’d hoped to capture, but I didn’t see a way to improve it, so I packed everything up and went on my way.

I continued to follow the river west, crossing over the sluice gates leading into Witham Way Country park. I’ve previously been out here with the camera and the family, however I didn’t have the time to get anything the first time around (because kids are impatient). I’d barely got into the park when I pulled up and began setting up for the next composition. It was at the start of the path, which wound it’s way between the trees, further into the woodland. What made this setup nice, was the fact the winding path lead to slightly open area, which was a lot lighter that the rest of the area around it. As with the first setup, I played around at different heights and then changed the focal length before I was really happy with the picture.

Shot in the bag, it was back on the bike to make my way further I to the woodland. I stopped and pulled over after seeing a moss covered tree which I thought I could work with, but as I started looking around, I noticed there were quite a few squirrels around and about. I ventured a little deeper into the trees and on a tree in the distance there was a squirrel on a tree branch. Subject Acquired. I didn’t want to get too close and startle it, so I hung back and setup my gear. This was quite a hard shot to setup for the fact that I had such a long focal length, every slight adjustment needed to go shorter and then back in to focus. I eventually managed to get a couple of shots before it moved off the branch and into the leaves on the ground. I continued working with it, readjusting, shooting, readjusting, shooting, before eventually it scurried off deeper into the woods.

With more shots in the bag, I packed up and headed back to the path, however just before I got there, something else caught my eye, a Robin. I was much closer to the Bird than I was the squirrel, so I quietly pulled the camera out and decided to go hand held. Quietly, I setup the camera and snapped away. The Bird started to jump from branch to branch, so I was able to get quite a few different shots in different locations before it eventually flew away.

After packing up a second time, I jumped back on the bike and followed the footpath, heading towards Anton’s Gowt. I seemed to remember that there was a river lock down there, so thought it may present a good photo opportunity. I got about a mile down the path, however there were a lot of people walking on the path and it wasn’t easy to get past. I eventually decided to stop and setup the camera on the river bank, where I tried to capture some shots of a group of ducks on the water. Nothing seemed to be working out however with this composition, so after 15 minutes I packed up decided to head back towards town. There was one more spot I wanted to check out before heading home.

When I’d come here the other week with the family, I’d noticed a cut through in the trees which looked like it could lead itself well for a composition. As I made my way down, I had a good look, but it didn’t look like I’d remembered (in hind sight I probably should have shot it the first time I saw it). Just to the side, there was an I treating group of trees, almost like the tree had split into 8 or so little thinner trees. I was sure I could make a composition out of it so I got geared up and looked for the right place to shoot. There was an interesting log on the floor, which had some interesting details, which would lend itself to a nice foreground. I got fairly low with the camera, set everything up and shot away. Everything on location looked good and I was really happy with what I’d got, so it was time to packup on last time and head home.

There’s always a degree of excitement when you return from a shoot, where you can’t wait to get everything onto computer and start looking at things in Lightroom. From all of the pictures I’d taken, I chose a selection and began the editing process. About 3 hours of editing later, I was about ready to publish the shots on socials. I’m still learning Lightroom, however I’m getting more and more comfortable the more I use it. There’s was one minor thing which I was a bit bummed about from the final composition. After the crop had been done, I was left with some strips of grass in the bottom left and right of the foreground. What I feel I should have done was try to get lower and closer to the log, so the log occupied the full width of the foreground. I did try a further crop, but because of the width of the tree, the new crop lost too much detail, so I wasn’t prepared to do it.

The reaction on my socials for the images was fantastic and well received. Thanks to everyone for their kind comments, it really makes me feel proud of what I’m doing at the moment with camera and post. I’ve only been posting picture for about 2 months, but I personally felt a couple of the compositions were my best work to date. The more I snap, the more I learn / want to learn and I think it’s fair to say this journey is only just getting started.

I hope you enjoyed this post and please leave your comments below and your thoughts on these compositions 🙂