Return To Rivington
After last week's visit to Lever Castle with the OM-1, I went back the next day with the Z8. The light was still awful, but I managed to get a handful of okay shots in spite of this.
All images taken handheld with the Nikon Z8 + 24-70 f/2.8S and a CPL. Processed from individual raw files in Capture One Pro 23.
On The Shores of Lower Rivington Reservoir
I had to scramble part way down a steep and treacherous embankment to get this, but I think it was worth the risk of sliding down into the cold, dark waters below, well probably not, but in spite of the generally rubbish light on the day, I quite liked the tones on this one. While standing alone in the woods, closer than I was comfortable to the waters edge I heard a plop in the water...
Release The Kraken
...I turned to see this terrifying apparition looming out of the water.
Delicate
This splash of colour by the water's edge caught my eye.
It's That Tree Again
I figured this shot was worth a revisit with the bigger camera. No doubt, at some point, I'll revisit it again with the even bigger camera.
Aisle Be Seeing You
Heading off down the long aisle that leads away from the fake castle.
An Angry Dance
I took a number of shots of this pair of trees from various angles. I think this is my favourite, even though it still fails to quite capture the sense of motion that I saw with my eyes.
The following bunch of images were taken with the GFX100S + 45-100 f/4 or 20-35 f/4, almost certainly using a CPL and mounted on a tripod.
Sad Reflection
This was taken later in the week when I had a day off. The weather was really miserable and I dithered about going out for a walk all day, but eventually managed to drag myself out with just a couple of hours of extremely dull daylight remaining for a short walk around Anglezarke.
I took a handful of shots, but this tree in particular caught my eye. The only problem was getting a clear shot of it as I could only really view it through a gap in the trees at the opposite shore of the reservoir and I was behind a wall, with a sheer drop into the reservoir on the other side, so I couldn't even cheekily climb over the wall without serious danger of death, something I'm not a fan of. So, instead I had to settle for draping one leg of the tripod over the wall and precariously balance it on a small stone ledge that poked out on the other side (the camera was secured by a strap around my neck in case the whole lot slipped as I didn't fancy the idea of it disappearing into the murky depths of Liverpool's drinking water).
I've still got the CPL on here, adjusted for best balance between reducing what glare there was on the fallen leaves and pull out what was left of the fading colours, but also not annihilating the reflection of the tree in the water.
The following shots were taken in the woods on the far side of the woods shown in the previous shot one Saturday morning a few weeks ago. I think I posted some of them on DPR, but forgot to post them here. These are still with the GFX setup described above.
The Last Gasp Of Autumn
This was right on the tail end of Autumn here in the UK and the autumnal colours are really on their last legs at this point. This particular shot was taken near the highest point of Spen Cob woods, having scrambled up a crazy steep and slippery embankment to get there rather than using the main path like most sane people.
At The Side of Higher Bullough Reservoir
Higher Bullough reservoir is a relatively tiny body of water tucked away in the woods uphill from the vast Anglezarke reservoir. Considering the heavy rain we've had up here over the past few months the levels are very low, which I suspect is deliberate for some reason, although I couldn't say why. This is a crop from a much wider shot, I particularly liked how the main tree on the right contrasted against those surrounding it in terms of tone and colour. The original shot contains a lot more of the upper part of the tree, but also a lot more of the sky, which never looks right, hence the crop on what I think is the more interesting part, even though it loses quite a lot of its context. Another one of those cases where I could have benefitted from carry an 8ft stepladder to get a bit more elevation, but as I'm currently struggling carrying just the camera, lenses and tripod, that's not an option. Besides, who takes an 8ft stepladder for a walk in the woods? Photographers, that's who, photographers, with much stronger backs than I've got. Also mad people. Erm, moving on...
A Splash of Colour
This was my favourite shot from that particular walk. The sun hadn't quite set at this point, but at this location it might as well have as there was no direct light falling on anything, just a bit of blue diffuse light from the dense clouds about and yet, the bright yellow leaves still clinging to this tree further down the path beside the reservoir really stood out, just asking to be photographed.
Sunset At Anglezarke
At this point it really was on the cusp of sunset and we were heading back to the car, parked on the East side of The Nab.
