An Overcast Afternoon on Holme Fell
I took some time off over Easter with the intention of getting out with the camera. Of course the weather had different ideas and has insisted on chucking it down for a large part of the week. However Thursday was forecast to be dry for most of the day, so I managed to drag myself up to Cumbria for a wander around Holme Fell.
The weather was perfect for walking, cool temperatures, a gentle breeze and most importantly, it stayed dry for the six hours I was out having a great time exploring parts of the rolling landscape that I'd never visited before. For landscape photography it was another matter, with heavily overcast skies. I find cloudy conditions generally preferable to blue skies for both woodland and open spaces, but I do like a bit of light and this was resolutely dull and flat. The main thing that I noticed while in the field was just how muted and muddy the colours were.
I've tried to correct this a little in the following images and hopefully not gone overboard into the realm of cartoon colours. While there was plenty of latitude to brighten these images up quite substantially, I've again only attempted to subtly lighten them as they quickly start to look quite unrealistic when you hit those exposure, contrast and shadow sliders with a heavy hand, so I think this compromise retains much of the mood from the day.
The camera of choice for this expedition was the GFX100S and my complete set of lenses, which comprise the 32-64 f/4.0, 45-100 f/4.0 and 100-200 f/5.6. All images were shot on a tripod and most were shot through a CPL as this reduced the quite visible blue haze on the distant mountains as well as taking the very slight sheen off dead brown foliage and bracken.
In all honesty, this is not the ideal kit to be carrying while walking any sort of distance as complete with lenses it's damned heavy, particularly when you add in the tripod which is kind of essential to get the absolute best out of that high res sensor, but this is probably the reason I only managed to cover four miles in six hours and have had a stiff back ever since. There's no way I'd be taking this lot up a proper mountain and that's a pity (bit of a moot point as I can't climb proper mountains these days with the dodgy ticker, but for the bigger ones I can just about manage, it'll be back to the Nikon I think).
All images processed from single raw files in Capture One Pro 23.
Hodge Close Quarry Treeline
These trees run along the top of the steep drop into Hodge Close Quarry. I'd long thought the white streaks that can be seen on the rocks below were scratches from the mining equipment, but from looking closely at the full res images I can now see they're actually veins of some white mineral running through the exposed rock.
A Different Perspective
While following one of the main paths along the top of the quarry, I noticed a vague muddy path leading off into the woods. With no real plan I decided to follow it to see where it lead. This took me into a more northerly part of the fell that I'd never visited before. This area is less rocky and more grassy, but also extensively populated with Birch trees, treating me to this quite different view of the Langdale Pikes while I sat for lunch on a nearby hill.
Wider Woodland
This was also taken while following the trail through the seemingly less visited part of the fell. It's a 65:24 (X-Pan format) in camera crop, which gives a nice wide aspect that's still 50MP without resorting to stitching. Full res image for pixel peeping.
A Lonely Birch
At this point I'd crossed back into the more frequented part of the fell and was making my way towards one of the two marked summits (behind me) when I spotted this shapely Birch sprouting from some rocks.
Wraiths
Looking in the opposite direction (I think that's Black Crag rising in the distance) I spotted this small group of skeletal trees of the fellside below.
A Bit of Everything
This feels like a classic Holme Fell view. It's got craggy bits, the man made reservoir that was built to supply water to the mining operations on the fell, some woodland and in the distance the iconic form of The Langdale Pikes, watching from afar.
Pond and Pikes
Focusing in on the woods around the reservoir and the distant pikes. The foot of Wetherlam is rising off to the left, heavily scarred by the workings and spoil heaps of Runestone Quarry. The hill on the right hand side is Lingmoor Fell.
Coniston Water
The view near one of the two marked summits on the fell. I seem to recall you can't see much of anything from the other one (which is a little bit higher, but flatter), so I always head for this one to sit and contemplate things while enjoying the scenery. The main thing I was contemplating here was "why are there so many midges out here in the open?"
Wider Pond and Pikes
An X-Pan format shot of the reservoir and distant pikes, taken as I made my way down from the summit.
The Dark Path Home
As I made my way back along the path to Hodge Close the sun had decided to give up and go home for the evening. The blue tinge to the path is its natural colour as it's largely made from fragments of blue slate.
Hodge Close Quarry
A wider view of the quarry, taken when I returned to the car park. It's difficult to spot without zooming in, but there's a guy climbing a rope on the right hand side of the image, roughly half way down the frame (he's not totally sharp due to movement in the 1/7th second exposure). There's also a better view of the white veins I mentioned earlier at the top of the facing wall of the quarry. Full res image in all its pixel peeping glory.
Different Day Different Sunset
This was taken a few days earlier, but rounds this set off nicely I think. It's from an abortive sunset trip to Skelwith Bridge, where sunset looked kind of promising but then fizzled out before it really got going. It was quite a nice spot that I may revisit, if I can find an alternative place to park that doesn't involve using the horror of parking payment apps (said as a former Android/iOS app developer) and vague, yet unreasonably threatening T&Cs.
