Winter Mornings with Ilford Delta 100
The fine and sharp features of ice crystals make for a great subject in monochrome. 1/2s 110mm F6.7.
It’s been an odd summer so far. After a scorchingly hot recording breaking one last year followed by the coldest winter I can remember for some time, the mild and wet affair we are stuck with now seems all the more disappointing. Although it is perhaps much needed, I’d rather not have another dusty drought. While perusing though my film images that have yet to make it into a blog on one of these ‘summer’ days, I came across the roll of Ilford Delta 100 shot back in December. It was particularly memorable as one of these mornings had been so cold my water bottle froze in the time I was outside!
Heavy fog shrouded this rugby pitch, taking away the background and putting more emphasis on the posts and the floodlights. Shooting through more fog with a longer lens produces a stronger effect. 1/15s 150mm F8.0.
This solid dark object in the playground really stands out against the white foggy background. 1/8s 80mm F8.0 with polariser.
Fog is often the best friend of woodland photographers, as the backgrounds would otherwise almost always be busy. 1/8s 250mm F9.0.
As is often said, black and white photography lends itself to form and shape, with the crystals of ice fitting this well, especially given its lack of colour. Furthermore, foggy mornings work beautifully in simplifying a scene, fading out background distractions and producing a final image that is much more minimalistic. It also helps that these cold and foggy mornings tend to have few people wondering around which can sometimes add to the sense of quiet in the images.
My personal favourite of Hitchin’s snowmen, again further emphasised due to the foggy background. 1/4s 80mm F4.0 with polariser.
I am an admitted sceptic of monochrome when it comes to woodland photography. I’ve always found it to be much more challenging in comparison to colour. However in situations like this where the tonal contrast is so strong I do think it is effective. But when the foreground trees are already so light, would having fog on this morning have helped? 1/2s 150mm F8.0 with polariser.
Winter tends to be a much quieter time for me in terms of work, so I have more opportunities to go out and pursue creative project work. Something that can seem a distant memory during the busy summer months, though it isn’t like the current weather offers a great deal of inspiration. Hopefully we get a more vibrant and exciting Autumn followed by a winter with plenty of fog, ice and snow to challenge our creative minds. In the meantime, I have plenty of cars to photograph before we see a return of salted roads and dare I say it, a holiday or two.
Someone had stuck this feather into a fence post which made for a great subject after a night of hard frost. 1/15s F5.6 110mm.
The final image on the roll was this frozen log sitting in and reflected by the river. 1/8s 250mm F5.6.
A close-up crop shows off more of the impressive detail that Ilford Delta 100 produces in medium format.
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