Snowdownia and the lakes over last few days

[LongLensPhotography]

I've not gone out much except a few times in the lakes and Tenerife in the last half the year. Its not my favourite time of the year and everyone knows how much I hate the dull, the grey, the brown and the miserable. Nothing was planned too well; I just had to get out.

Day 1 was Snowdownia, mainly because I left it too late to get to Scotland in time for sunset. The lakes were a little windy. The light was nice but it was likely it was going to go a little dull. So I went to Anglesey for the sunset, and it was pretty miserable and got very grey. The saving grace was the setting sun over the cormorant rock taken with the 400mm. The dull conditions mean the sun was a deep red colourful disc and I didn't even need to do much highlight recovery:

I wasn't too happy with the rest.
For sunrise I planned to do reflections of that horseshoe lake. Of course it didn't happen due to howling winds and thick cloud cover over Snowdown (Clear skies elsewhere!!!!)
Plans B, C and D also failed for the same reasons. Plan E was a last minute decision to climb a rock in Capel Curig.






I've got loads more similars; I just quickly picked these for editing.

So that was it with Snowdownia for this time; and I headed North. I only had 2 days before more client work on Friday so I had to settle with the Lakes. I wish I could go to Skye. It is always the best.
Wast Water was a complete disaster: clear sky and choppy water. Plan B was climbing Scaffel Pike. The views were reasonable but hardly worth the extreme hassle with no snow and no cloud cover.









There was no sunrise due to great hotel choice on the western edges of the Lakes. I couldn't face getting up at 4 after climb and little sleep and 1h:30 drive to somewhere potentially miserable.

I don't think the processing is "final" for any of these, but should be close to it. I usually revisit everything a few weeks later.
The website seems to be converting aRGB files to sRGB so it may be clipping some reds and oranges. I can't be bothered to prepare a separate crippled web-only version any more.

 

[LongLensPhotography]

The afternoon of the last day was spent location scouting and picking the location. I found some free parking for Buttermere, but wasn't too impressed with the grey wintry views. The drive around in the convertible (roof obviously DOWN) was very nice. I explored the hill near Loweswater that gave excellent views and nearly went with it for the main event:







Light was good, just not enough of it. Cloud cover was thinning but I was concerned it was as usual too little too late and soon will be grey and nasty again. Anyway I thought it would be so much nicer in the summer with all the heather out in bloom so I decided to hoon down to Ennerdale and that was the best decision of the whole 3 days. It was still (enough) and a great manageable cloud cover. It went grey in the end but not before I had maybe 50 different takes to choose from.









So what do you think?

 

[Birdy06]

I sort of like the first but it seems almost fantasy, if that makes sense.. The fifth is okay and probably the best but the foreground is almost painfully difficult to look at.

Weirdly, and given the amount of images, I’m really not sure if I like any of them. The light is really harsh and way too much contrast and the colours just seem over saturated and a bit sickly. Sorry, just how I see it.

 

[SFTPhotography]

The final 4 would work but the distant ripple doesn’t work. It’s got to be mill pond still - and as you say the colour palate at the moment is pretty foul.

The best resolved pictures are probably the 1st ones of the second post

 

[Scirocco_09]

You've got some really nice pictures here but it sounds like you don't actually enjoy photography or are expecting too much of the conditions - this is the UK and the weather can be miserable and highly changeable, it's part of the deal but often there are images to be had if you're willing to try different styles. It all sounds like it's a chore for you though. If the weather isn't doing it for me I just forget the photography, scout locations and enjoy being outdoors. If you're relaxed about what you capture (or don't) you won't have the disappointment you seem to experience.

 

[Kevin O'Brian]

Sorry to hear you missed out on making it to Scotland I was Not aware of you hating the dull and miserable, #1 fantastic work with that long lens, and then #3rd in second set works best for me with the subject tree more in the composition.

Ps its Snowdonia not Snowdownia

Thanks for sharing

Kevin

 

[LongLensPhotography]

I sort of like the first but it seems almost fantasy

Fantasy... that works for me. I feel it needs a little more for it, like more birds in the air which I've missed my a mere minute.

The final 4 would work but the distant ripple doesn’t work. It’s got to be mill pond still - and as you say the colour palate at the moment is pretty foul.

The best resolved pictures are probably the 1st ones of the second post

I know you have a very high standard for water stillness It's OK for me considering the size of the lake. I've never seen it this quiet before. It's always very windy over there.
'Foul' is a good word for the colour palette. That's pretty much the reason I didn't stay on that hill. I knew I would just want to redo these at a more appropriate time of the year. The golden hour light sort of improves things but still not perfect. I shall see how well they do on P4Me.
I've been to Lakes quite a few times and this was only maybe the 3rd or 4th when I brought home something I don't want to just delete instantly. Just a month ago was a total fail. I found the only super nasty cloud over the whole country in those warm days.

You've got some really nice pictures here but it sounds like you don't actually enjoy photography or are expecting too much of the conditions - this is the UK and the weather can be miserable and highly changeable, it's part of the deal but often there are images to be had if you're willing to try different styles. It all sounds like it's a chore for you though. If the weather isn't doing it for me I just forget the photography, scout locations and enjoy being outdoors. If you're relaxed about what you capture (or don't) you won't have the disappointment you seem to experience.

Maybe you are right on some points. Having lived in Scotland for over a year and travelled through the Alps a few times I find it hard to settle for the 2nd best, or 14th or 149th best... I want my project work to look better than my client's bedroom or toilet. I should really move to somewhere like Austria or New Zealand. It's not just photography. Living in the miserable, which it is for 4-5 months here is just as bad as photographing it. P.S. I don't consider snow in winter as a part of the misery package, but the lack of it - certainly so.
And then obviously a highly successful image usually means +£££, and a failure - -££. I don't really do Alamy or Getty so half decent stuff just gets forgotten. When you are travelling all over the country it is not the same as heading to your local patch.

Sorry to hear you missed out on making it to Scotland

I will certainly get there in the next few weeks and it will be a little warmer which is great for driving around in the convertible. It makes a really massive difference what you see and spot on the way to the final destination.