NZPhotographer Issue 56, June 2022
As of December 2022, NZPhotographer magazine is only available when you purchase an annual or monthly subscription via the NZP website. Find out more: www.nzphotographer.nz As of December 2022, NZPhotographer magazine is only available when you purchase an annual or monthly subscription via the NZP website. Find out more: www.nzphotographer.nz
A Misty Morning by Richard Young There’s a small patch of forest on the edge of the Clutha River that I visit each autumn to photograph as the magical mist envelops it. I may have spent more time photographing in this forest than any other. I’ve been coming here now since 2017 and usually bring at least two groups here as part of our Autumn Masterclass Workshops - often photographing here a few times between the workshops as well. To the passerby, this patch of forest might go unnoticed; there’s little to set it apart from any other patch of woods. But come autumn, a magical display happens here each year - one that’s driven not only by the fabulous colours as the leaves all turn to gold but also by the conditions produced by the weather as the seasons change. On the right morning, a magical mist envelops and floats through the forest. These are conditions that many would leave to luck to find, but by spending so much time here in this forest, I’ve become pretty accurate at predicting them from the weather forecast. This year, when autumn rolled around again, I started looking forward to returning, but at the same time felt maybe it was done for me. Perhaps this is a location I’d photographed too many times - had it become scripted in the way I approached it? Maybe this autumn, I needed a new patch of forest that could change my perspective. So, during the summer months, whilst out wandering or mountain biking, I searched for a new patch of forest and found a couple with real potential. When autumn arrived, I started thinking about exploring these - then, as soon as the forecast signalled the change of morning mist, I jumped in my van, keen to get shooting. As I drove through the darkness, I found myself changing course; I was drawn to my old stomping grounds, where I’d taken hundreds of photos many times before - I wanted to make a quick stop there just to see what the colours and conditions were like this year. I ended up spending the morning there, and I realised this wasn’t a location I’d ever become tired of - It was somewhere I could return to many times over multiple years and always see and approach differently. Looking back at my pictures from previous years, I realised that no two years’ pictures were the same. Yes, the conditions were slightly different. Some years offered more vibrant colours and more dense mist, but it wasn’t really the colours or mist that have changed as much as the way I see and approach it each year. Sometimes, having a familiar location - one that you know, one that you go back to - can help you grow and be important for your development as a photographer. I also realised that this « location» wasn’t what I came here to photograph; it was more about the time of year and the conditions. Remove that, and the magic is entirely lost. It wasn’t physical subjects - the trees themselves - or the magical conditions on any given day that made each year’s photographs so different, but my ever-changing response to them. I photographed the forest on six different misty mornings this year Twice while teaching workshops when I didn’t really have a camera in hand, and four times on my own where I had time to be immersed in my own photography. I almost wished I’d managed to get out there a few more, but the conditions did not allow it. Just as the colours had reached their peak, a big storm blew in and stripped most of the trees of their leaves, and a period of mild weather followed, which meant no mist. Reviewing this year’s photographs, there are definitely shots I’m happy with and ones that have been very different from anything I’ve captured here before - especially compared to my approach here in 2017. It’s not that I no longer like my pictures from 2017; they’re just different. When I approached the forest the first time, these older images meant a lot to me, and this year’s photographs feel much closer aligned to my current vision. Each year I’ve visited, I have made an image I’m happy with, if only happy in the moment I captured it. When returning again in the future, having reviewed the image retrospectively, I decided I wanted to approach shooting it again with a fresh perspective. So is this forest an easy location to shoot? Is this a place that one can visit with autumn colours on a misty morning and produce stunning photographs? I feel it’s anything but easy; it’s challenging. The forest is complex; it’s busy. It can be pretty chaotic, but that’s one of the reasons I enjoy it. It’s one of the reasons I feel it challenges me and offers so much each year - the pictures here are not obvious, and you have to work hard for each image. Minor changes to position make considerable changes to your composition, and 62 June 2022 NZPhotographer
Autumn 2022 Clutha River, Otago. choices like lens focal lengths can become critical to your approach. You really do have to search for your subject. This is why I enjoy coming back here repeatedly. I’m not coming back here to take the same obvious picture. I come here each year, and I capture something new. It’s also why I enjoy teaching here. During one recent workshop, I witnessed an ‘Aha’ moment on the faces of some of the group when I helped them isolate a subject from within the forest, and they were able to make an image that could have been easily overlooked on the back of their cameras. It’s all too easy to get overwhelmed photographing in the forest, struggling to see the wood from the trees. Over the years, I’ve got to know some of the trees here. Although, saying that, I don’t think there’s one that I’ve photographed more than once. Sometimes, I walk past a tree and recognise it, ‘That’s the one from last year’, but I don’t feel the need to photograph it again, although it does offer a sense of hope and a fond memory of seeing it. There is one tree in this forest though - a tree I’ve tried to photograph many times and still have not made the image I envisage of it. I often joke to people that this tree continues to be my nemesis each year. I’m sure I will make the photograph of it that I wish to one morning, but that will now have to wait until next autumn when I’m sure I will be back here again. NZPhotographer June 2022 63
- Page 11 and 12: PLANNING YOUR PHOTO COLLAGE If you
- Page 13 and 14: My take on Dave Hockney's collaging
- Page 15 and 16: Origins Nikon Z6, Sigma 28mm F1.4 a
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- Page 21 and 22: View North To Mt Earnslaw From Ben
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Autumn <strong>2022</strong><br />
Clutha River, Otago.<br />
choices like lens focal lengths can become critical<br />
to your approach. You really do have to search for<br />
your subject. This is why I enjoy coming back here<br />
repeatedly. I’m not coming back here to take the<br />
same obvious picture. I come here each year, and I<br />
capture something new. It’s also why I enjoy teaching<br />
here. During one recent workshop, I witnessed an<br />
‘Aha’ moment on the faces of some of the group<br />
when I helped them isolate a subject from within the<br />
forest, and they were able to make an image that<br />
could have been easily overlooked on the back of<br />
their cameras. It’s all too easy to get overwhelmed<br />
photographing in the forest, struggling to see the<br />
wood from the trees.<br />
Over the years, I’ve got to know some of the trees<br />
here. Although, saying that, I don’t think there’s one<br />
that I’ve photographed more than once. Sometimes, I<br />
walk past a tree and recognise it, ‘That’s the one from<br />
last year’, but I don’t feel the need to photograph<br />
it again, although it does offer a sense of hope and<br />
a fond memory of seeing it. There is one tree in this<br />
forest though - a tree I’ve tried to photograph many<br />
times and still have not made the image I envisage<br />
of it. I often joke to people that this tree continues<br />
to be my nemesis each year. I’m sure I will make the<br />
photograph of it that I wish to one morning, but that<br />
will now have to wait until next autumn when I’m sure I<br />
will be back here again.<br />
<strong>NZPhotographer</strong><br />
<strong>June</strong> <strong>2022</strong><br />
63
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