Autumn Past

There are some mornings you never forget, no matter how much time passes. This image came from one of those days back in 2009 — a misty autumn morning where the air had that special kind of magic to it. The fog had risen high from the valley floor but, unusually, stopped just beneath the cliff's edge, as if the landscape below had been swallowed by a sea of clouds.

At the time, I was working with my trusty 5x4 large-format film camera, which as always, made me slow down and really focus on the scene in front of me. With only a couple of sheets of colour negative film in my bag, I had to be intentional with each shot. From experience I knew these conditions wouldn't last long. The fog with its dreamy quality would soon change - either dissipating to reveal the valley below or thickening to engulf the entire scene. The soft delicate light of the early morning would quickly shift as time progressed, changing the mood entirely.

Over the past 15 years, I've returned to this same spot so many times hoping to encounter similar conditions, but they’ve never quite aligned in the same magical way they did on that one special morning. For me experiences like these are why I rise before dawn, endure the cold, and return to the same places time and again. The landscape is like life itself, ever-changing, never static.

Looking at this photograph now, I'm reminded of how special those fleeting moments are and how photography lets us hold onto those experiences, even as they fade away like the mist in that autumn valley. Nature never ceases to surprise and captivate, even when we think we know every inch of a landscape. No matter how familiar the place might seem, it always holds the potential to reveal something new, something unexpected, something magical - if only for a brief moment before it's gone forever.

Published in Outdoor Photographer - Nov 2024
From A Journey Through Ancient Woodland