Day and Night at Hirst Wood

For this blog update, another set which was shot a while ago, but in this case it wasn't lazy editing; the photos were shot by Ben as an entry for a photography competition, and part of the rules were not to put them anywhere else until after the deadline.  The competition was for trains in the landscape, and I (Ben) decided to return to an old haunt, Hirst Wood, but to shoot some deliberately abstract imagery in two different, distinct shoots.  The Day series would be mainly playing with reflections and slight motion blurs, then a night shoot extending the long exposure projects I shot at the Worth Valley at Christmas: http://ribbonartandphotography.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/more-worth-valley-railway-night.html

It was a surprisingly nice day, the river was calm, so two hours at Hirst Wood getting a variety of trains.   The first shot was just to get my eye in, as it were, with a straightforward pic of the Settle-Carlisle service crossing the river.

Along the path a bit, and another angle I've used before, looking back at the bridge, as a Skipton service races over.  This was something of a recce for the night shoot, and checking the angle would work.

Then back to the bridge for some reflections shots, but taken upside down (with some difficulty) to try and make it look like a more conventional image.  Above, the Tilcon quarry freight...

…and then, another Skipton-Bradford Train.

Last shot was a chance passing of two services on the bridge, typically I was just packing up and didn't have the camera on quite the right setting, hence the annoying motion blur.

As predicted the Day shots didn't quite capture what I was after, so it was back for the Night shoots a little while later.  Later than planned as it happened, as it was around the time when a number of fairly catastrophic thunder storms were hitting, and whilst arcing lightning would have been a good backdrop, standing with a metal tripod, in a forrest, during a lightning storm didn't seem a terribly good idea.

Annoyingly, the only free night I had to shoot the pics was still one of the lightest nights of the year, but then I was up against the deadlines somewhat.  On arrival I got the returning London train heading south, illustrating the somewhat light sky...

A little later and a little darker, at the same spot.  Interestingly I was concerned for my personal safety somewhat, as daytime trips to this spot usually feature big scary dogs running free, and evidence of drunken partying.  However, this night all that was about was the animal kingdom, including such unexpected hazards as a million snails to horribly occasionally crunch in the dark, and large toads climbing into the camera bag.

Back over to the riverside, for a shot which would probably all right with less foliage.  Whilst I was stood there, I kept hearing odd noises and feeling 'things' flying past.

I took one shot by accident with the flash on, and couldn't figure out what it was until I zoomed in whilst editing...

Mystery solved, the flying 'things' whipping past my head were bats.  So much for radar.

An attempt at the reflections shot, which worked nicely, but shooting upside down, clamped to a tripod, composing the shot was even more chaotic, particularly as the tripod was balanced on rocks in the river.

Back up to rail level, and shooting from the fence next to the tracks.  There was a long gap before anything came, but thank heavens for the Real Time Trains app, where I discovered a long empty-stock working heading for Carnforth.  

Annoyingly I bottled it a bit, and took two shots rather than holding on for a shot with carriage lights too, but hey-ho.

Anyway, didn't get anywhere with the competition, but there may be room to extend the project with some shots at a slightly more sociable hour in the winter.