The Somme March 2015 - South of the Ancre - a few more

[horrocks]

A new thread, as the old one http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=226620 takes half a week to load..

A suitably gloomy Trones Wood, the sunken lane made immortal by Ernst Junger, and the Guards Memorial on the tragic plateau between Ginchy and Lesboeufs..

I can return to my native B&W now! I did enjoy processing these through in colour though, and some of them simply don't work in mono.

[dah]

Toby,

Testing the theory that moss grows (mostly) on the north side of trees (in the northern hemisphere), were you facing south when you took the first displayed picture in Trones Wood?

Have not spent much time in this area, but do recall coming across numerous large snails when cycling down the eastern side of the wood. ...and later read in a WW1 diary how some of the soldiers stationed in/near the wood incorporated them into their diet. Personally, I think I'd have to be pretty hungry to do that.

David

[horrocks]

First facing north, the second south. The moss growth on all the trees in Trones is decidely odd, to me at least - I haven't seen it elsewhere. I didn't find Trones Wood a warm and welcoming place, though it may be better now, in May. It was cold, and somehow had an air of stark indifference. Not like Mametz at all, which has a distinct atmosphere, sometimes hostile. Delville feels haunted, but calm. Trones felt hollow.

I have never been into Bernafay - I wonder if the moss growth, and the atmosphere, is the same, only a field separates the two.

[mirko]

Beautiful photography and processing, again!

[17107BM]

Hello Toby.

Great images and thanks for posting. I never tire of seeing images of the Western Front. I'm always at loss as to which woods your allowed access to when touring the front.

Would really like to take a look, but would not like to upset the land owner. Do you need permission on some woods and not others?

Cheers

[horrocks]

The gate, as they say, was open. I didn't venture far, didn't leave the track, and touched nothing..

Thank you for the kind comments.

[horrocks]

Mametz is a problem, permission is certainly needed. High Wood is impossible. Delville is fine of course, unless the gate is shut (it was on my recent visit, due to high winds) - there is an impenetrable fence all the way around. Thiepval on organised visits only. I don't know about the others. There are often Chasse Reserve notices, which one would certainly be foolish to ignore during the game shooting season.

[Fattyowls]

Toby

More great photos, thank you; I really like the photo of the Guards Memorial at Ginchy. I'm trying to make a real effort to improve my photography by looking at the best the forum has to offer such as your two threads. I also spent a happy Sunday last month watching Marilyne compose photos around Messines and Ploegsteert, and next month I'm off to stay with John and Jennie Knight in Martinpuich and I hope to pick up some tips from John. I think a new camera may be the answer. I've just downloaded some photos I took last Monday of the three Cunard Queens coming into the river Mersey and I've done my usual trick of getting the sea to slope.

Pete.

[horrocks]

Pete, 5 threads in all, this and..

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=226570&hl=

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=226575&hl=

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=226600&hl=

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=226620&hl=

Don't get too caught up on cameras, they are all good really. I use Nikons because I know them, but Canon, Olympus, Pentax, Panasonic, Sony etc, they are all superb. I really like what I have seen of the current Olympus 4/3rds format range, they are not true DSLRs as they have an electronic viewfinder, but take all the Olympus lenses (and others), all the attributes and flexibility of DSLRs, quality is absolutely top, and they are very compact. The camera is just a tool, the thing is what you do with it - framing and composition are very difficult and can be even more challenging in these rather flat landscapes. Time of day is very often vital. I always shoot in RAW, you retain much more information than JPEGs and have much more to work with in post processing. Photoshop is difficult to learn, but I find it essential - very few photos work straight out the camera. It is dear too, but there is little point in buying an expensive camera then not having the tools to make the best of the raw files.

All of these photos were taken with Nikon D7000 (I also use an old D80, which suffers only in poor light, and a Nikon F3, a marvellous pro film camera from the 1980s) and a fast short zoom lens, a 17-55mm f2.8, processed through Lightroom and Photoshop with various add-ons including Nik ColorEfex Pro, a terrific piece of software which was bought by Google a while back. I usually process to B&W, these are very much exceptions.