A frosty morning walk by the Thames

Perhaps winter is the least favoured month of all, but I actually like it. I always have. I love the calmness, the silence and the soft lights that winter provides.

Of course, it’s more inspiring to get outside when there’s frost or snow. Everything looks more interesting and suddenly everything has a different ambience.

Whenever I see frost in the morning, all I want to do is get out. It’s great having a walk on a frosty morning, breathing in the cold winter air and enjoying nature. A frosty morning walk by the Thames is always relaxing.

When I looked out of my window earlier this winter and there was frost, I went for a walk along the Thames. We are so lucky that the river and a field are on our doorstep.

All the trees and shrubs were covered in frost, so was the ground and it created a magical, almost fairy-tale-like ambience. I love capturing the same places in different season and weather, so I took my camera with me.

Although I’m not a nature and wildlife photographer, I do like taking photos of flowers, plants and wildlife. But I never realised how much I enjoy it. Until that very morning.

Perhaps it’s because my photographic eyes are developing, or because I notice more and more beauty around me, I don’t know. But I loved picking up on details in the nature. A few years ago, I would have never been interested in a frosty branch or leaf…

And now.. Guess what? I loved it and I had to stop several times on my walk because nature provided so many subjects to photograph: twigs, branches, leaves, berries, grass, etc. Even it was very cold (-7C), I loved all the different textures and what frost brought out of them.

As I was taking these photos, I noticed one more thing: it felt good; it felt right; it was good for my mental health. They say it has many benefits to take a break from your photography genre and try something else or just play with your camera. Well, I can see that now.

That’s exactly what I did. And for the first time, I really felt how much good it did to me. It was relaxing with no pressure at all.

So if you feel a bit stuck or overwhelmed with your work or photography, take a break and take some pictures just for fun. Preferably out in the nature. I’m sure you’ll love it.

A few photography tips:

• Take only one lens with you and work with that.
• Use a shallow depth of field when you take a close-up of a plant or leaf. 1.4-2.8 should give you beautiful macro lens feel even if you use a 50mm prime lens.
• Look for different textures in nature. Grass, cones, leaves, branches – they all give you different textures and will make your photo interesting.
• Set the White Balance to Cloudy, Shade or Daylight and shoot in that setting as opposed to Auto White Balance. In this way all your photos will have the same white balance settings which you can easily adjust to all of your photos in post production.
• Don’t worry too much about composition techniques, just follow your heart and compositions nature naturally offers you.
• Just enjoy and play!

Trust me, you’ll love it.

BEFORE YOU GO…

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