A Frosty Blanket
So we had a hoar frost! At that is really exciting for landscape photographers as it doesn’t occur very often, and days like this particular day are very rare. For a hoar frost to occur specific conditions are needed.
First of all the surfaces on which the frost forms needs to be below freezing, and this needs to happen quickly. It also helps if there is a lot of water vapour in the air and the warmer the air the more water vapour is present. So if it is relatively warm, or the temperature drop is sudden and significant hoar frost forms. When the water vapour in the air comes into contact with solid surfaces that are already below freezing point. Ice crystals form immediately, and the ice continues to grow as more water vapour is frozen. On a still night, it can grow well on tree branches, where the surface temperature is unlikely to rise above zero for several hours.
On this particular day in December 2022 we had perfect conditions. Temperatures had been quite mild for winter but we suddenly saw a change in the wind direction and an arctic wind blew down from the Antarctic over night. This resulted in a temperature drop of at least 15 degrees Celsius and the next morning the whole of the UK was plunged into magical conditions. It was like a scene out of Narnia or the Frozen movie and I was very excited!
I had already decided where I would go if these conditions occurred and had scouted out the location a couple of weeks previously. To be honest. it’s a place I know well and have visited several times. It’s my go to place if there is ever a chance of fog and mist. I have photographed these trees before, way back in 2010 when I shot a 13 image panoramic using an early digital camera (you can see this in my gallery, the image is called Dedham willows) and the trees have certainly taken a bit of a beating. There were 4 in 2010 and now there are only 3 but they are still beautiful. They are willow trees that have been pollarded. Pollarding involves cutting the straight flexible branches at regular intervals and these branches are then used in fences and thatching. It’s a bit like giving the trees a regular hair cut!
It is so difficult deciding on a favourite from the day. You can see them all on my YouTube channel I’ve put a link to the video here
But I’ve chosen three. I have been mulling over them for a month at the time of posting them here and these are the ones I’m most proud of.
I really like this image. It is a panoramic and prints really nicely on Fotospeed Platinum Etching. panoramic paper. This was taken about ten minutes before sunrise when there was still the merest hint of mist (although most of that had frozen) and I enjoy the feeling this gives me of a perfectly still landscape with no-one else around, almost a magical kingdom that only I was witnessing.