Snow and Fog on the Cotswolds
Despite the cold and occasional challenges for travellers, snow and fog have always been amongst my favourite weather conditions. During the week of sub-zero temperatures before the end of 2022, a journey over the Cotswolds yielded some exceptional photographic opportunities. Amongst them was this very ordinary fence in a very ordinary field.
A snowy morning on the Cotswolds - what to leave in and what to leave out?
The thing that most intrigues me about both snow and fog - ideally together but also separately - is the way in which these conditions so often completely transform a landscape.
I must have driven past this field at least a hundred times as I have travelled along the ridge of the Cotswolds above Cheltenham on my way to visit my mother. But on this particular morning the thick covering of snow, and the wall of fog that now obscured the Severn valley below, pared the scene back to create a picture that is both obvious and mysterious.
It is an old adage that painters must decide what to include in their pictures while photographers have to choose what to leave out. This leads to the concept of ‘negative space’ that has become something of a holy grail for many landscape photographers. Too often, I think that the desire to capture negative space can lead to a sense that a composition is forced, leaving the viewer confused or even mystified by what the image is seeking to communicate.
This image is far from perfect. Should I have included more of the gate on the left - or less? Should I have included the animal tracks or searched for more pristine snow? Is there too much fence or too little? All these are the kinds of questions that passed through my mind while I kept my eye on the clock - my sister was preparing lunch - and tried not to mind that I had not dressed as well for the cold and ice as perhaps I should have done!
Nevertheless, I think this image is still a reasonable example of the transformative impact of snow and fog. I hope it leaves the viewer feeling that they were with me that magical morning; peering over my shoulder and wondering how the weather had changed a very ordinary field into a romantic tale of mystery - and perhaps even foreboding.
I always think that it is part of the excitement of photography that the ordinary can be transformed into the extraordinary through the isolation of simple composition. What to leave out is always the challenge I face as a photographer. This December morning, the snow and fog made it very easy for me. I think that is why I get so excited when I hear snow or fog in the weather forecast. It always the prelude to excitement and photographic exploration.
