Capturing Winter Light In The Lake District

Last week, I was away in the Lake District. I find the end of autumn and the start of winter a great time for photography. The landscape still has colour, and the sun is low in the sky most of the day. When it stops raining, the light at this time of year can be magical.

This year, I thought I had hit the jackpot. The forecast was for snow and freezing temperatures all week and not a drop of rain. As I was staying at Wasdale, one of the most remote areas with impressive mountains, I was already imagining walking in the snow on the hills.

Initially, I was taking the Nikon Z7ii and the two lenses I have for it. The only problem was that my longest lens was the Nikon 24-120, and I thought not having a longer lens would limit my options. That’s when I decided to throw caution to the wind and take the Panasonic G9 instead. I thought it would make the ideal kit for walking and photographing in snowy conditions. My only concern was the colour problems I’ve experienced in the past with this camera.

Unfortunately, things didn’t work out as planned, although most of the UK had snow that week. But where I was in the Lake District, all we had was freezing temperatures and a dull, overcast sky on the first day. That’s when I shot this scene of the boathouse on Wastwater.

This handheld exposure was captured with the Panasonic G9 and Leica 12-60 lens. You can read the full details and see my processing steps on Instagram.

The next day, the weather improved, but there was none of the promised snow. Instead of climbing the mountains, I decided to navigate the now treacherous, single-track, ice-covered roads to Ennerdale Water. This turned out to be a good decision, as the light was excellent around the lake, and although the lake circuit was flat, it was still an 8-mile walk.

Here’s a shot from a shallow area of the lake that I’ve photographed a few times. It always seems to deliver a pleasing shot.

This is another handheld exposure using the G9 with the Leica 12-60 lens at 12mm. The exposure time is 1/100 second at f/9.0 and ISO200. I’ll be posting the processing on Instagram in the coming weeks.

However, after I shot this, I noticed a problem with the G9.

For some reason, the aperture setting kept changing. I thought I must have been catching a dial on the camera, but I wasn’t aware of it at the time. For a shot like this, I would tend to use f/7.1 with the G9, but the aperture kept getting smaller. I would often find it at f/9.0, f/11.0 or sometimes even smaller. I will need to watch this, as it caught me out quite a few times.

Here is one final shot of the trip, taken from the road along the edge of Wastwater. This is another spot that I’ve photographed before, but never as well as I would like.

I still don’t think I’ve nailed the shot I want, but this came close. You can read the details and processing on Instagram.

Although I didn’t get the conditions I had hoped for, I managed a few shots I liked. I also discovered that the colour problems I had previously complained about with the G9 have vanished. I even looked back at files I previously didn’t like and found the colour balance from the shots was good, although a little on the cool side. So overall, it was a success.

I hope you like the images, and have a great weekend.