A walk in the Wessenden Valley

An off shoot of the Colne Valley, part National Trust moorland with three large reservoirs and good walking with great views. I picked the wrong day, though, and ended up spending most of it with severely restricted visibility and a dodgy choice of lens. So I was quite pleased in the end to have something to show for the effort - hope you agree! K-70 + DA 55-300 PLM
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All comments welcome, as always! Thanks for looking!

Looks like it was pretty challenging walk but the last three stand out from the rest, particularly the 2 landscapes - that slight clearing has given a lovely quality to the light, well worth the effort

No.8 has an unusual look to it - the flat contrast is picked up by the subtle pastel look and the wall of background highlights - I'm sure this would be better appreciated at a larger size, Very Nice

I think you managed quite well John. The ghostly skeleton of a tree in 2, the detail speaking for the whole in 5, the light and beautiful tones of 6, the painterly quality of 8, the abstractness of 11... there you go, my favorites of this delicate set.

Beautiful, slightly jealous of the snow. Last good snow for me was January 1962 in Norfolk. Couldn't get out of the village to get back to my ship, even tractors couldn't make it. My Father rang the OOD who's advice was "Get him to ring Eskimo Nell". Only one thing to do, we retired to the pub. Happy days.

Some fascinating pictures there. Sometimes having a less than ideal lens for the conditions means you've got to be more creative, which is only ever a good thing. Favourites for me are 2 and 8 for their muted, mysterious minimalism and 12 for texture, form and light.

But I wonder whether there's an even better one (for me, anyway) hidden in 9. Crop it close to the walkers, so the snow covered ridge cuts the bottom edge about half way along. The walkers have appeared from a vast, grey unknown and will soon be leaving it for somewhere unrevealed. Not exactly conventional, but it appeals to my 'path leading to who-knows-where' and minimalistic tendencies . Something like this (hope you don't mind me taking a digital knife to your picture!)




Steve

I wouldn't call the PLM a dodgy lens - that fog would challenge most of them! I too liked the two walkers (just above) and the mill scene. Would the walkers look better placed in the classic bottom right 'rule of thirds' intersection perhaps? It's a super minimalist job.

Thanks for your appreciative comments, everyone!

Steve - no problem at all with your alternative. I can see that my version is bottom heavy, but maybe you have gone too far the opposite way for my taste. Perhaps David's compromise is the best . In actual fact, I think a couple of distant walkers would have improved no. 11 too, especially with the light being softer.

David, "dodgy" referred to my choice of lens to take out on the walk, not to the lens itself. The conditions as they unexpectedly turned out did not really need a lens with the reach of the 55-300. Even so, I do find that it's a pretty good allrounder as the close-ups of the frozen elements testify. You just have to "see" the shot earlier than with other lenses, before you get too close.

I picked number 9 as my favourite image originally. Think Steve's crop is too much and just taking some of the foreground out gives a nicely balanced picture. Hope you were suitably dressed....