A rare moment of calm last week meant only one thing: a trip to Loughrigg Fell to capture the essence of autumn. Honestly, the way the weather has played out recently, I didn’t think I would get the opportunity to capture autumn this year. You can imagine my excitement when I spotted the perfect opportunity for a morning of landscape photography. Come with me as I relive the experience and showcase a handful of my favourite photographs from the dream-like morning.
A Gloomy Autumn so Far
The majority of this autumn can be summarised as wet, windy, and generally gloomy. Not ideal for capturing the beauty of autumn. As autumn approached, I had somewhat reduced expectations for this year’s most anticipated photographic season. Extreme dry weather throughout spring and summer generally lays rest to the classical autumnal colours we landscape photographers dream of. Trees tend to go into preservation mode and shed most of their leaves prematurely in a bid to retain water. That said, as autumn began to take hold, the weather gradually transitioned from prolonged dry spells to extended periods dominated by low-pressure systems. Much needed, of course, but the accompanying wind is the stuff of nightmares for natural landscape photographers. I know I’m not the only one cringing at the weather forecasts every time I see strong winds during the build-up to peak autumn.
The Weather Forecast of Dreams
Nearing November, and what is typically the peak autumn period in terms of colour, a golden opportunity presented itself. I was mindlessly scanning through the forecasts, looking for anything other than wind or rain. That’s when I came across Thursday, 30th November. A rare morning of calm between two low-pressure systems. Perfect! Rain was forecast to fall into Wednesday evening, clearing into the night with clear skies into Thursday morning. The forecast had it all. Low wind speeds, dew point equal to air temperatures and high humidity. In other words, the perfect recipe for a misty morning. This was too good to miss, and so I decided I would head out to Loughrigg Fell to capture the essence of autumn.
Top tip: Be on the lookout for key indicators of misty mornings, and you will elevate your chances of capturing dream landscape photographs. Look for low wind speeds (less than 5km/h), high relative humidity (95% and above), and a dew point that matches the air temperature (e.g. dew point 7 degrees, air temperature near or at 7 degrees).
Loughrigg Fell’s Famous 360-Degree Views
I’m no stranger to the iconic and breathtaking views offered from the summit of Loughrigg Fell. In terms of physical effort to views, Loughrigg Fell is off the scale. For such a small fell, Loughrigg has arguably the best vantage point in the entire Lake District. From the summit, you are presented with sweeping views over Grasmere, Rydal Water, Windermere in the distance, Elterwater, and last but by no means least, Great Langdale. So you can see why it’s the perfect location to make the most of a promising weather forecast.
Longing for success, choosing a long lens over a wide-angle lens
That said, having photographed Loughrigg Fell’s classical compositions countless times in the past, I wanted to walk away with something more unique. I therefore decided to abandon the wide-angle lens and instead favour a longer focal length. Canon’s EF 100-400mm mk2, paired with my Canon R5, was my setup of choice, offering plenty of opportunity for creative freedom. It’s easy to fall into the trap of filling a wide-angle frame with autumn elements, just because the colours look spectacular. With a long lens, you are almost forced to think more methodically about your composition and what you want to include due to the more compressed framing.
The long-awaited morning had arrived. I woke up nice and early, grabbed my gear and headed out to Elterwater. Driving into Great Langdale, it was still dark, but you could clearly make out the mist forming as the morning progressed. Towards Elterwater (I parked in the National Trust car park), the forming mist was expectedly dense and almost fog-like. However, you could clearly make out the summit of Loughrigg Fell. This meant that the inversion base was low and views from the summit would be exceptional. Leaving the car, I power walked up the hill, past Langdale YHA towards Grasmere, banking right at the fork and quickly joining the lesser-used ascent path to Loughrigg Fell. With hints of sunrise beginning to show and excitement building, I practically ran to the summit in around 15 minutes. It’s a fairly short route, but taxing at times. What it lacks in distance is more than offset by high inclines. Reaching the summit, I couldn’t help but stand in awe for a few minutes. Even in the dark, the signs of a developing inversion are unmistakable. It was time to get to work.
“Dreams of Loughrigg Fell” – my first image of the morning
For a long time, I had envisioned a specific shot from Loughrigg Fell featuring a quintessential Lake District home surrounded by the most beautiful trees for as far as the eye can see. The problem was that it was a delicate composition, and it required near-perfect conditions to make it work. This autumn, I came very close to realising the dream, with a breathtaking display of autumnal colour delicately subdued by a blanket of mist.
As the horizon began to glow with the telltale signs of sunrise, I lined up a composition. Light was still low, but the pre-sunrise glow now extended well into the clouds and was being reflected beautifully against the mist below. I set my lens to 240mm and dialled in the settings of f/11 with a 5-second exposure at ISO 400, slightly underexposing to account for the increasing highlights of the mist. Here’s the result of the first image of the morning, not a bad start at all!
It almost looks surreal, seeing such a strong presence of magenta hues against the morning mist. I even had to dial back the saturation in post-processing somewhat to keep the colours true to the moment. This is the result of the breathtaking sunrise hues being reflected onto the surrounding mist. I knew this composition had something, but I felt it needed some refining.
A refined composition to capture the “Autumn Dream”
As the morning progressed, I was teased by the most beautiful sunrise. Unfortunately, it fizzled out moments before light was able to hit my scene. Once again, I was scuppered by high clouds. The mist, however, was now beginning to ebb and flow throughout the landscape. My dream composition was looking better and better, and that’s when I seized the opportunity to capture a tighter crop of the previous composition. Working closer to 400mm this time around, I chose to make the house a more obvious focal point with the wooden shed in the foreground. I carefully selected a nice framing of both mist and autumnal trees and fired off my second shot of the morning.
The above is quite possibly one of my all-time favourite autumnal scenes I’ve photographed to date. I love the delicacy of the mist, beautifully complemented by the autumn colour palette. It truly is an example of a scene where the more you look, the more you notice. The camera settings for this image were as follows: F/11, 1/5, ISO 400. Generally, I try to avoid human elements in my photography; however, this scene is very much an exception. If I ever win the lottery, you know where you’ll find me.
Loughrigg Fell watches over Rydal Water
Happy with the shots I had captured, I decided to move to the other side of Loughrigg Fell, which offers spectacular views over Grasmere and Rydal Water. From experience, this side of the mountain is less photographed, and you’re more likely to capture something a little more unique.
Looking down from my new vantage point, I could see that the wind was quickly building over Rydal Water. The effect of this was two-fold. The mist began to shift towards Grasmere, and the lake showed the signs of ripples on its surface. Watching the events unfold, I began to notice two things. Firstly, the island on Rydal Water looked beautiful from the elevated angle where I was positioned. Secondly, some interesting S-shaped curves were being carved into the water by the wind. Noting the two points, I set about forming a composition which captured the details. Conveniently, 400mm turned out to be a perfect focal length. Just enough to isolate the island, whilst capturing the effects of the wind against the water.
With that said, here is the third shot of the morning, titled “Rydal’s Beauty”. If you look closely, you might notice an unintended feature perched on the rock towards the right side of the frame. A lone seagull. Needless to say, I was one happy landscape photographer after capturing this scene.
You can’t visit Loughrigg Fell without featuring the Langdale Pikes
For the final shot of the morning, I had to give in to tradition. The Langdale Pikes are an iconic focal point from Loughrigg Fell, and for good reason. The Pikes are such a dominant feature, instantly recognisable from every angle. On this particular morning, they were unquestionably beautiful. The mist that had moved across from Rydal Water to Grasmere had begun to drift across towards Great Langdale. High clouds had all but blocked the sun, yet somehow I struck gold. A small gap in the clouds behind me had opened up, bathing the Langdales and Crinkle Crags in glorious golden light.
Within seconds of the light hitting, I had whipped out my camera and lined up a composition to capture the surreal moment. I decided to maintain a tight crop to the Langdale Pikes to ensure that they remained the dominant subject. For the foreground, I chose to include a selection of autumnal trees extending above the beautiful mist engulfing the valley. I hope you like the final shot of the morning.
A couple that didn’t make the cut
Thanks for reading if you made it this far. I hope you enjoyed reliving the autumn experience on Loughrigg Fell with me. After what seemed like weeks of eternal gloom and poor weather, it was unbelievably refreshing to get the chance to enjoy a moment of calm. What a moment it ended up being, too. I honestly couldn’t have asked for a more enjoyable morning with the camera. Fingers crossed, we can catch another break in the weather before autumn is over. I’m not ready to say goodbye to the spectacular autumnal palette just yet! In the meantime, here are a few more photographs from the morning which didn’t quite make the final cut.
A Loughrigg Fell classic featuring the winding pathway along Loughrigg Tarn. The only element missing from this photograph was a slither of early morning light catching the beautiful autumnal trees. Unfortunately, just before the sun rose above the distant fells, it was obscured by a bank of high-level clouds.
A classical view of Grasmere from Loughrigg Fell. Had I caught this scene earlier in the morning when the mist was in full swing, it may have worked. Don’t get me wrong, the colours look breathtaking, but without any light or major mist, it lacks that extra oomph.
Finally, a quintessential autumnal frame captured from a layby on the B5343. Similar to the classical shot over Grasmere, I think this scene is too flat. The colour palette definitely helps to layer the scene somewhat; however, a nice bit of light for contrast would have elevated this composition.
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