Landscape Photographs of Frithsden Beeches

Frithsden Beeches is an area of beautiful woodland in Hertfordshire. I visited the woods some months ago - however I have not had the chance to upload the photos until now. These landscape photographs were taken with my Holga (loaded with Ilford HP5+) and my Mamiya Universal Press which was loaded with Ilford SFX 200.

All films were then processed in Rodinal at the recommended times.

Though not a real Infra Red film, SFX200 does give good results - I'm keen to explore IR photography, but at the moment there are so many things I want to try out and I have so little time that I've no idea when I'll get the chance.

The Mamiya Universal Press is also a great camera - though bulky and it does take a while to set up and shoot. The camera has no electronics so you need a separate meter and everything has to be done the old fashioned way. The lens is pin sharp and I do enjoy using the camera but somehow I still prefer my Holgas. I prefer to wander around a place looking at different things and I find that if I have tostop to set up my tripod and the camera, take a meter reading etc, etc, it tends to get in the way - with the Holga, if you see something interesting you shoot and that's it.

I like the way the light hits the puddle and the vegetation in the above shot - the image is almost like an oil painting from the nineteenth century, except it's black and white.

A nice black and white shot of a solitary oak. The day was starting to turn very grey when I took this photo. Colour would have looked drab and flat but b&w seems to work well.


I wanted to take a very simple shot here of just the grass and the sky - but did not move the Holga abit to the left to compensate for the view finder not being aligned with the lens - hence the trees to the right. Somehow though they add abit of distraction to the photo.