Ale & Cakes Mine Reflections
Opened in the 1700s to serve the county’s once prosperous mining industry, the old Ale and Cask mine in mid-Cornwall is full of history. On this particular day, I was making my way back from a sunrise shoot in another location and decided to venture over to this old copper and tin mine to try and capture it in the morning light. With the sun streaming over my shoulder directly onto the face of its skeletal engine house, the front façade of the building was brilliantly illuminated by the morning’s rays. That said, with the intense colours of golden hour having already faded, the sky itself was a little lacklustre.
Using this as an opportunity for experimentation, I chose to make this image black and white to really capture the innate drama of the scene and emphasise all the different textures too. From the bare arms of the trees and shrubs to the exposed gritty brickwork of the engine house to the thickly-packed clouds above, each element was brought into hyperfocus by the monochromatic theme. Creating an eye-catching juxtaposition, I used a neutral density filter to take the picture over a couple of seconds. This helped to capture the fast movement of the clouds within the sky and contrast this activity with the beautifully still, mirror-like water at the foot of the engine house.
Opened in the 1700s to serve the county’s once prosperous mining industry, the old Ale and Cask mine in mid-Cornwall is full of history. On this particular day, I was making my way back from a sunrise shoot in another location and decided to venture over to this old copper and tin mine to try and capture it in the morning light. With the sun streaming over my shoulder directly onto the face of its skeletal engine house, the front façade of the building was brilliantly illuminated by the morning’s rays. That said, with the intense colours of golden hour having already faded, the sky itself was a little lacklustre.
Using this as an opportunity for experimentation, I chose to make this image black and white to really capture the innate drama of the scene and emphasise all the different textures too. From the bare arms of the trees and shrubs to the exposed gritty brickwork of the engine house to the thickly-packed clouds above, each element was brought into hyperfocus by the monochromatic theme. Creating an eye-catching juxtaposition, I used a neutral density filter to take the picture over a couple of seconds. This helped to capture the fast movement of the clouds within the sky and contrast this activity with the beautifully still, mirror-like water at the foot of the engine house.
Opened in the 1700s to serve the county’s once prosperous mining industry, the old Ale and Cask mine in mid-Cornwall is full of history. On this particular day, I was making my way back from a sunrise shoot in another location and decided to venture over to this old copper and tin mine to try and capture it in the morning light. With the sun streaming over my shoulder directly onto the face of its skeletal engine house, the front façade of the building was brilliantly illuminated by the morning’s rays. That said, with the intense colours of golden hour having already faded, the sky itself was a little lacklustre.
Using this as an opportunity for experimentation, I chose to make this image black and white to really capture the innate drama of the scene and emphasise all the different textures too. From the bare arms of the trees and shrubs to the exposed gritty brickwork of the engine house to the thickly-packed clouds above, each element was brought into hyperfocus by the monochromatic theme. Creating an eye-catching juxtaposition, I used a neutral density filter to take the picture over a couple of seconds. This helped to capture the fast movement of the clouds within the sky and contrast this activity with the beautifully still, mirror-like water at the foot of the engine house.