Sunday Morning in and around the woods (2026-08-23)
30 August 2026
The past months were quite eventful and after a long hiatus I finally managed to go out into nature again. Since we moved to a new apartment in February this year I haven't had much chance to explore the surrounding areas. The botanical garden is quite close and I was there a few months ago with my Rolleicord. But since I haven't processed the film yet I cannot share any pictures from there. But the (digital) photos I took last Sunday are now all processed and ready to be published.
The woodland I visited is only a few kilometres from my place and so I picked my bicycle to get around. Since it isn't very large and I mostly focused on getting an overview for further explorations I also took some photos a bit outside of the woods. In the end, the result is a mixture of landscape, woodland, macro, and architecture. I hope, you'll enjoy it!
Morning Skyline
After about one and a half kilometres I've reached a classic view point overlooking Ulm and took a few photos there to get into the flow and the bits of mist rising into the air made for the perfect mood. Surprisingly, there were not many people around even though it was already 8 am.
Continuing my journey I drove past an old house whose colour fitted perfectly with the light and the green trees.
Experiments in Woodland Photography
Doing more woodland photography has been my goal for quite a long time and I already did some experiments, but no photos I really liked. Certain conditions are necessary to get a good picture and even then it is quite hard. Also, the woods I know are relatively boring and often intensively managed so it is more difficult to find spots were the trees had the freedom to develop as they liked. Nevertheless, I'm not giving up on this and I'm searching for interesting locations, which was the primary reason for this outing. I'll share with you the results I've got, which I'd rather categorise as bookmarks for places to visit again in more fitting conditions. Interestingly, all three photos were took in about the same location with a distance of perhaps 50 m at most.
Small things
Not far away from the trees in the previous section I've come to an opening with many different plants and flowers. Gladly, I've decided to bring my macro lens with me!
It was only afterwards when looking though the pictures at home that I discovered the ant and the other bugs on the plant in the third frame. Perhaps the best shot of the day.
To the office
A few kilometres later I arrived at another edge of the woodland and came into a new business park with the building in the picture being it main "attraction". I've already heard a lot about it and decided to look at it in person and take some photos. The size is quite impressing and I didn't thought that it would be that big. However, the architecture is quite nice and the juxtaposition of the large office building next to the small temporary container construction office in the first picture is quite astonishing.
Another village
Some time later and after more scouting I arrived at yet another end of the woodland with a view overlooking a smaller village at the opposite slope. Together with the bright blue sky, this screamed for a panoramic 65x24 shot.
At the edge
About two hours were now gone by and I slowly started driving (and partially walking) back home along the outer edge of the woodland. There, I saw some additional photographic opportunities and a bunch of broken off branches. They way they were scattered and separated didn't look like the work of a human being. Perhaps, that is a result of drought we had for the last months.
Back home
Initially, I wanted to process the images right way. But – as always – there were some other tasks to do first that took longer than expected. And then I finally got back into processing the scanned negatives of thirteen films I had developed last year… I'm not finished with them at this point, but after about half of them done I wanted a bit of change and to publish the results of last week. For processing these images I've used darktable again this time after using DxO PhotoLab during the last months (there were some family and vacation photos from last year that still needed some attention). I've tried the new AgX workflow and I'm surprisingly satisfied with the options it provides and the possibilities it brings.
I would like to hear what you think about this post. Feel free to write me a mail!