Hoar Frost - Tongue Wood

By Richard Walls

Exhibitions provide the perfect opportunity to share a favourite photograph (or two), not because it will sell, but simply for the joy of it. For the Dales show it's a photograph taken in March 2021, on the one day in eight years that I've woken up to hoar frost in our Dale.

Hoar Frost, Tongue Wood

Waking up to Hoar Frost

Tongue Wood is small jumble of woodland that sits off the beaten track and is left largely to its own devices. Over the years it's become a favourite place to practice woodland photography, especially during the winter months.

On the walk to Tongue Wood.

The Sparkler, Tongue Wood

Woodland Jumble, Tongue Wood

For the exhibition I've printed the photograph on Permajet Metallic Gloss. The metallic effect seemed like the perfect match to the subject matter. It's the first time I've printed the image and in all honesty I was gobsmacked by the result.

Printed

Mounted

Framed, ready for the wall.

Tongue wood isn't a familar place to many, and therefore the photograph is unlikely to sell, so why go to the trouble of processing, printing and framing, and using up precious wall space? Well, to my mind, the exhibition is more than a vehicle for selling work, instead it's about the photographer's perspective on the Dales landscape; what they've encountered, what caught their attention, what they froze in the moment, and perhaps above all what they want to share. The hoar frost that morning lasted a few hours at most, a few hours out of eight years of living in the dale. It was a unique event, transforming the landscape into something quite magical, that I was lucky enough to witness and record. If that's not worth sharing, I'm not sure what is.