I only learned of the existence of the Henley Cheese Factory last year. On first inspection I couldn’t find a way to create an image I felt good about. I loved the building but its location is right next to power lines, a dirt road and a river. My main difficulty was composing the power lines, dirt road and river as they all run parallel to the building, so it’s very easy to create an image that is very linear and lacks depth. Finally, after trying many different view points, I have settled on an area of the adjacent over bridge where I like the composition. It was then that I thought perhaps I could do a study of the scene through the seasons. As I was in the last of the summer period, this is where my study of the Henley Cheese factory begins.
Sunrise. I don’t use apps to help me plan my photography, I’m not against them, but I like to just pop out and see what’s doing at a location at any given time of year. On this morning there was a good amount of morning mist on the farm fields adjacent to the factory and also a a little floating over the river. The sun was coming up and hitting the cheese factory from the front of the building.
I liked the images from the session, but I became interested in how late evening light at sunset would potentially provide back lighting on the scene and maybe have better character. My gut instinct was right, I much preferred the way the light hit the building in the afternoon. On this afternoon there had been heavy rain fall, but the sun had broke through the clouds. The light cast on the building was really dynamic and I had the bonus of a reflection of the building in the water.
By this time I was hooked on photographing the building. I loved the above image (it’s available in my print shop) but I was still going to keep going back.
Another night and the image above is nice, but the river is not as calm as before so we don’t get to see a nice reflection of the cheese factory in the water.
Another visit and In the image above, the sun is blocked by the clouds so shadow and highlights within the image are flatter overall, making for less of a dynamic scene, but quite painterly.
I am really excited about the next month or so as we are coming into Autumn and the trees around the cheese factory look deciduous. So, in an ideal world I am hoping for a calm evening with good backlight, nice moody clouds in the sky, reflections in the water, plus autumnal colour in the leaves. I’m not asking for too much as I? I will definitely follow up with an Autumn blog.
