Frozen Tree, a photo from Leicestershire, England

Photographer's Note

Bradgate Park is a public park in Charnwood Forest, in Leicestershire, England, just northwest of Leicester. It covers 850 acres (3 km�). The park lies between the villages of Newtown Linford, Anstey, Cropston, Woodhouse Eaves and Swithland. The River Lin runs through the park, flowing into Cropston Reservoir which was constructed on part of the park. To the north-east lies Swithland Wood. The park's two well known landmarks, a folly known as Old John and the war memorial, both lie close to the 200m contour.

The area now enclosed as Bradgate Park was one of a number of parks surrounding Charnwood Forest. Since medieval times it has been part of the Manor of Groby. In the reign of Edward the Confessor, the area was owned by Ulf, and the manor, along with some 100 others in and around Leicestershire, was awarded to Hugh de Grandmesnil in the eleventh century as reward for his assistance in battle to William I.

The name Bradgate is thought to derive from Norse or Anglo-Saxon, meaning 'broad road' or 'broad gate' respectively. The first mention of Bradgate Park is from 1241, by which time it was laid out as a hunting park, although rather smaller than the current boundary. It was subsequently acquired by the Beaumont family, passing to the de Quincy family and on to William de Ferrers of Groby. It remained in the de Ferrers family until 1445, when it passed to the Grey family after William's only surviving daughter married Edward Grey. The inquisition into the estates of de Ferrers, made after his death, mentions the park, with "herbage, pannage and underwood, worth 40 shillings yearly". The Grey family retained it for the next 500 years until, in 1928 it was given, as a plaque in the park describes, 'to be preserved in its natural state for the quiet enjoyment of the people of Leicestershire'.

The above was taken from an extensive article headed Bradgate Park on Wikipedea.

The picture was originally taken on Agfachrome slide film some twenty-eight years ago and since converted to digital. Apologies for any shortcomings in technical quality and the lack of sharpness.

Royaldevon, timecapturer, tedesse, jhm, jlbrthnn, delpeoples, tyro, pierrefonds, Buin has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Nicou (193806) 2013-01-28 2:58

Hello

quelle vue sr cet arbre superbe image il a une tr鋊 belle forme comme un personnage et il est immense sa base du tronc est tr鋊 grande.

Bravo et amiti�

Nicou

Royaldevon (85896) 2013-01-28 3:12

Hi Stephen,

It is quite amazing how much recording has occured of our planet over the last century. This shot, still interesting and vibrant is already nearly 30 years old! You have captured wonderful, contrasting textures with the ice, the snow, the bark and the stones, in this very well composed shot.

Have a lovely day,
Bev :-)

timecapturer (49288) 2013-01-28 4:00

Hi Stephen
struggling to remember the winter of 1985, but obviously we had snow in parts of the UK. Another wonderful transfer across into digital, one wonders if this marvelous old tree is still standing.

Have a great week - regards Brian.

tedesse (25147) 2013-01-28 4:16

Hello Stephen!
Already historical picture looks amazing. You show here a wonderful, contrasting texture of ice, snow, bark and stones, including a very well composed view. It worked, agfachrome convert to digital.
Yours sincerely
Tadeusz

jhm (211736) 2013-01-28 4:53

Hello Stephen,

This is very well done for a scanned picture.
Also the original colors care for an attractive picture.
Lovely quality, and excellent sharpness.
Excellent composition, nice perspective and depth image.
Very well done, TFS.

Best regards,
John.

Sergiom (117241) 2013-01-28 6:03

Bonjour Stephen,

il semble vraiment gel� cet arbre, surtout avec ses racines dans la glace du cours d'eau. Par contre, la texture de l'ensemble est artificielle.

Amicalement

Serge

fabianoleite (13575) 2013-01-28 6:32

INteresting shape of the tree, after a hard snow, probably. I like the composition and balance of colors as well. Good work, congratulations!

lousat (139220) 2013-01-28 9:03

Hi Steph,a very very nice winter postcard,beautiful scenary and great details and colors,snow and sun are always the best ingredients for a good pic! Have a nice week and thanks,Luciano

jlbrthnn (76043) 2013-01-28 12:19

Bonsoir Stephen,
L'arbre a une taille impressionnante, j'aime son aspect noueux. Vivant ou mort gel�, il est superbe. Une hiver enneig� lumineux et color嶪. Bravo.
Bonne soir嶪
Amicalement
Jo螔

Fis2 (170693) 2013-01-28 13:12

Witaj Stephen!
Nice winter climate.
A very curious tree.
I like frame and colors.
Good night
Krzysztof

delpeoples (60342) 2013-01-28 16:47

Hi Stephen

Wow what a sight! This poor old tree looks almost to be shivering in the freezing cold. And what a character he is too, all those lumps and bumps, he reminds me of a wizened old man. Or maybe something like the Magic Faraway Tree in the old fairytale books. Anyway, I love it, the effect of the ice and all that snow. Nice shot, very interesting and one that Silvio the Treeman would appreciate.

Bonne amiti廥
Lisa

tyro (30513) 2013-01-29 2:26

Hello Stephen,

For a picture taken 28 years ago on colour slide film and then scanned digitally, this one is of remarkably good quality. Especially as I always found that Agfa CT18 (if that is what "Agfachrome" was) always appeared somewhat more "grainy" than Kodachrome which was my favourite in those days. The Agfa film was, however a little faster (at ASA 100 as opposed to 25 or 64) and I think its colours were truer as well, especially for "nature" shots such as this one.

This is a finely composed photograph, the old gnarled tree taking pride of place in the picture and well placed in it. The line of the frozen water's edge leads the eye nicely into the picture from bottom right. Delightful lighting, taken on a winter's day with low angle sunshine, perfect exposure and lovely colours. And very sharp considering the technical difficulties involved in scanning such a slide.

Beautiful!

Kind Regards,

John.

P.S. How do you manage to keep you colour slides so clean? I always have to spend ages in Photoshop cloning out many years of dust spots!

No_One (4) 2013-01-29 10:02

hi Stephen,
That tree looks old, and like it has not had an easy life. Superb capture of its mood, especially wiht the frozen landscape all around, and its barren branches, so we can se the unique shapes inside it!
All the best
Noel

pierrefonds (114395) 2013-01-29 14:55

Hi stephen,

The subject is well framed. The point of view is showing the details and colors of the frozen tree. The good luminosity is making the colors to stand out. Have a nice day.

Pierre

emka (158092) 2013-01-29 23:57

Hi Stephen, nice shot from archive. Pleasant colours and beautiful composition. The cover of snow is not so big so we can see some golden grasses. good catch 30 years ago.

Warm regards

Malgo

Buin (42580) 2013-02-03 2:09

Hallo Stephen!
Thought the quality of this older photo isn't the best - your excellent comment explains it - I like the shown object and the composition of the picture very much! There still seem to be branches which are alive. If this old personality could tell about its life ...
An impressive photo!
Greetings from grey and humid Westphalia - and have a nice Sunday!
Frank