A day trip to the High Fens

Sunday 21 November 2021, 14:14 by Erik Nevels | 5,238 views | 1 comment

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

From central Limburg, a day trip to the High Fens in Belgium is easy to manage. My companion did the preparation. I drive and he shows me the way. The Getzbach and Baraque Michel are on today's itinerary.

Colourful autumn leaves

At half past eight, I park the car at Haus Ternell on the N67. From here, it is about a kilometre downhill to the little river Getzbach.

We cross the N67 and walk along the paved road through a forest mainly made up of conifers. Soon, my eye is drawn to the colourful autumn leaves of a small beech tree among the large conifers. The light and contrast between the little tree and the larger trees are fantastic.

The Getzbach will have to wait for a while.

Sony A7 mark III, 90mm, f/3.2, 1/50sec, ISO400, tripod

Challenging descent

We continue along the road, which soon gives way to a slippery path downhill. Carefully, we make our way down with a full rucksack, tripod and some provisions. It is quite strenuous, and you really have to watch your step with all the mud, slippery stones and exposed tree roots crossing the path.

The pace is slow, partly because I do not want to miss a potentially beautiful autumn scene along the way. It is those very roots that make me stop in my tracks. I have to capture all those twists and turns.

Sony A7 mark III, 90mm, f/11, 0,6sec, ISO 100, tripod, PHOTO ROTATED 90 DEGREES!

The Getzbach

I am glad when I hear the sound of the little river. We are nearly there. Once on the bridge over the river, I enjoy the sound of the little rapids and the many beautiful stones that help shape the course of the water.

The deciduous trees colour the scene with their brown, yellow, green and red tones. Now I just need to find the spot that can capture all this beauty in a photograph.

Careful again

During the descent, I already had to be careful not to slip. That certainly applies when looking for a suitable place to take photographs too.

I have already taken off my rucksack, and I leave the tripod behind for now. Only the camera comes with me, so I can look for a nice composition through the viewfinder. That is not so easy.

Ideally, I would like to stand in the middle of the river for the photograph, but that requires waders. Fortunately, my walking boots are waterproof too, so I can manage a few shallow steps into the water. When I have spotted a few suitable places fifteen minutes later, I go back for my tripod and screw the polarising filter onto the wide-angle lens.

First, I make sure that my tripod is stable, with its legs in the water. I carefully screw my camera onto it. I would rather avoid a dip in the cold water, both for my own sake and for my camera's.

I want to show the movement of the water with longer shutter speeds. I vary them freely. It is the first time I have photographed a mountain stream, and I am curious to see how the different shutter speeds turn out.

From 1.6 to 8 seconds

It is simply a matter of what you like. I think relatively short shutter speeds produce a very different, much more active image than long shutter speeds.

To show the difference, here are two photographs, the first with an exposure time of 1.6 seconds, the second with 8 seconds. Putting the image itself aside, which one appeals to you most?

Sony A7 mark III, 17mm, f/9.0, 8sec, ISO 100, tripod

Baraque Michel

The walk back to the car park makes me break quite a sweat. The climb turns out to be tougher than the descent, and I am glad when I have the paved road beneath my feet again.

It is now afternoon, and we drive to our second destination of the day, Baraque Michel, the name of an inn and the surrounding raised bog in the Belgian Ardennes.

Half an hour later, the forests suddenly give way to bare open land on both sides of me. The distinctive landscape attracts more day visitors. The car park is quite full, and we have to drive all the way to the end to find a space.

Walking route

We choose the walking route on the other side of the N68. After a few hundred metres, the path turns into a kind of boardwalk, a tried-and-tested solution for wet boggy areas like this.

Yellow grasslands stretch out on both sides of the path, with occasional groups of trees or solitary trees. I am looking for the latter.

My telephoto lens makes it easier to isolate them because the angle of view is relatively narrow. Still, I am not really happy with what I get in front of the lens, so I continue along the route.

Wind turbines

In the distance, I spot a row of beautiful trees, probably birches, but unfortunately they are spoiled by several wind turbines standing behind them. Even at 600mm, I cannot photograph a few of them without wind turbines behind them. Such a shame.

My companion has meanwhile walked further on, and although I do not expect to find a better view, I follow him. I soon realise what is happening.

Because the path slopes downwards, the row of birches stands on a hill and the wind turbines are behind them, the birches remain visible while the wind turbines slowly disappear behind the horizon as I descend. Enthusiastically, I continue until the wind turbines have disappeared completely from view.

With the tripod against the edge of the boardwalk, I choose an unusual composition, with lots of sky and little landscape in my image. I was recently inspired to do this after watching a webinar by Mike Muizenbelt. Because it is very windy, I choose a fast shutter speed and therefore a slightly higher ISO too.

Now I just have to wait until the boardwalk has stopped vibrating from the walkers still passing me, and the effort of descending is rewarded.

Sony A7 mark III, 353mm, f/8.0, 1/2000sec, ISO 320, tripod

The High Fens

I will definitely be returning to the High Fens. The varied and beautiful nature invites you to look for lovely scenes in the different seasons.

Next time, that will be in late autumn or winter. As long as there is snow!

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