Upon reflection, this was a significant day.  It was the last time I loaded a roll of film in to my pro SLR film camera for a photoshoot.  The film I specifically chose to use was Ilford Pan F Plus.  With an ISO 50, it was a slow-speed panchromatic black & white negative film.  A film that was especially known for its ultra fine grain structure.  This allowed for high edge contrast which yielded outstanding clarity and sharpness, excellent resolution and detail, and able to render a wide tonal range.  This made the film ideal for extremely sharp photographs and for large-scale printing; subsequently, it was well suited for fine-art, technical, copy and scientific photography.  Using Ilford Pan F Plus required a lot of light and slow shutter speeds to compensate for the low ISO, therefore using a tripod was practically required equipment whether in studio or on location.

 

During the days prior to, it was bitterly cold; then it rained, a winter ice storm.  The falling water droplets immediately froze on contact causing a layer of ice to cover everything.  It was beautiful to see the ice coated landscape.  The reflected & refracted light from ice crystals made the ice covered trees and shrubs glisten & sparkle.  In the gentle breeze, it was symphonic to hear the crackling of fracturing ice.

 

I was determined to go out and photograph an ice covered landscape scene.  That evening, a short while before sunset, which was at 16:37, I ventured outdoors.  After driving to a predetermined location, I managed only five shots of the setting sun through the outlying trees of a ploughed field before the bitter bone-chilling cold got the better of me.  I recall breathing in and feeling the cold air reach deep in to my lungs and when I breathed out, I could see the moisture in my breath crystallise and fall.

 

The following morning, the sun shone through the few wispy clouds that populated the blue sky.  From inside, the outdoor weather conditions could easily be misinterpreted as it was still deceptively cold.  Being as prepared as I could be, I ventured out at midday and travelled to several predetermined locations.  The warmth of the sun made the cold slightly tolerable, though for short periods only.  With warming breaks in-between, over the course of several hours, I shot the remainder of the Ilford Pan F Plus, 135 - 36 exp. roll of film.  I took my last picture a short while before sunset at 16:38 local time.

 

About This Photograph

The above photograph is the very last picture I took using film and is the last frame on that roll of photographic film.

 

With just a few frames left on the roll of film and the sun low on the horizon, I found a reasonable place to park on the soft shoulder of a country lane.  I wondered in to the middle of the adjacent field to find the optimum perspective to capture as much of the glistening light created by the ice ladened hedgerow and trees.  Although this image does capture, to some extent, the reflected & refracted sunlight off the ice crystals, no single angle or photograph could fully capture the wondrous glistening effect.