The Path of the Giants or as the locals call it, the Witch Patch is a mysterious place in the ‘Bois Noirs’ the forest up in the Montagne Bourbonnaise, Auvergne, France.
The oak trees lining the path are more than 400 years old and back then people were afraid to use that path because they thought is was ‘bewitched’. And I have to admit, when you walk on the path along the old trees, their different shapes create a spooky atmosphere. And I just can imagine how mysterious it must look in the fog and the cold cracking frost!
This week I was looking on the net for some new locations and came along the site from the Touristboard | Montagne-Bourbonnaise. The image they have published on the website got me interested in the place. Not because of the ‘striking’ image, but because the shapes and the age of the trees made me go all the way up there.
I left early morning, hoping to get some nice early morning light. But nature is such that you have no say in this. The sky was totally ‘closed’ and I had hardly any light to ‘play’ with.
The only positive part was that the overcast sky provided me with a better colour contrast in the forest. The whole week we had a very heavy southern wind so this made it even harder to get a steady shot. I had to hang my camera bag on my tripod to prevent it to tumble.
I must say these trees were a photographer’s challenge especially under these weather conditions. But by using a polarizing filter + ND filter I managed to get more contrast in the originally ‘flat’ scenery. And by pressing the cable release for a long time I could get the necessary light in.
– All the images of the Path of the Giants, visit my website | click here.