Spring in Tervenichi.

 Not so much spring, may be said summer, since that was on May, 30rd. That wasn’t scheduled, even considered, just an accidental drive-in due to circumstances on my way back. I was the only visitor at the nunnery that morning, except for very few locals going to liturgy.

What’s wrong here? Clear sky is typically ruled out by me while making preparations for landscape photography, but here, since my trip route was changed suddenly, I had to use whatever turned up. The results are here below. As we see, strong contrasts were inevitable outcome of a deep blue sky, noise level is high and nothing can be done to remedy that without considerable quality deterioration. 

Firstly, a group of panoramic (actually just one is a stitch) images, not too successful due to white balance errors:

A general view of the nunnery from a field, f14, 1/100s, CPL-filter:

 

Contrasts, f14, 1/80s, CPL filter:

A couple of shots taken with different lenses. The first taken with a standard zoom 24-85 mm + CPL filter:

  

Nikkor AIS 28 mm, f16, 1/50s, CPL filter:

Chapels, Nikkor AIS 28 mm, f16, 1/50s, CPL filter:

A panoramic view with a lake and chapels, the same settings:

An autamnal day in Tervenichi.

That was an accidental, totally unplanned trip. Everything went on exactly as the previous time : having felt that I lost all strength to keep on driving along the main road I took a turn to Alekhovshchina to avoid anything worse. Of course, dropped in Tervenichi on my way back. The weather should be said seemed the most inclement for the landscape photography and that is technically true as drizzling hampered to change lenses and covered them with droplets, but the result proved the opposite of what I expected. 

A downstairs view with the Life-giving Spring chapel, standard lens, f11, 1/15s, CPL filter:

The same view, f11, 1/20s, a bit different polarization:

The Intercession of The Holy Theotocos church (center) and partly the Assumption Refectory church (right), standard lens, f11, 1/15s, CPL filter:

The same view with a bit different focal distance and polarization:

The Assumption Refectory church, upstairs view, f11, 1/20s, CPL filter:

Chapels view, f11, 1/15s, CPL filter:

Upstairs view, f11, 1/10s, CPL filter:

The same shot, but something shifted:

The Life-giving Spring chapel, standard lens, f11, 1/15s, CPL filter:

A view from a field, f11, 1/10s, CPL filter:

Chapels (actually the second one isn't a chapel, that is for ablutions), f11, 1/10s, CPL filter:

The same view, f11, 1/15s:

A general view from the chapels, f11, 1/15s, CPL filter:

The same view with an AIS Nikkor 28 mm, f11, 1/15s, CPL filter:

Upstairs view with The Assumption church in the center, AIS Nikkor 28 mm, f11, 1/15s, CPL filter:

The Assumption church, AIS Nikkor 28 mm, f11, 1/15s, CPL filter:

Downstairs view, AIS Nikkor 28 mm, f11, 1/20s, CPL filter:

The Intercession of The Holy Theotocos church, AIS Nikkor 28 mm, f11, 1/20s, CPL filter:

The Assumption church from behind an altar, AIS Nikkor 28 mm, f11, 1/10s, CPL filter:

A closer view, f11, 1/15s:

The Assumption church and nunnery shop as seen from the central road, AIS Nikkor 28 mm, f11, 1/20s, CPL filter:

The Intercession of The Holy Theotocos church main entrance, AIS Nikkor 28 mm, f11, 1/15s, CPL filter:

The Intercession of The Holy Theotocos church southern view, AIS Nikkor 28 mm, f11, 1/15s, CPL filter:

Winter in Tervenichi. Pastel-like views.

Meteorologists, as I had expected, made a mistake with their forecast both in terms of place and time. A partly cloudy sunny gap that I had hoped for passed west of Tervenichi. Nevertheless, the shooting result proved more than satisfactory, especially taking into account inclement weather conditions. A dominant colour had to be shifted to ochre, red ochre and umber, but, as can be seen, all elements of landscape whether they be bare forest, last year grass or low-flying northeastern clouds predisposed to that colour scheme option. 

Equipment: as usual, D750 with a standard 24-85 lens and an old AIS Nikkor 28 mm. CPL filter was used everywhere. 

Waiting for sunrise. Kit 24-85 lens, f9, 1/4s, CPL filter.

The moment of sunrise. Nikkor AIS 28 mm lens, f8, 1/4s, CPL filter.

The nunnery hill panoramic view. Nikkor AIS 28 mm lens, f8, 1/4s, CPL filter.

Two minutes after sunrise. Nikkor AIS 28 mm, f11, 1/2s, CPL filter.

Gloomy sunrise. Kit 24-85 mm lens, f11, 1/2s, CPL filter.

Gloomy sunrise. Nikkor AIS 28 mm lens, f11, 1/3s, CPL filter.

 Chapels. Kit 24-85 mm lens, f11, 1/6s, CPL filter.

Chapels. Nikkor AIS 24-85 mm lens, f11, 1/5s, CPL filter.

 Stairway. Nikkor AIS 24-85 mm lens, f11, 1/5s, CPL filter.

 Looking eastwards, the stairway and chapels. Nikkor AIS 28 mm, f11, 1/8s, CPL filter.

 Geometry. Nikkor AIS 28 mm, f11, 1/13s, CPL filter.

 Lake and chapels. Nikkor AIS 28 mm, f11, 1/6s, CPL filter.

 Looking downstairs. Kit 24-85 mm lens, f11, 1/6s, CPL filter.

 The same view, a bit different processing.

The same view, a bit less shutter speed. f11, 1/10s, CPL filter.

 The day has begun. Kit 24-85 mm lens, f11, 1/13s, CPL filter.

The Intercession of the Theotokos nunnery in Tervenichi.

Series were made in summer 2017 and 2018 and merged for publication, since the first one couldn’t be successful as we arrived to the village at 14 o’clock. Lighting condition on a hill in midday were far from being tolerable, so it was decided to refrain from publishing the earlier shots before making something more proper in morning or evening. An opportunity turned up on 1^st September 2018.

Waiting for dawn. 5.49, f11, 1/3s, CPL+gradient grey.  

The same 5.50.

Another white balance, 5.52, f11, 1/2s.

Gradient blue, 5.53, f11, 0,62s, CPL+gradient blue filters.

First rays. F13, 1/8s, CPL+gradient grey.

Another focal distance, the same settings.

Another view from a hill. F13, 1/8s, CPL+gradient grey.

Clear geometry. F13, 1/10s, CPL+gradient grey.

A new day has begun. F13, 1/15s, CPL+gradient grey.

Right on arrival. F10/1/2s, CPL plus possibly gradient grey – I don’t remember. An objectionable shot as cropped camera limitations don’t allow taking high quality night views. We have what we have.

Now the earlier series taken in August 2017.

Frozen mirror. F14, 1/60s, CPL+skylight L1A.

Frozen mirror, F14, 1/50s, CPL+gradient grey.

Marble-like landscape. F14, 1/50s, CPL plus something else.

Despite certain doubts concerning their publication, it was eventually decided to publish this couple of panoramas. A total fail in terms of lighting conditions, nonetheless may they exist.

Fields and hills, f14, 1/50s, CPL+skylight L1A. Very large file, clickable, but not on a slow connection.

The lake. F14, 1/60s, CPL+skylight L1A.