Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary church in Nikola-Renya.

The church was constructed in 1907-1924 to replace an older wooden one dating back to 1777. Closed in 1950s, currently plundered and abandoned.

As for the place, now it looks completely wild and forlorn, with ruins of two very old houses on the southern side of the road. I even drove past them despite all my attempts to see any landmarks at night.

Nikola-Renya village doesn’t exist any longer. It was situated 6 km eastwards (I think, a bit more: count 6,5km by your mileage indicator and begin looking around, otherwise you will run a risk of missing your destination) of Lyubegoshchi village, along Sandovo-Lyubegoshchi-Vesyegonsk road and on the right side of Renya river, more correctly, a stream. The toponym is compound: its first part is derived from the St. Nicolas side-altar of a previous wooden Assumption church that had been existing 1777 to 1915, the second is hydronym.

In the village vicinity a group of 44 Vepsian mounds dating back to XI–XII centuries has been preserved.

I have to warn all travelers that at night neither church nor ruins of houses are seen, so you will have either rely on your navigator or gaze around. Your turn is here 58°35’51.51”N 36°55’03.22”E, the church is 100m away from the road.

Road conditions can be an issue. If you drive from Saint-Petersburg via Ustyuzhna and Sandovo, the local dirt road is quite good up to the boundary with Vesyegonsk district, except for sporadic puddles and fallen trees (I was there right after a thunderstorm), but right after crossing the districts boundary city cars can find themselves in trouble. My advice is that you shouldn’t try to make a deed like that in spring, autumn and rainy weather, even more to say, the previous year the road was washed out somewhere.

A field where the church is situated is used for grazing, no indications of hay mowing were detected, so grass is high, dew is everywhere. Keep high boots ready.

Night. f8, shutter speed 2s, CPL-filter, standard lens.

Dawn is breaking.

Dawn keeps on breaking.

Glimmering light.

Right after sunrise.

Another view of the Assumption church, counterlight from a shade. Here a grey gradient filter effect can be seen, undesirable in a weather like that. All the rest shots with this filter were rejected.

Foggy morning. Nikkor AIS 28 mm lens, CPL filter.

Dew is everywhere. Nikkor AIS 28 mm lens, CPL filter.

Interior.

Skylight filter worked well here.

Fog and dew. Skylight filter.

Fog and dew. Skylight 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.

Ochre-like sunrise.

Heavily shopped (to make it more correct, it was Corel, not Photoshop), of course. Clear weather is unfavourable to landscape photography, the only option it leaves us is applying several tricks with optics and software.

Waiting. f13, 1/3s, CPL + gradient blue.

Just before the sunrise. f13, 1/4s, CPL + what? I don't remember, it looks like gradient grey. The next one was taken with a skylight as sky looks more violet.

Glimmering light.  f13, 1/4s, CPL + skylight L1A. A violet spot on the top is the skylight filter's effect. I hope, it will work better with a full-frame camera, so everything will be taken again next winter. 

First sunrays. f14, 1/2s, CPL + gradient grey.

Day has begun.  

An adjacent spot, here shooting conditions are obvious to have been extreme. Too bright and totally empty sky. f14, 1/8s, CPL + gradient grey.