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As far as I was concerned these were the scenes of the day, in fact, these were my personal best scenes of the entire Winter, I was so in awe of the beauty that I had forgotten all about the cold. I didn't want it to end, I still had another 63% battery remaining so I continued taking images. The great thing about having a drone is you can place it at any angle or height you need to get the shot, by the time we hiked out across those fields and over the other side the sunshine could have been gone, once again these aerial cameras have saved the day.
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I love scenes like this, I have a check list of phenomena I try to get every Winter - snow, snow drifts, blowing snow/blizzard, icicles, glaze ice, rime ice, hoar frost, light pillars. thundersnow, snow curtains and atmospheric optics, the list goes on. I consider hoar frost rite up there with some of the most photogenic scenes a photographer can get, we don't get this kind of frost too often here, certainly not in thick accumulations like this, and any hoar frost which does form can be very localized so it can be easily missed, often a rising sun can melt it fast too so days which stay below freezing during daytime are best suited.
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I might get this one printed for my own collection
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One final image before the low battery warning kicked in, this was a brilliant flight which left me on a high for the rest of the day, this day was already a success, anything else from now on would just be icing on the cake.
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I couldn't resist a DSLR image of that frost covered bush in the person's garden. We decided to drive on but stopped in town first for some hot food and snacks. The sun was actually surprisingly strong for the time of year, we could feel its heat on our faces for the first time since early November. The plan was to check out another location at a church outside Omagh then make our way to Gortin Forest Park after that.
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At our second location the sun was starting to melt the frost off the trees, however in the shade hoar frost was still in abundance clinging to the thin branches, twigs, plants and grass, this branch looked really cool within the grounds of a church. It was early afternoon and time was flying in, we moved on to our next destination at Gortin Glen Forest, the drive through the forest itself with the winding roads through the ancient trees covered in thick snow with long shadows cast was nothing short of magic. Suddenly I saw a car I knew passing, the occupant gave a wave, it was Colleen Webb who had just arrived in the area after snow chasing at Portglenone and Lough Fea earlier, she said she might join us today but wasn't sure, I was glad she made it.
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We pulled in off the road and got the drones up to take in the view, this location never disappoints.
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We spent a good while in the forest walking through trails and flying our drones, the temperature was really starting to plunge again. I had four drone batteries with me and Paul being the nice person he is charged up any of my batteries every time I went through one so I never had to worry about running out of batteries again which was a very reassuring feeling.
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We drove further along the road near the lakes and came across this accident. This actually happened two days ago and as far I know on social media the occupants were OK, it must have been a frightening experience sliding off the road into that field landing on the roof, it can be very easily done on these roads in Winter time.
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There's a steep road up to the lakes, it was covered in snow with several hills to traverse, Paul and Colleen where in front and I was driving behind. Paul made it to the top however I knew I didn't have enough momentum then the van spun out 3/4 of the way up on a steep slippery road. I was stuck, I couldn't go forward and back was the only option, but I didn't like what I was seeing, I could easily slide the whole way down that hill, there were kids sledging and another car parked on the road, if I slid down I could hit any of those. I just stayed where I was for a while and got the drone up which was what I used for these car accident images, now I know what happened that car, it likely went down that hill too fast and lost control, the sight of it didn't full me with confidence for my own descent.
Then the van began sliding backwards down the hill out of control, in my side mirror I saw kids walking up, I was worried I would hit them, I yelled out the window to the Mother to watch out for the kids as I'm sliding, I turned the steering wheel and the van done a 180 degree turn while sliding downhill and now faced forward, missing the kids by a couple of metres then came to a stop bonnet facing down. It felt very sketchy from my position spinning out of control, however the mother was laughing and so were Paul and Colleen, they said it looked great, like something from a movie, that did make me laugh too, I wish I could say I done that move on purpose. All part of the adventures out in the snow, as long as nobody gets hurt or no serious damage to cars then it's all good.
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I distracted myself with filming the beautiful lakes, the sun was about ten degrees away from setting over the distant hills, facing N/NW here looking across the peaks of the northern Sperrins. Paul and Colleen where up on high ground filming too.
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I then got a call from Veronica, they had just left their last filming location and heading my way. I decided I didn't like the van sitting on this unpredictable hill so I drove very slowly down in first gear with the passenger side wheel hugging the rough grass/snow at the edge of the road for better grip then made it to the bottom safely in a flat car park, that was relief, now I could relax more.
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Veronica Cunningham, Matthew Gould and Ronald Surgenor all arrived in a 4x4, picked Rhua and I up, then we drove with relative ease to the top vantage point over the lakes. The view was fantastic looking across a snow covered landscape all the way to the Sperrins, white peaks on the horizon, a valley below with freezing fog and us standing in good snow catching the last sunlight of the day, I couldn't have asked for a more perfect way to end my segment of the series. Snow plays an important part in my life and in my photography, this connection with Winter goes all the way back to when I was a child when my Dad would take us out hiking through any snow we got, there always seemed to be more of it back then, we were encouraged to play in snow, build a snowman, to welcome it as something beautiful, fun, and special, in some ways it makes it feel like Christmas no matter when it falls. In later years my Dad encouraged me to get my camera out (he's a photographer too) and document the snow so we always ended up on Glenshane Pass or somewhere in the Sperrins having an adventure, it was always time well spent in nature so I always like to keep up our tradition in my own way.
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This day was the end of a year of filming for the crew all across the Sperrins covering all four seasons and following interesting people connected to the landscape. This image sums up the feelings well, thanks to Ronald for sending over these images for the memories.
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We stayed until well after sunset into blue hour, Venus was visible blazing away in the SW and the waxing Moon was high in the E. The light was dropping but that didn't stop us from enjoying the moment and getting a few more images. Matt was flying his Mavic 3 Pro and I was flying the Mavic 3 Classic, Matt did low level flying and I did the higher altitude scenes, I had gone through seven complete batteries this day. As twilight deepened we all said our farewells and began our drive back through the forest.
I would like to thank the entire team for joining me on my sky adventures, they really are a lovely group of people who work really well together and so talented at what they do, they also make you feel so relaxed in their presence which helps so much. I wish them the very best of luck with their future endeavors. While I was driving back through Gortin in the semi darkness I saw a field with stags walking through the snow, what a great photo opportunity that would have been, however the light was too low for DSLR long lens photography, but the visual sight was a perfect way to end this adventure. The temperature on the Omagh road was already -4c at 17.30, it was going to be a very cold night once more.
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The following day was the last day of the cold spell, I was already content with what I had but I wanted to spend one last time out in the cold before it all vanished. I wanted to check out Ballyronan Marina at Lough Neagh, I met Colleen Webb and together we spent the morning looking for something 'cool' to shoot. There was no hoar frost however we were surprised to see part of the lough frozen over, especially the sheltered area where the boats are moored.
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I can't actually recall the last time I saw this frozen, 2010? I just don't know, but it was very interesting to see. It wasn't strong enough to stand on however we did throw stones and rocks onto the ice which just bounced off making a cool vibration sound, the rocks never broke through.
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Standing here brought back fond memories from 2009/2010 during the big freeze, the entire lough was froze over solid from one side to the other. The ice was so thick a guy from the Co. Antrim side drove his JCB over it and parked it on the ice, I know this because he emailed over the images to my website mail address back then, he even cut a massive block out of the ice with a chain saw and it looked approx 8" thick. While at Ballyronan I met an 82 year old gentleman who said when the lough last froze over in the 60s he cycled across it, and now he wanted to walk on the ice once more, and he did, he walked way out past the boats and Maid Of Antrim, that just shows you how incredible that Winter was, I wish I had a drone back then.
On that note I would like to finish up this two page report, I enjoyed re-living the memories from those three days of shooting, it was great fun, and if you made it this far I would like to thank you very much for reading and for your time. The video above showcases various aspects of the chase, however the climax without question was the Omagh hoar frost scenes. 2025 is off to a good start, I look forward to seeing what else the year brings.
Martin McKenna
