Photography Journey to Hell
- herverannu
- Nov 16
- 6 min read
The photo trips of recent years have occasionally taken me more into the wild side of nature. Places that are less or completely undiscovered. These trips are ultimately the sweetest. Precisely in terms of emotions, experiences and sensations. Experiences that fill your soul in a different way. An uncomfortable feeling makes you feel alive. In mid-October this year, a photo journey like this was waiting me and my friend again and it was time to go.
In a place far from any civilized life, there is a small house in the middle of a beautiful and magical forest. A river flows next to the house on two sides and from time to time you can also see Kingfishers flying by chirping. The only sounds you can hear are the sounds of nature and your own breathing. Time seems to stand still. This wonderful place is called Hell or Hells Hole. The story started like a beautiful fairy tale, but ended a little more horribly. In fact, it is not that dramatic at all and the place name is more like this because the trip to this location is already an adventure itself. The unofficial road that leads there goes through mud puddles and ditches, and water level over there depends on the season. We have also visited this place in winter, and sometimes the water in the ditches was almost knee-deep. The journey is almost 4km long on the direct route. If you want to go in a circle, or safer, then the journey will be a little over 5km long. Before reaching the house, you still need to cross the river, but you can do this along the bridge, which looks more like a ladder on which you can practice your balance. In short, the journey is an experience itself and, let's say, it brightens you up. This distance is not really long, but in the meantime, even 4 kilometers is enough to feel completely separated from the rest of the world. This feeling and atmosphere is certainly conveyed by the location where you are currently staying. Hells Hole is probably one of these places.
There is no electricity or running water in the house, and you have to relieve yourself in a dry toilet. However, there is a sauna, from which a staircase leads directly to the river, where you can cool off. There is also a hot tub. You have to fill the hot tub with water, but you have to put the water there by yourself from the river. In short, once you arrive, you have to do a little work and make things better to make life more beautiful. That's how it is in life, isn't it? If things are bad and unpleasant, you have to make your life better by yourself. Most people are probably scared away by such a place. For me, such an adventure is like a retreat and gives the whole thing its charm. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in such a retreat.
A little photo story too. The dates for the whole adventure were set about 1.5 months in advance. The weather forecast for this weekend promised the first minus degrees and clear skies, which with the remaining autumn colors and light could create epic photography conditions. There was also a chance for northern lights. Something to look forward to.
I also had the 200mm F/2 DG Sports lens from SIGMA Nordic with me. I wouldn't take a lens like that on a trip like this, and it's more of a portrait and sports lens. Since I had the opportunity to use this lens, I ended up thanking myself later for still bringing it with me.
The first evening passed peacefully by the campfire, sharing stories, and we decided to go to bed early because we had plans to go on a photo hike early in the morning.
Since there was an interesting swamp about 2km from the house, we decided to go explore it early in the morning. The path got quite watery and bushy at times. In the meantime, we moved along animal tracks, which made the hike a little easier. In the end, we didn't find any wonderful compositions from the ground in the swamp area to photograph, but the views were still awesome with the drone.
Later, when the light started to fall on the frosty leaves and other details of the trees, I immersed myself in the world of details and completely forgot myself there. At this point, I was able to use the SIGMA lens and it was really cool to photograph these details of nature. I was probably also excited because I had been waiting for those first minus degrees in the morning for a long time, which turned nature into a frosty fairyland.
The rest of the day is usually spent just lounging around in a place like this. In the meantime, you cook and just hang out. You make a fire and have meaningful conversations with your hiking companions. Everyone goes at their own pace, who is still going to hike and explore, who is sleeping, who is not getting enough sleep due to waking up early, etc. Such a simple life.
In the evening, we enjoyed the hot tub with a magical starry sky.
In the evening, while talking in front of the fireplace, notifications started coming to my phone that the northern lights had arrived. I went out of the house to see if there was anything to see and it immediately became clear that the green arc was there. The northern lights graphs showed that it would get even better. The necessary photo gear was quickly packed and we rushed to the field to take photos.
Since the landscape was very hectic and wild, I was unable to find such "beautiful" compositions and approached the process a little differently. I put a lens with a longer focal length in front of the camera, which I usually don't use to take photos of the northern lights, and I delved into the details of nature again. Very often, you don't have the possibility to take photos of nature details when the sky is green. I found some bloomed fireweed plants and tried to match them with the stars in the sky. If you set the focus to the details, the stars in the sky will remain larger and this is called "bokeh" in the photography world. It creates more of a fairy tale atmosphere. After a few hours of shooting, I decided to go to bed so I would still have the energy to wake up in the morning. What awaited me that morning, however, exceeded all expectations.
By the second morning, the landscape was frosty again and the view was picturesque. I launched the drone to capture the views from above. At first, it didn't seem like anything special until I flew the drone a little higher and realized that a light layer of fog had formed. Later, it all became thicker and thicker. After a few moments, the sun had risen so high that the first light fell on the trees and fog. Such a combination: the last autumn colors in nature, frost, fog and the light of the rising sun! Can it get any better? The sun was finally so high that the light was no longer so sweet and all 3 batteries of my drone were also empty. I took my steps back to the house.
Morning coffee and breakfast followed. Just enjoying the last moments and it was time to pack up the equipment again and return to civilized life. On the way I found more awesome moments to capture with my camera and suddenly it was almost 4 km behind us and we were back at the cars.
Life in Hell's Hole isn't so bad, is it? Rather, it is quite colorful. Autumn colors in nature, crisp minus degrees with frost, fog, morning golden light and the northern lights! I will wait for the next time in Hell's Hole for sure!
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