Capturing Henley: A Photographer’s Morning of Reflection and Inspiration

It's 8:00 AM on a late September morning in Henley-on-Thames. It’s the first properly cold day of the year. The sky above is clear, and the low early light creeps above the buildings, casting long shadows. The mist was still hanging low in the fields as I drove into town after waving Millie off at the start of her ultramarathon. The sole reason I found myself in Henley-on-Thames that morning.

A Crisp Morning in Henley-on-Thames

With Millie running all day and the super early start, I found myself wandering the streets of Henley-on-Thames with my camera to kill time. I had no plan as to what I was going to shoot or if there was going to be anything interesting at all, but it was worth a shot.

Parking in the Waitrose car park, I planned to head out onto the main road and towards the river, capturing anything that caught my eye.

Capturing Henley's Iconic Town Hall

Henley-on-Thames Town Hall illuminated on cold September’s Morning

Emerging from a side alley, I found myself in an empty square in front of the town hall. Opened in 1901, the baroque-style building dominates Henley town centre. The front of the building, with its impressive columns, faces due east towards the River Thames. Perfectly lit by the morning light, I opted for the obligatory tourist shot of the front of the hall. Only having a 50mm lens and limited space without adding distractions to the frame, I was just about able to frame the whole building into the shot. The length of the shadows from the surrounding buildings fell just short of the front steps, accentuating how the town hall rises above everything else in the square.

Struggling for Inspiration in a Familiar Scene

Turning around towards the square, it was empty of people. With nothing open, it was too early for anybody to be out. This was a little disappointing as it seemed that there was little interest in shooting. Perhaps this was due to a lack of imagination and inspiration on my part, but everywhere I looked, Henley-on-Thames felt like every other middle-English town. Some old buildings, shopfronts, and pigeons. Without people, I just couldn’t find anything that inspired me to create a photo. Though the town felt uninspiring at first glance, I decided to head towards the river, hoping that nature might offer something more captivating.

Feeling completely uninspired by the scene in the square, I headed down towards the river, hoping that nature might offer something more captivating. As I reached Henley Bridge, an 18th-century stone bridge, I found that the Thames was flooding. I had hoped to cross the bridge and walk along the bank to capture a wide shot of the bridge with Henley in the background, but the floodwater had drowned the path on the opposite side, making it impossible. By now, I was starting to think that today was probably a lost cause for photography, and I wasn’t feeling it.

Sometimes, I think it’s OK not to feel inspired. It’s impossible to expect to capture masterpieces every time you go out with a camera. But as I stood on the bridge and looked downstream, I could see that the early morning mist hung over the river, backlit by the sun. I knew there might be some good photos somewhere; I just needed to work out how to get down to the river.

Forcing a bit of inspiration, I wandered along the riverside road towards the marina. I was feeling a little disappointed as I knew I wasn’t going to be able to get into the position I wanted to make the most of the mist over the water. But I managed to find a way through the front of a riverside bistro and into its flooded car park in front of the marina. Luckily, I had Gore-Tex shoes on for the muddy start of Millie’s race.

As I waded across the car park, I could see a gap between some of the boats in the marina and an opportunity to capture some of the mist hanging over the water. While it was not a perfect shot, I was at least glad I managed to capture something.

A Symmetrical Surprise in the Marina

At that point, I decided to turn around and head back to the car, my lack of inspiration getting the better of me. But as I began walking back to the car, I noticed how, with the sun now higher in the sky, the boats in the marina were being perfectly reflected in the still floodwater, creating symmetry everywhere I looked.

I began to see more and more symmetry in my surroundings. As a result, I started to select images to accentuate the symmetry. I ended up with a series of reflective images that I quite liked.

The almost perfect image of symmetry happened purely because of circumstance. Not only because of the random chance of finding myself in Henley-on-Thames on a perfectly sunny morning when the Thames was in flood but also because of the limitations of my 50mm lens.

Capturing 'Scotia and Snowdrop': The Final Shot"

I took the photo above, named "Scotia and Snowdrop." These two boats were part of a flotilla of rental boats available from the riverfront in Henley-on-Thames that caught my eye as I waded through the flooded pub car park. I initially wanted to capture all of the identical boats, but I only had a 50mm lens with me, which consequently meant the car park didn’t have enough room to get far enough back to capture all the boats in one shot. So, I decided to focus on these first two boats instead, making symmetry the focus of the image.

Unwittingly, there is far more symmetry in this image than I originally thought. I first focused on just the two boats and their reflections as the main focus of symmetry, but as I went to edit the photo further, I found more and more layers of symmetry.

When Inspiration Strikes: A Lesson in Patience

Reflecting on the morning’s shoot, I learned a few things. Firstly, sometimes inspiration just isn’t there. Henley-on-Thames is a beautiful place, but for whatever reason on that almost perfect morning, I couldn’t find anything to inspire me. But sometimes, inspiration comes when and where you least expect it, and it’s important to recognise it when it does. Make sure you go with it because it might lead to producing shots you’re proud of.