What a strange couple of weeks it has been. I like to keep track of the weather, even if only briefly, so that I can gauge what to expect and potential opportunities. It seems there has been a divide across the UK recently with the east seeing below average temperatures and rain and the north / north-west experiencing endless sunshine. I’ll be honest, I struggle in the summer. I mean really struggle. I dislike the uncomfortable heat and so for me personally it’s always a challenge to get out with the camera and keep producing fresh content. I also generally avoid the mountains this time of year in favour of lesser populated areas, when I’m out in nature I like to enjoy the tranquility and soak up the beauty and the atmosphere. With that said, I have made more of an effort to fuel my development by doing some local photography in around the local countryside. Honestly, it has been so much more fun and productive than I ever imagined it would be and so in this blog post, I wanted to take you through a couple of recent experiences.
A perk of having a very energetic dog is that he requires a lot of exercise. We walk together for several hours every day, rain, sleet, or snow, and I love it! Recently however, I’ve had to push his afternoon walks back later into the evening as it is just too hot for him in the daytime. This is where I began to notice how amazing the local countryside is and also where I began to question why I don’t do more with it.
Firstly, the barley fields. I was walking along a familiar trail a few days back and I saw it, the sunset light beautifully illuminating the columns of barley, lovely warm tones filling the field with a row of trees silhouetted in the background against the lowering sun. A simple frame but in the right conditions I thought it had potential. Fast forward to Friday, the beginning of the bank holiday weekend, I was getting my dog ready for his walk and as always, I popped into the garden had a quick peak over to the west to see if there was any potential for sunset. I noticed a bank of cloud cover which was currently covering the sun but the horizon had a small clearing, potential enough I thought for a dramatic sunset. Knowing this, I grabbed my camera bag and headed out. We walked along a nearby trail and reached a scene that had some potential facing in a westerly direction. Armed with my wide-angle lens, I picked out a spot that I thought would work and waited 5 or 10 minutes for the sun to drop low enough to place it below the cloud and into the clearing above the horizon. The first hints of light began to flood the scene with warm golden hour light as the sun broke free of its shackles. As time progressed it got better and better! The only problem was, as I was limited to composition and shooting almost directly towards the sun, I had to wait until the sun dropped even lower, just above the tree line to avoid sun flares in my image. The sun eventually dropped into position and I fired off a couple of hand-held shots, keeping an eye on the histogram to avoid excessive shadows and highlights. Anyway, here’s the first shot from a batch of recent local exploration, I quite like it, I hope you do too!
It’s fair to say I had a lot of fun shooting the above scene and this got me wondering, was there more potential to be had? I knew of a few other barley fields that were at a similar stage and so I made a point of walking past the new target area quite frequently. I started to gauge how the evening light affected the field and surrounding elements, potential compositions and anything else that might help frame up a shot. It was quite tricky is what I took away from several recces. In the middle of the field stands a gorgeous Oak tree which makes for an obvious subject. However, there are some distracting elements below and to the left of the Oak tree which I wasn’t sure added any value. Also, similarly to the previous shot, the scene is of a westerly direction and so would be a very dynamic scene during sunset. Regardless, I decided to finally give it a go, this time opting for my 70-200mm lens to get closer to the Oak tree and give it some presence within the frame. I headed out to the scene just before 9pm and lined myself up with the Oak tree such that the sun was directly behind it, still able to penetrate through the gaps in the leaves but obscuring the majority of the direct sunlight. As the sun dropped lower and lower, I noticed the sky towards the horizon began to turn yellow and the light was more diffused – I guess due to the volume of dust in the air courtesy of all of the recent farming activities. I also noticed a group of crows frequently flying around a section of trees that would later form the background of my frame. I waited for an opportunity to catch the crows in the perfect spot in the middle of the silhouetted trees in the background and fired off a couple of shots. Checking the camera LCD, I was quite happy with the shots considering the distractions around the Oak tree. I thought that them being silhouetted did enough to reduce the possible distraction they posed. That being said here’s the shot, I’d love to hear what you think of this one – very little post processing. Yes it would have been ideal if the Oak tree was on its own but it is what it is!
Aside from the above I have also been experimenting with a couple of macro shots using various subjects. I won’t go into too much detail on these as it is still very much work in progress and I feel that this deserves its own blog post. I’ve been on the hunt for a nice macro shot of a butterfly which is proving more difficult than expected, mostly because I’m seeing a disappointingly low volume of insects around for this time of year, it’s actually worrying. From what I am seeing across various social media platforms, this seems to be a common concern across the country. How does this compare to your local area? I would love to hear your thoughts! I’ll leave you with a couple of other experimental shots, nothing too special but as always, no experience is bad experience!
