A little bit of Tuscany in Wiltshire
I had a catch up with me old mucker Dave on Friday evening. He has been working pretty hard all summer and we have not had much chance to meet up for our usual Sunday morning jaunts across the local landscapes and woodlands. He had managed to get out earlier in the week and posted a fantastic image of a spot on the Deverills that was very reminiscent of some of the great scenes in the Italian region of Tuscany, with some beautiful early morning light washing over a rolling field of corn.
We decided to do a scout up to the spot on Sunday evening to see if the corn had been harvested yet and to see what kind of sunset we could get there. The forecast was saying it could be a good one and Clear Outside weather app was saying no chance for rain and lightish winds (remember that folks!).
I headed to his house and after a quick coffee and some admiring glances at his new sofa we headed off, full of our usual banter, expectations and general bullshittery. He had discovered a new route up the rather steep (for me) hill that was shorter and less of an incline, with just a small section a lot steepr then shallowing off to a gentle slope. More importantly it didn’t have any styles on route so that was me sorted!
After huffing and puffing our way up the hill we quickly discovered the corn was indeed still in place, it was very windy and a ton of rain was moving in quite fast! Well done Clear Outside! However this did present an oppurtunity for a potential rainbow as the rain clouds passed and behind followed sunshine. Lo and behold after about ten minutes of persisitant horizontal water the skies cleared and we did indeed get a spectacular rainbow! Dave, of course had left his filters behind so we had to share the use of my polariser, which was fine as the rainbow hung around for quite a few minutes so we both had plenty of time to get our shots off.
One very vibrant rainbow and another faint one to the left.
Once this particular weather system had cleared we decided to check on another view around the back of the hill. Another five minute walk to the brow revealed some really nice light rays over another hill known locally as Little Knoll. It really was turning into a rather good evening of photography!
Little Knoll lit up by the setting sun. In the background to the left you can just make out Alfreds Tower in the distance.
After another rainstorm passed by we hung around in the hope that the clouds would break enough to get a sunset, but sadly our luck had run out at this point and we ended up calling it a night with no further images taken. On the way back down Dave informed me he was heading back out again in the morning and I decided to tag along because there is nothing I like doing more than climbing the same steep hill twice in less than twelve hours!
A short sleep and a quick coffee later and we were off again. This time I left my camera bag behind and only took my Nikon ZF with the 24-120mm lens and my tripod plus my Nisi Swift filters. I really thought I would struggle up the hill but surprisingly I found it easier this morning and we were soon in place and eyeing up the scene. It was not looking very hopeful of some good light. Predawn the skies were relatively clear but on the horizon was a thick bank of haze that ended up obscuring the sunrise for the first few minutes and when we did eventually clap eyes on it, the Sun was merely a diffuse glowing red, incapable of lighting a cigarette! After a few minutes it disappeared behind a bank of fog and cloud and that looked like it was going to be all we would get. But we decided we were up there already so we might as well hang around and see what happened. The winds were moving the clouds along quite briskly and even though they all seemed to be heading in the direction of the Sun it soon started to break up and finally we began to see glimpses of golden light. And then for a couple of brief minutes we had the moment we had been yearning for. The light broke through, lighting up the corn fields in parts and creating some soft light that gave us some beautiful golden colour and lit the scene spectacularly for us.
Such a pretty scene! And that light softened up by the mist and fog was just amazing!
Once the light had gone and the Sun disappeared behind another cloud we decided to call it and headed off to Starbucks for a coffee and tea before going back home. I have spent the last two hours editing up the pick of my images and there are more to see in my gallery of latest images if you want to check them out!
I am really pleased with these two sessions as its always good to get some nice results when you put in the work. It also highlights that its often the bad weather that produces some of the best images! I hope you liked them and thanks as always for having a read!
Toodles.