Over a year ago I decided to go in search of new landscape photography locations by exploring more of my local surroundings in Sussex, England. I spent a lot of my spare time hiking across the South Downs. Six months ago I came across a very lonely tree on top of a field, near the South Down way. To isolate the tree and give it maximum impact in a composition, I tried out a frame with my telephoto lens. I loved the shape of the tree sitting on top of the hill, but as it was mid summer, the crop was too high and concealed the bottom of the tree in the frame.
I went back during winter for the same composition and the field was too yellow, resulting in an uninteresting capture. I decided to visit again during spring, when the first shoots of the crop would be visible in the field, but not high enough to hide any part of the tree.
When I took the picture there were no clouds in the sky, which helped make this the most visually appealing picture I have ever captured. I loved the simplicity and almost wall paper look of this capture – some social media reviewers commented that the picture looked almost unreal.
One potential composition for this field that I would like to try would be a snow dusted scene, but it remains to be seen whether it will be as visually appealing as this one. Finally, having recently attended a talk by a well known landscape photographer, I realise now that I should invest in a step ladder.
Update: 1st July - some good news as this photo is this month's galleria winner in the Landscape Photography Magazine.