April 2022 was a mostly dry month, very little rain. Come April and spring is well under way. Had a good few scouts through woodland on the high and low weald in East Sussex looking for that bluebell shot. Some new viewpoints discovered over the south downs near Lewes, Rapeseed sunsets, Kent beaches, a trip to France and a few disasters. What follows is the best landscape and travel photography during April 2022.
High Weald April Scouting
Due to a two week vacation in The Gambia and a little lethargic I not get out much during March 2022. End of March into the beginning of April wanted to scout some woodlands on the High Weald in East Sussex. Spring is a great time to explore ancient woodlands on the High Weald. Due to the extra light hitting the woodland floor, it can be covered in wild flowers. But timing is crucial. You want the flowers at their thickest and most vibrant, not wilting.
Vinehall Woods
Spring 2021 found some thick blankets of bluebells in Vinehall woods on the High Weald in East Sussex. End of March early April 2022 and it was a bit early for bluebells but could see their green shoots coming through. Without the bluebells present and not being distracted, did find some more interesting areas within Vinehall woods to photograph.
Would be great to capture bluebells between the well defined trunks of mature beech and the sun breaking through some morning mist. Good scout, hoping to return to this spot when the spring bluebells are at their best.
Burgh Hill Woods
Another ancient woodland revisited was Burgh Hill on the high weald near Hurst Green. Again without any distractions scouted a new area of Burgh Hill wood which looked a lot more promising.
At the far end of Burgh Hill wood there is an interesting Ghyll running south to north. The banks should become full of wild garlic and bluebells when spring comes into full bloom. There is even one of those small waterfalls that are unique to the east Sussex landscape.
Beckley Woods April Anemones
Further April spring woodland scouts over the High Weald had to include a wander through Beckley Woods in East Sussex. Again took some different paths from previous visits to Beckley Woods and was rewarded with woodland carpets of Wood Anemones.
There were one or two bluebells but still a bit early for them. Spent a good few hours wandering around in Beckley woods hunting for good woodland compositions.
Woodland Photography Challenges
These kind of woodland compositions can be challenging if want everything in sharp focus. Usually require a wide angle lens and large depth of field like F16 else focus stacking. Problems can occur if there is much wind as the foliage will be moving and woodland usually requires longer shutter. The only option due to small aperture is to raise the ISO.
Flatropers Wood
Another ancient woodland on the High Weald in East Sussex is Flatropers wood. Previous visits to Flatropers wood have been good for bluebells, so thought would scout it out April 2020 to observe what’s on the ground parking up at Bixley Lane.
Some of the better compositions within Flatropers wood were at the edge where there were some thickets of wood anemones. Flatropers is quite heavily coppiced compared to Beckley woods which is not. No expert but know which one I prefer. From the edge of Flatropers wood reminded me that April is prime time for Rapeseed fields and this would be the impetus for some further scouts with Rapeseed as the subject.
Dymchurch Beach
What inspired this return trip to St Marys Bay and Dymchurch beach on the Kent coast was a contact wanting to buy a full resolution image of St Marys Bay I had taken a few years previous.
At low tide Dymchurch beach is vast and on a nice day a good walk. The pools of waters and sand ripples make good foreground interest and leading lines to Dungeness power station in the background. Would like to return to Dymchurch beach for a sunrise to the east.
Lewes South Downs
Had another contact request for a photo during April 2022, One I took from Mount Caburn. Again this inspired a return to the south downs near Lewes. There is an area of the south downs between Lewes and Falmer and south of Blackcap that not really explored before but with the right light provided some good views over the Kingston Ridge.
You can park up for free at the edge of a housing estate, next to Lewes Prison and then the footpaths into the South Downs are directly accessible. The plan was to scout around until sunset and hopefully get lucky.
Had some good evening and golden hour light across the south downs stretching out to Firle beacon and Bo Peep. Panoramic was the way to go to fit everything into the frame including Ashcombe mill under the shadow of the Kingston Ridge. Great evening hike around this area known as Bulmer Down on the map. With the high clouds there was a colourful sunset but due to scouting was not in a good location at the time to exploit it. But great new viewpoints discovered on this part of the South Downs in East Sussex.
Crowhurst April Rapeseed
Had noticed some rapeseed fields earlier in April from Flatropers wood and this got me thinking about Rapeseed as a subject to photograph. There are some good rapeseed fields close to me in Hastings. These Rapeseed fields are located along Green Street a country lane and hamlet between Crowhurst and the Marline Valley nature reserve.
Had scouted out the location during the day parking up in Green Street then returned in the evening with the Canon 5D MkIV for some more serious landscape photography. Had a couple of compositions in mind and to concentrate on, the one above on private farmland but was not doing any harm. Blue skies were important for rapeseed compositions as blue is the complimentary colour of yellow. Again want front to back focus, wide angle and ideally no wind.
From the public footpath could capture a setting sun behind the outline silhouette of a mature tree and rapeseed in the foreground. The following morning did scout out Marline Valley another piece of ancient woodland under threat of urban sprawl, not take my camera though just some shots on my mobile phone.
La Roche Bernard Brittany France
For the April Easter long weekend took a trip to La Roche Bernard in Brittany France. A friend has a boat there and a few of us would be staying on the boat for a few days. Took the car to Portsmouth, parked up and joined my friends car for the 6 hour ferry crossing to Caen. Then a 3 hour drive to La Roche Bernard.
Things were going smoothly we had lovely weather for the easter weekend in Brittany France. On the second day we took a drive to the city of Vannes and then the coastal region of Île-aux-Moines.
Nightmare!
On the drive back we hit a traffic calming curb and blew two tyres in the middle of nowhere on a bank holiday weekend mobiles low on power with weak internet signal and not really speak the language. Not a situation you want to be in. My friend was not a member of any motoring organisation with European cover. Tried ringing mine but could not help. Changed one tyre and drove a mile or two to a small village, parked up and had missed the last buses back to La Roche Bernard. Managed to ring a taxi and took one of the tyres back with us. Nothing we could do for the next two days due to holidays, nowhere open. At least back at the boat in La Roche Bernard and could chill and come up with a plan.
Due to bank holiday weekend we would have to stay an extra day at least. The plan was a taxi to Vannes then rent a car for a week. We would take the rented car on the ferry back to England, taking one of the wheels with us. A bit of luck just after rented car for a week, the first taxi driver called and could take us to a garage where they had a used spare tyre that would fit. Problem was now we were under a time constraint to get back to Caen and the ferry. At the garage he fitted the tyre immediately and we drove back to where we had left the car a few days previous. Fitted the wheel, parked the rented car and drove to Caen making it just in time. Only at the ferry at Caen did I realise through the commotion did I leave my camera bag in the rented car! Nightmare! My friend returns in a week to return the rented car, hopefully my camera will still be there.
Smart Tag Tracking
Problems with bags etc is not usually carry them and its easy to leave them behind when under stress, relaxed or engaged! A technical solution to this are these smart tag trackers. Its not the first time I have left my bag behind. As an Android and Samsung galaxy phone user have I have invested in a couple of their SmartTag+. Some initial tests and I am impressed. My mobile now receives a notification once the tag is a certain distance away, around 100m.
Brede High Wood Bluebells
Had to pop out in the afternoon to do a few things, thought I would combine it with an April bluebell scouting trip through Brede High Woods on the high weald in East Sussex. Just took along my canon compact camera. With the trip to France the week before had missed the initial blooming of the Bluebells in the woodlands of East Sussex.
Had scouted Brede high wood before but not during spring. So was pleasantly surprised to discover some beautiful bluebell ancient woodland. It was mid to late afternoon providing some good side lighting on the tree trunks.
Compressed scene
Zoomed in full magnification with the compact camera which is equivalent to about 120mm. This helps compress the woodland and the bluebells making it more dense looking. With the dark canopy of the woodland and telephoto lens, shot with a higher than usual ISO and IS. Beautiful fresh vibrant colours with the blue/purple being a complimentary colour of the green spring shoots on the trees and ground.
Vinehall Woods Bluebell Return
Had now got a taste for some more bluebell woodland photography on the High Weald in East Sussex. Decided to return early morning to Vinehall Woods, a bluebell location I had scouted beginning of April 2022.
Sure enough the bluebells were out in force at this location in Vinehall woods.
Photographing Bluebells
With a bit of wind, which there was these bluebell compositions can be hard and challenging to photograph. Needed to go medium telephoto with the 24-70mm lens to compress the scene. But also required front to back focus. Even at F16 not enough depth of field. So attempted to focus stack. To avoid motion blur was using a higher ISO at around 400. When there is movement, focus stacking is not ideal either. When blending the 3 separate frames, front to back there will be artefacts. Also with sunshine and clouds in the sky the light hitting the ground will be constantly changing.
Switched on touch screen shutter on the LCD screen assuming the point I touched it would also focus. As with focus stacking you often need to take up to 3 shots – foreground, midground and background to get sharp front to back focus. Just touching the screen at each point simplifies this process somewhat. But not realise at the time was not re-focusing just taking the shot.
I like the above composition due to the compression, the morning sun side lighting the tree trunks, also the log provides an anchor and subject. But the bluebells in the foreground are completely out of focus. 🙁 wasted a lot of shots before I realised was not focusing, should zoom in and review your images out in the field to avoid this.
Arlington Bluebell Walk
An iconic location for bluebell woodland in East Sussex and the south east of England is the Arlington bluebell walk located at Bates Green Farm. Its £6 to enter and not open until 10AM and closes at 5pm.
The farm opens during April when the bluebells first bloom and closes in May. First time I have been to Arlington bluebell walk. Very pleasant worth the £6. The bluebells are concentrated in an area known as Beatons Wood. Due to the time of day, the bright sunlight and dark shadows of the woodland created a lot of contrast. Arlington bluebell walk gets quite busy around midday even midweek.
April Orchids, Park Wood Hellingly
There were quite a few photographers in Arlington bluebell walk, the farm runs a photography competition each year. Got chatting to some friendly visitors who recommended Park Wood near Hellingly nearby in East Sussex on the low weald. Few days later was in the area running a few errands and decided to give Park Wood a scout with my compact camera.
Nice walk through Park wood, plenty of bluebells but not finding any compelling woodland compositions. Then near the edge of Park wood parallel with some farmland were some beautiful orchids. wide aperture to get some bokeh, raised the ISO a little to counter the slight wind.
Perils of Ebay
A bit of noteworthy news is during April an issue I had with Ebay. We are all aware of the perils of buying off Ebay. During 2021 I had purchased a Canon 5D MkIV, Canon 100-400mm F4 lens, a Canon 1.4 extender. All at approx. half price, as good as new with no issues. These dealers were official photography dealers just with a shop front on Ebay. All good. I was then interested in completing my lens collection with a 24-105mm Canon f4 II, the II is important here. Saw one advertised on Ebay, as good as new, and would save a lot of money on buying it brand new. It was only a few months later when registering lenses on the Canon website in order to facilitate firmware updates, that I had purchased a version I 24-105mm not a version II!
Giving the seller Keep In Case the benefit of the doubt, think they made the same mistake as me, just assumed it was a version II, there is a big price difference between the two. Still when contacted they were not helpful or sorry so avoid KeepInCase, the problem originated with them. Ebay could do nothing either as warranty period had expired. Not much I could do about it after 3 months. These are the perils of buying photography gear off of Ebay. Always check thoroughly what you have received and paid for.
From Ebay to MPB
A much better solution for photographers buying second hand photography gear is to use MPB. This is dedicated to photography and the mistake described above will not happen. What’s great also is you can trade in your old photography gear for new on MPB. So got a good as new Canon 24-105mm II traded it in for the version I along with a few other photography items gathering dust. Then you just pay the difference once they have received your traded in items and agreed on the price relative to condition specified. I actually had one item upgraded to good from well used. They will collect and deliver for free or you can use a DPD shop. I wont be using eBay anymore.
Check out the East Sussex Landscape Photography Gallery.
Check out the Kent Landscape Photography Gallery.