A cold and frosty January morning photographing Beddingham church near Lewes in East Sussex with mount Caburn rising behind was the plan.

Beddingham Church Location

Beddingham church near Lewes with mount caburn rising behind has caught my eye a few times while driving down the A26 returning from trips to Newhaven. Had planned the photo shoot the night before studying the lay of the land through OS Maps online. Was hoping to get a good viewpoint of St Andrews church with the morning sunrise catching it and mount Caburn behind. Would then do a hike up Beddingham Hill on the south downs next to Firle Beacon.

Not quite go to plan. Private land prevented capturing the visualisation.

Towards Firle

Plan B was to hike across farmland using public footpaths towards Firle then hike up Beddingham Hill on the south downs. There are a few places to park next to Beddingham church else the nearest public parking is at Firle.

Some good interest with clouds in the sky catching the rising sun. A frosty ground, old wall and lone bare tree added some foreground interest on the hike towards Firle.

Looking back towards Beddingham, the church was now catching the morning sunlight like my visualisation. But not from the planned viewpoint. Changed to the 200mm lens but heavily cropped to fill the frame.

Beddingham Hill South Downs

Before Firle there is an old road or bostal that ascends Beddingham hill to the summit. This road takes you past a small village called Little Dene.

The ascent of Beddingham hill provides some good viewpoints of mount Caburn rising to the north facing south. The morning sunrise was catching it nicely.

A lone windswept tree provided some foreground interest and depth also giving a sense of remoteness and isolation. Careful to not let the tip of the tree break the summit of mount Caburn else very distracting.

Shine the Light

Further up Beddingham hill and its quite a hike, the morning sunlight was spotlighting the church beautifully.

Would have looked so good from the ground looking up with mount caburn in shadow. Fantastic separation of the church from its surrounding landscape of the south downs.

Made it to the top of Beddingham hill on the south downs. Which provides some great views north of the Lewes downs, mount caburn including St Andrews church just in the frame taking a small percentage of real estate. Some lovely purple tinged morning fluffy clouds in the sky had to be included.

Return to Beddingham

Lovely sunny winter walk back down the hill to Beddingham church where the car was parked. Had to take a photograph of St Andrews church in all its glory, love the Scots pine to the side.

Looks like have used a polariser but did not, would have provided too much saturation.

Hand Holding Sharp Photos

Not use a tripod all morning am finding with a fast enough shutter speed via raising ISO am getting consistently sharp photos now with little noise. Learnt a lot about hand holding sharp photos from that stormy Isle of Wight trip and recent strong winds at Seaford. Also majority of photographs am focusing beyond infinity so have no depth of field issues. Shutter speed greater than focal length, the more the better, subject distance or focal point greater than focal length.

Good Mood

Great morning out around Beddingham on the south downs in East Sussex, needed the walk and sunshine. Taking my mind of things through landscape photography and connecting with the outdoors. Find this regulates my mood. Getting outdoors every other day would be ideal, but work and weather can prevent this.

Check out the January 2023 landscape photography gallery

Check out the East Sussex landscape photography gallery