It was that time of the month when the moon would rise on the south east horizon close to the sun setting in the north west, at least over the weekend. I would head back to the south downs for an evening walk to capture the moon and the sun but where?
Return to Ditchling
I still wanted to catch the golden hour over the south downs from Swanborough hill that would now include the moonrise. Potentially I could catch both the sunset and moonrise from Wilmington? Another place that attracted me was a return to Ditchling. I walked around Ditchling beacon when I first started hiking and landscape photography back in March 2016. Decisions, decisions, Ditchling it was.
I parked up for free at Ditchling nature reserve along Underhill lane, which was busy for late afternoon. There is a carpark on top of Ditchling beacon but that was full. I began my ascent up Ditchling escarpment and established on the way up this would be an excellent position for some sunset landscape photography.
That hill in the distance I had captured before with the sun setting was called Wolstonbury hill. Wolstonbury hill looked a good candidate for a future walk from browsing OS maps online.
On top of Ditchling beacon there were some paragliders and thought they would make a good focal point for a landscape photograph.
I followed the footpath to Ditchling beacon, being the highest point with good views both east and west. But my priority was to catch the moon rise over the south downs so headed east.
I was also looking for opportunities to take some telephoto landscape photos of which the south downs makes a good subject. I felt like I found a good spot for a moon rise over the south downs, with the moon rising above bo peep and firle in the distance, directly in front of Eastbourne.
There was lots of empty space in the foreground so would be focusing on infinity and maybe going into telephoto to hopefully make the moon seem bigger and closer. A few white fluffy clouds would create interest in the sky.
Walking and Landscape Photography
I still had some time to kill waiting for the August moon to rise. With golden hour fast approaching I decided to walk down to Stamner down and then back round towards Ditchling.
I estimated I would make it back in good time. Im not very patient. This is where landscape photography and walking are not always mutually inclusive. The best landscape photos are all to do with light and waiting for the right light. Still after sat in an office all week I needed a good walk.
As I am walking I am stopping to catch south downs landscape scenes as the evening slips into the golden hour. I have to walk fast to make it back to my location on the Ditchling western brow, missing the best of the golden hour due to walking.
Blue Hour Moon Rise
I made it back to my chosen location just as the golden hour was ending and the blue hour beginning. According to Photopills the moon should rise above BoPeep there in the distance in another 10 minutes or so.
It was getting cooler now, glad I bring my fleece as I tried to be patient. The sun had set in the west over Ditchling, there were a few red hues in the sky. The moon should be visible rising above those hills now but I could see no sign of it?
Then suddenly the moon appeared! It must require the sun to be in a particular position to become visible. Maybe the night before would have been better when the moon would have risen before the sun had set.
I shot many photos of the moon at different focal lengths but every minute it was getting darker and so the moon got higher and brighter with exposures getting longer.
I was focusing on infinity even auto focusing on the moon itself, when wide angle using F/8 aperture and telephoto using F/11, which seemed to work well.
Good photo session with the moon over the south downs. I now had to head back down Ditchling beacon with my torch in the pitch black. The full moon was actually tomorrow night, but the timings were wrong relative to lighting. I hoped to get out Monday morning and catch the moon setting from Birling gap just after the sun had risen.