Driving along the A21 from Hertfordshire to the east Sussex coast and back, you can not help notice the views over the weald and the Kent Downs near Sevenoaks. On the promise of a sunny afternoon on my drive to east Sussex, I decided to pull over and scout the area.
Kent Downs Walking Map
It was the last weekend of November and the last weekend of Autumn before Meteorological winter kicks in 1st December. For a change it was going to be sunny. The plan was to park up at one tree hill and walk from there.
There was a distinctive range of hills I wanted to cover over this stretch of the Kent downs from Carters Hill to Wilmot Hill along the Greensand Way. On the approach to One Tree Hill I noticed car parking by the side of the road near Knole Park so decided to start the walk from there.
Knole Deer Park
I followed Broad Walk through Knole Deer Park, lots of deers about, and quite use to people, you could get quite close without spooking them.
Shooting wildlife is quite different to shooting landscapes, but always make a good subject. I took a lot of deer shots handholding, many come out with unintentional motion blur. As I kept shooting they got a bit better. But some lessons are only learnt when your back home post processing them on the big screen.
On exit from Knole Park, back on the Greensand way footpath towards Carters Hill, I got a more classic landscape photograph. You can see the tower of Knole house in the distance.
Carters Hill, Kent Downs
I followed the Greensand way towards Carters Hill where views south over the weald opened up, like you see when heading towards east Sussex along the A21 near Sevenoaks.
Problem was from the footpath not a good enough viewpoint. So with my long legs I stepped over the barbed wired fence into private land to get the landscape photo I had come to this part of the Kent downs for. Not the first time I have done this and it kind of reminds me of my top download landscape photograph from the Surrey Hills also part of the North Downs.
No Graduated Filters
I took some handheld shots using F/8 but such an epic view from the Kent downs demanded a tripod shot and smaller aperture.
Unlike the Surrey Hills shot I not use a graduated filter, no need as within the dynamic range of the camera. Even if not, would merge two bracketed shots post processing rather than use graduated filters anymore. Why put relatively cheap resin filters in front of an expensive lens? With this view in front of me I was thinking sunrise, mist, sunsets, better light, more interest in the sky.
Kent Oast Houses
Further along at the foot behind One Tree Hill I thought I had found my iconic Kent Oast House composition. Again had to go onto private land to take a shot.
The composition is wrong though with the smoke stealing the limelight and the oast houses centred. I was rushing due to being conscious on private property here and in the open.
No Sunset
By now, late afternoon, time was running out and wanted to head back hoping to catch a sunset which was a failure. I had not properly researched the area regarding sunset using an app like Photopills. Still it was a good scout of this OANB on the Kent downs near Sevenoaks and I would be back.