May is a transitional month of the year. The beginning of May spring is ending and the end of May summer is beginning. The landscape is often lush green. What follows is a compilation of the best photography during the month of May 2022.
May Wild Garlic Woodland
May 2022 began well. Discovered a wild garlic wonder woodland in Dallington Forest on the high weald in East Sussex.
2022 and the wild garlic had come a little later than years previous. It was my intention to keep returning here to get the best composition with great light. There was a week or two to go yet, the wild garlic was still not in full bloom, still many buds. Photographing wild flowers in woodland can be both technically and compositionally challenging and the intention was to rise to it and learn. Photography wild woodland flora is also physically challenging with all that walking and bending down and getting back up. Unfortunately on the second trip I injured my foot. One week later still in pain and could not get out. Was missing the end of spring in the woodlands on the high weald. Doctor confirmed it was tendonitis just above my heal could be out 4-6 weeks minimum 🙁
Bayham Old Abbey
With tendonitis in my foot was pretty much housebound and going mad having to stay in all the time especially not working. The plan now was to drive to any location I could park up and not have to walk far to photograph a subject. I also had a new 24-105mm lens to test out that had traded in with MPB. Bayham Abbey on the East Sussex Kent border seemed like such a location.
Good morning in May photographing Bayham old abbey, limping around the grounds taking panoramic photographs of the ruins in some good light.
High Weald Woodland May Walk
After almost 3 weeks stuck indoors and going crazy my foot was making a good recovery. Decided to test it with a small to medium walk. Using OS maps online had discovered some high weald woodland near Battle not visited before. Parked up at Ashes wood on Netherfield Road. The satellite overlay of Google Maps is also a good tool for discovering new woodland locations. You can clearly see how dense and large the woodland area is.
On the ground all the decaying vegetation, Ashes wood would have been good for bluebells during April. Reading the google reviews of Ashes wood also confirmed this as a good location for bluebell photography. Will have to wait until Spring 2023 now. On the ground though in the forest at the end of May, spring was well and truly over. Looped back over Netherfield road and into more unexplored woodland, through Burnthouse wood, Goldspur wood and Hucksteep wood. Foot was holding out well, done a few miles now. Not wanted to overdo it so headed back through Crowhurst wood towards Eatenden lane.
At Crowhurst farm there was some good views of the High Weald maybe worth photographing. Then two Llamas starting following me. Not sure if they were friendly or not but decided best to get other side of fence. Often its about territorial claims. I did get a bit lost and walked further than intended. Was limping back to the car at Ashes wood.
Long Man of Wilmington
Been racking my brains of some locations to visit and photograph. Especially with my foot injury. One location was visualising could be good and worth visiting during golden hour was the Long Man of Wilmington on the south downs in East Sussex. Although been over Wilmington hill many times not actually photographed the long man since way back in 2016 when I first got into landscape photography and was visiting all these iconic locations for the first time. This time of year close to the longest day the sun sets in the north west and should light up Wilmington and the hill figure, bathing it in warm golden light.
One great tool for checking out these visualisations without actually being there is Google Earth. Using the sunlight across the landscape tool and selecting a specific date and time you can get an idea on how the light will fall on the landscape. Google earth is not perfect and a bit clunky but a good starting point. To get these tools you have to download google earth pro which is only available for PC.
There is a free car park directly opposite the long man of Wilmington next to the church, so not have to walk far. Arrived early before golden hour and checked out the church and the ancient yew tree. There are some footpaths nearby that also give a good viewpoint of the long man of Wilmington.
Setup with some angelicas in the foreground to give some depth and leading lines. With the setting sun between 90-180 degrees using a polariser really saturated the greens and blues removing any glare and reflections. Problem is here the subject is the hill figure and don’t want this to be too small in the frame while at the same time capturing it within its environment. On a mobile device you cannot even see the carving in the hill, just the overall lush green landscape of late May on the south downs in East Sussex.
Despite these technical and compositional challenges faced on the ground at the Long man of Wilmington the real goal was just to observe the light on the land and learn from it. At this time of year with the sun rising in the north east sunrise and morning golden hour could be a lot better, should get rid of the big shadow. Some moody clouds in the sky could add to the composition. Trouble is need to be setup by 5AM!
End Of May
That sums up May 2022 landscape photography. Not get out as much as I would have liked due to injury. Hopefully that will fully heal soon and wont linger on. It has suspended any plans I had for another UK roadtrip with camping. With the long days lacking a bit of motivation also just feel that exhausted locations in the immediate area. Always enjoyed exploring new locations even though the better photographs are from repeat visits to the same locations. Am now considering returning to work full time that may take me into a new area. Roll on June 2022…