What follows is a compilation of the best landscape photography during October 2022. From the English counties of East Sussex, Kent and Wiltshire.

Back Problem

October not start well with a back injury. Just after making an almost full recovery from my foot injury back in the beginning of May. Not as severe as the foot injury but could not get out the first weekend had to rest it. But once the pain had eased was keen to get back outdoors walking,

Harrisons Rocks Groombridge

October 2022 started with a scout of Harrisons Rocks on the High Weald near Groombridge. Harrisons Rocks is on the East Sussex, Kent border. What I was looking for was a good autumn composition if not now then later. Arrived early to avoid the climbers and to catch some morning mist.

Enjoyable early morning and early October scout around Harrisons Rocks. The rocks provide good strong foreground interest. Conclusion was sunset would provide better light and to return later in autumn.

Camber Castle Moonrise

October hunters full moonrise wanted to capture it rising behind Camber Castle between Rye and Winchelsea in East Sussex. Along time coming had been visualising this shot for a few years now.

Not quite go to plan, could not get enough distance to subject due to rivers, roads etc shooting at 230mm rather than a maximum focal range of 560mm. The latter would have rendered the moon much larger in the frame compared to the former.

Salisbury Cathedral Sunset

An October work trip to Wiltshire so combined it with a photography opportunity. Chose to stay close to Harnham water meadows to photography Salisbury Cathedral, the first attempt being during sunset.

Your only viewpoints from Harnham water meadows was along town path that takes you into the city center. Was hoping for better results the next morning.

Salisbury Cathedral Sunrise

The next morning along town path within the Harnham water meadows and the conditions to photograph Salisbury Cathedral were almost ideal.

Morning mist to hide new builds and cars, vibrant dramatic red dawn skies behind Salisbury cathedral. With aperture priority and cable release alls I had to do was keep pressing the shutter release while watching the October morning sunrise light show.

Oldbury Hill Kent Downs

Having recently visited the Kent Downs during September 2022 had noticed on OS Maps nearby and ancient hillfort Oldbury Hill owned by the national trust. Been meaning to give it a scout since then so one misty October morning its where I am heading.

The ancient hill fort of Oldbury hill is covered with woodland some of it mature beech trees. North facing there are some open views but nothing of interest in the foreground. Good early morning refreshing walk but from a landscape photography perspective lacking. Within the woodland along the paths late autumn could work well when the colour of the leaves remaining on the branches of trees is the same colour of the carpet of leaves fallen to the ground.

Birling Gap low tide

Felt like a change from autumn woodlands and misty mornings. Great thing with living near the coast can switch from landscapes to seascapes. The seascapes from Eastbourne to Seaford along the east Sussex coast are world class. A great location along this stretch is Birling Gap sandwiched between the Seven sisters cliffs to the west and Beachy Head to the east.

The plan was this October early morning to walk east along the perilous coast until Beachy head lighthouse came into view and to photograph it from beach level with the sunrise behind.

Eridge Rocks High Weald

Having recently visited Harrisons Rocks at the beginning of October on the High Weald discovered that there are a few off these sandstone outcrops in the area. Another is Eridge Rocks close by and facing east so good for a autumn sunrise location.

Have often found the High Weald difficult to photograph in terms of compositions. But these sandstone outcrops make great foreground interest to include in your frame. The ancient woodland during autumn providing a good backdrop. Eridge rocks is a great location to explore and joins onto Warren nature reserve.

Rye Harbour Stormy Sunset

It was an October weekend of stormy weather including thunder and lightning. Have been keen to photograph some lightning for quite some time now. Would prefer to shoot some lightning in the day with some moody dark clouds rather than at night. Using the weather apps like Windy storms were predicted late afternoon into the evening moving east to west. To shield from the elements Rye Harbour and nature reserve offers some sheltered protection.

Failed to capture any lightning once the storm had passed over but was rewarded with a moody sunset as the storm cleared. Being confined to the shelter could not see 360 degrees and there were rainbows to the east. If you choose to visit Rye Harbour nature reserve for some storm chasing and landscape photography, bring your binoculars and super telephoto lens for some bird watching and wildlife photography while you wait.

East Dean South Downs

From previous return trips from Birling Gap have noticed a big hill on the south downs next to East Dean that not explored before. End of October needed to get outdoors and thought the south downs besides East Dean would be a good location to scout early morning.

There is free parking within the village of East Dean, from there walk down the road Gilberts Drive in direction of Birling Gap and join the footpath up over the south downs. Headed up over the hills to Mill Down and some farm buildings known as New Barn. Found a composition with a very distinctive farm building in the foreground and Bell Tout lighthouse in the background. Put on a polariser and waited patiently for the sunlight to break through the morning clouds. The undulating hills of the south downs in the midground caught the morning light.

End of October

October was a good month for getting outdoors and exploring new locations. Feel like I am getting better results, more keeper images. This is partly due to location selection, time of visit, pre-visualisation and some luck considering working full time so free time is limited. Roll on November….

Check out the October 2022 landscape photography photo gallery.

Check out the East Sussex landscape photography photo gallery

Check out the Wiltshire landscape photography photo gallery

Check out the Kent landscape photography photo gallery.