Into September 2016 and I visit a lot of places around the south east of England including the counties of Surrey and Sussex and enjoying some good walks in the countryside and practising landscape photography.
The month of September
September is the beginning of Autumn, the last of the harvest is gathered in. September is a good time for walking, especially along the coast as the crowds have left. temperatures are mild and winds are light, day light is getting shorter.
Woldingham, Surrey
Woldingham is a quiet village tucked away in the hills of the north downs. There is ancient woodland in this area of Surrey and superb views all around.
I visited Woldingham and the north downs on a beautiful day in early September and my camera was kept busy. Those deep blue skies, white fluffy clouds, green sunlit hills were worth capturing.
Chaldon Surrey, Happy Valley
Just south of London in Surrey is Chaldon and the happy valley. This walk started from Farthing downs through Chaldon and along the north downs way and small patches of woodland.
This whole area was lucky to escape development of Londons suburban sprawl. At weekends its a popular walking destination with the people living nearby jogging, walking their dogs taking their families out for a picnic but not too far from the carpark. A very bright high contrast day for landscape photography but enjoyed the walk.
Garden Butterflies, Sussex
After meeting a butterfly photographer in Charlwood Surrey I got to shoot some butterflies in Oxted Surrey, which was a good alternative to just landscape photography.
Well if you enjoy photographing butterflies then your back garden can be the best place to practice some macro photography.
For photographing butterflies I use my maximum focal length of 200mm and get as close as possible careful not to disturb the butterfly with my shadow. I want the butterfly in as much of the frame as possible. My widest open aperture at 200mm is F5.6. I use ISO auto and image stabilisation.
Titsey, Surrey
Titsey in Surrey is high on the north downs will good views all around. It was a warm sunny day in September when I arrived in Titsey but as usual late summer it was hazy.
When its bright and hazy its best to use a polariser for your landscape photography to cut down on reflections. A good walk around the north downs and you get to see the cityscape of London when looking north. Its about as close to London as I wanted to get.
The above position in Titsey of the London skyline would be a great place for a sunset or sunrise photgraph over London on a day with very good visibility. You can use the Photographers Ephemeris to plan the exact spot of sunrise and sunsets from a given location. Luck plays a part with the weather but I find something like the BBC weather is very accurate most of the time up to a week ahead.
When your not working you get to choose the days when to go out walking with your camera. Restricted to just the weekends you could think the weather is always bad in south east England. But soon I would have to return to work, to the office and miss many beautiful days in the sun.
Leigh, Surrey
The village of Leigh in Surrey is within low lying agricultural land in the mole valley with views of the north Downs.
Not much happens in Leigh Surrey, After your walk there is a nice pub in the village to have a pint. The point I took the above landscape photo was on top of a low hill just out of Leigh facing the north downs. On this low hill is one of the many concrete trig pillars once used for mapping now superseded by satellites.
Reigate Heath, Surrey
Reigate Heath is also lowland in the mole valley overlooked by the north downs. Reigate heath is also one of the last remaining heathlands in surrey.
Over this rolling landscape you will find ancient burial grounds, windmills and stately homes and often is the case golfcourses. Watch your head as you have to cross over the golf course. Late September and autumn colours are starting to show through.
Holmwood Common, Surrey
Around Holmwood common in Surrey takes you through tangled woodland and steep up the north downs with some great views across the Surrey countryside. I visited Holmwood in late September and captured my most successful landscape photo in terms of being downloaded on Shutterstock.
Just out of south Holmwood and making my way up the hill through redlands I looked back and saw this image but to get the right composition I had to take a small hike into the field and on private land and set up my tripod. I actually used a 3 stop hard edge neutral density filter which was too much, its why the grass is so bright. But seems to have worked well in this instance. Such a beautiful day in Holmwood Surrey that day in late September.
On top of the hill there were some great views below of Dorking and the north downs and Box Hill behind. From a landscape photography point of view the composition was good but the light was tricky with too much contrast, really need to come back to this point when the light is better. I love those white fluffy clouds though. It was a long day and a long walk, I got lost a few times in the tangled woodland around Holmwood.
Farley Heath, Surrey
Farley Heath in Surrey has many remote wooded hillsides with views across to the north downs along with an ancient roman temple.
This walk in Surrey also takes you along the Greensand ridge which rises to its highest point at Leith Hill.
Bignor, West Sussex
Bignor Hill in West Sussex rises to 225 with the South Downs way crossing over it. There are great views from Bignor Hill looking east over the South Downs and surrounding countryside.
The above picture from Bignor Hill was the inspiration behind me trying to sell some of my landscape photography on Shutterstock. One of my friends on my UK Landscape Photography facebook group asked for a copy of this photograph to use on his desktop for work. He also suggested that these images could sell. Seems he was right.
This walk over Bignor hill in Sussex my last trip end of September and it was beginning to get chilly on top of the south downs, summer was turning into Autumn, winter was not far away now.