Another work trip to Wiltshire, another sunset and sunrise photography opportunity. This time, Salisbury Cathedral from the Harnham water meadows along town path in Salisbury.

Constable Territory

Salisbury cathedral from Harnham water meadows was first made famous by John Constable of his paintings there. This is now the second time have followed in the footsteps of John Constable the first a few years previous at Dedham Vale in Suffolk. Surely today John Constable would be a great landscape photographer.

Researching where best to photograph Salisbury Cathedral from town path within Harnham water meadows comes top. Problem is you are not allowed onto Harnham water meadows so have to photograph from the town path which limits your viewpoints of Salisbury cathedral. Unlike in Constables time there are now ugly new builds, shiny cars to try and exclude. This was my third attempt now at trying to photograph Salisbury cathedral. With such a high spire the composition is going to include a lot of sky so needs to be interesting.

Salisbury Cathedral Sunset

Left early to arrive at Harnham water meadows in Salisbury to try and catch a sunset shot. Was staying in a guest house just off town path. Not have a minute to spare though once I had found the guest house and rushed down town path trying to find a good viewpoint of Salisbury Cathedral.

Missed the best of golden hour and had to be content with blue hour. Not much happening in the sky behind Salisbury cathedral. Few days before the frame would have included a full moon rise.

A nice feature though during blue hour was that the cathedral lights came on lighting up the spire. Not sure what that bright star is to the right of the spire? Mars maybe. Not much could do about new build and cars to the bottom left. Would return in the morning same composition, hopefully some morning mist would obscure them. Now into the city center for some food and beer.

Salisbury Cathedral Sunrise

The next morning and the conditions were a lot different. there was morning mist not surprisingly over the Harnham ‘water’ meadows and there was colour and clouds in the sky. Unfortunately the Salisbury cathedral lights had been switched off.

The sky behind Salisbury cathedral turned blood red. A layer of mist on the ground contrasted nicely with the sky and obscured the new builds and parked cars. All’s I had to do is press the shutter release.

Aperture priority

With the light constantly changing getting lighter each minute set the exposure mode to aperture priority. bracketed two shots, one over exposed for the shadows another under exposed for the sky.

It was like watching a light show with the hues in the sky constantly changing. Was having some photographers luck this morning with the high clouds and morning mist.

Then finally ‘Here comes the sun’ waited for sunrise got a bit of a sunburst at f16. A good morning photographing Salisbury cathedral from the Harnham waters meadows. Now back to the guest house for a cooked breakfast. Making these work trips memorable.

Check out the October 2022 landscape photography gallery

Check out the Wiltshire landscape photography gallery