Summer mist is a wondrous phenomenon. I can never decide whether I prefer photos with or without the sunrise. Selecting images for printing and the portfolio is so difficult! I whittle it down to a top 5/10 from a shoot and I’m looking for 1 or 2 great pictures. I don’t think I’ve quite got it here, but I’ll run you through a bit about why some of these come so close and yet are just not quite it.
A shoot almost always starts with a few test shots in preparation for a sunrise happening shortly after, like the photo above. The mist and the field have such a liquid quality to them and it just feels so calming and peaceful, which it really was.
Misty sunrise over Alciston & Berwick, 2015
Then the sun comes up. Admittedly this composition is slightly different but the light really has transformed this shot, but I can’t decide whether I prefer this or the one above. I’ve gone with this, purely because it feels warmer and more inviting but I think that’s just because I’m scared to take a leap with the previous image.
Further along this walk, towards Alfriston, I came to the hillside featured in the images above, but looking down at the line created by the copse/hedge on the hillside. The mist is still quite thick, but the sun comes through slightly to create a bit of contrast, especially in the higher areas. I like this leading line created by the hedge, but not enough to love the image and put it in the portfolio.
Coming to the end of my walk, this path would take me down towards Alfriston (you can just see the village church spire in the mist, but it’s difficult to make out). Again, I love leading lines to help take a viewer through an image, but I find this image lacks that something else.
And finally this picture. I’ve stared long and hard at this photo, trying to decide if it’s good enough to make the cut for a portfolio. I love the texture and lines in the foreground and the little tree, dead centre in the composition but it’s unfortunately still not enough. This is a quest for something greater (which I later felt I got on my second trip 2 weeks later), and sadly this image didn’t make the cut. What I love about the mist in Sussex is that it gives this milky edge to the photo and the trees and shadows punch through to reveal a pattern that isn’t quite these in normal daylight. I can get easily lost in these kinds of photos staring at the little details of individual trees and fields and I guess that’s sometimes why I struggle to chose the images for portfolios and final printing.
