The day after I braved the elements on New Year’s Day to photograph steam trains in a storm, we were blessed with much nicer weather, so I couldn’t resist heading back out into the countryside to take some photos. I had no real plan for the day, other than I wanted somewhere where I might be able to fly my new drone is the opportunity arose. I had originally intended to return to Hove, thinking that some aerial shots of the coastline would be quite nice. But as I was driving that way, I couldn’t help but be captivated by the golden hues of the countryside proper, and so decided to pivot into going where there was green, rather than blue.
I ended up parking at Ditchling Beacon, figuring there was a load of area in which I could wander, and as long as I was off National Trust land, flying the drone might be an option if I felt so bold. It had been a good five years since our first and only visit to this spot, partly because it’s not the most exciting spot for a toddler, but mostly because the car park fills up quickly on weekends so if you are planning to go there, you need to get out there early. I had no such trouble this time, because it was the 2nd January, and evidently many people had returned to work.
I still had no plan, so I just wandered westwards. I hadn’t gone far at all before I stopped and looked back, to see things already looking very picturesque.
I walked a little further up the hill, then used the path to lead the eyes towards the horizon for this next shot.
I had been there for only a few minutes before a sea mist blew in, making the scene altogether more eerie.
It blew through pretty quickly, and it was not long before the visibility increased.
I soon realised I should start shooting bracketed exposures to make the most of the light, not least because I was often finding myself shooting into the sun. For the uninitiated, this involves setting your camera up so it automatically shoots one normal exposure, then one underexposed, then one overexposed, so you can merge them together in a HDR image later.
I should pause at this moment to talk about my editing for this post. I have adopted a bit more of an artistic editing style this time out, using editing and presets to bring out details, bolden the colours, and in some cases make the sky more dramatic. I’ve tried to not overdo it too much, but I have certainly gone beyond what you’d call a ‘realistic’ interpretation. Not in every shot, of course – like the next one, which is just a bird – but in many of them. I’m pleased with the results, but I appreciate they might be a bit more subjective. You’ll have to let me know what you think in the comments.
Whilst I was strolling along, I caught sight of a bird of prey – probably a kite of some sort – gracefully hovering above the ground. I switched to my telephoto to tab a shot. By the time I’d switched over it had drifted away a bit, but I was still able to get a decent shot of it, albeit with a bit of a crop in editing. It did also require a bit of fighting, as the autofocus struggled to pick up the bird against the background without some manual intervention.
At the same time, a few other flying creatures showed up.
I’ve not often seen paragliders up here. Usually they all congregate a few miles along the Downs at Devil’s Dyke. (I have a historical post of photos from Devil’s Dyke in the pipeline that I’ll share at some point.)
I soon came to a familiar landmark, a large pond with a lone tree in it that we saw the first time we came here. There were no sheep this time, making for a cleaner image. I turned up the artistic processing a bit for this one, which is not only a monochrome shot, but also a merged HDR exposure.
What you can’t see from this angle is there is a second tree around this pond which had a bit more volume to it.
I continued walking. When I reached the gate to this field, I turned back and took a shot of where I’d come from. As a helpful summary, in it you can see both the pond and the paragliders from earlier. As you can see, this is one of the shot where I’ve turned up the colours a bit to bring out the greens and browns and add a golden hue.
As you can see, as sunny as the day was, there were still signs of the downpours of the previous day. Various points were pretty muddy and precarious underfoot. But the puddles did make for some nice additions to the composition of my shots.
I soon came to a side path with a downed gate. This is one of those times where I stubbornly decided to just shoot straight into the sun regardless.
I continued on my way, and the path soon turned to some sort of clay.
Much like the last time I took this walk, I soon ended up at the Jack and Jill windmills – and in doing so, realised that had actually meant I accidentally deviated from the South Downs Way itself. I fired off a quick shot of Jill before making my way back to the proper route.
The scenery was very pretty, in a computer desktop background sort of way.
I continued following the South Downs Way route until eventually I came to a junction. I took a look at a map, and realised that if I continued to follow the Way, it’d ultimately just get to an A road and wouldn’t necessarily have anything interesting to see on the way or when I got there. Instead, I could turn off, and head towards the Chattri war memorial, a spot that I hoped would be quieter, and somewhere potentially to try out my drone. I chose that option, although soon began to wonder if I’d made the right choice, as the going was pretty challenging in places. I was wearing an ordinary pair of hiking boots, and they were not great for the level of mud I was facing, nor the depth of some of the puddles. In hindsight, I should have worn my wellies for this trek.
Ultimately I made it, although there were various points where I considered turning back. I took a few ground-based shots of the memorial whilst waiting for people to leave so I could fly my drone.
Once I’d played about enough getting some shots from the sky – the results of which are in this earlier post – I had a look at the map and realised it was a few miles back to the car. I decided to take the more direct route, which meant I wasn’t retracing the muddy route I’d used to get there. I just had to hope it was no worse.
A trek along a field later and I found myself at a very muddy farm gate.
I continued my walk along a footpath along the edge of a field.
Soon I came to the downed gate I photographed earlier, and rejoined the South Downs Way to continue heading back. I passed another gate that I saw on my way out, but this time, unlike previously, it caught my eye, and I stopped to snap it.
It wasn’t long before I found myself back at the pond with the trees. By this point we were getting into golden hour (although from the way I’ve edited the photos in this set you’d be forgiven for thinking I never left it) so it was worth stopping to photograph it more in the changing light.
This time I focussed on the larger tree on the left.
Although I couldn’t resist photographing that other lone tree again.
Luckily there wasn’t much wind and the surface of the water was lovely and calm. As much as I love the monochrome version of this shot, possibly even prefer it, I still want to share the colour version.
I was not the only person photographing this scene.
I continued walking, and soon reached the car park where I’d started. Originally I’d been planning to go home at that point, but golden hour was well underway and sunset was around the corner, so I decided to stay out a little longer. Rather than just loitering about or turn back again, I kept on going past the car park, and onto a part of the South Downs Way I’d not been to before.
I didn’t venture far, but there were some sights I’d not seen before. I had no idea, for example, that you could see Brighton & Hove Albion’s home stadium from this spot. It served as part of the backdrop of this photograph of some cows.
Soon enough, the sun started setting. Such is the case with sunsets, you take your chances and never truly know how they’re going to go. This wasn’t a bad one, but it wasn’t spectacular by any means.
The sunset was a brief one, and soon I was trotting back to my car. It was around this sort of time that I started realising just how cold my hands were, having spent the whole day out in what was a sunny but very cold day. It was worth it though, just the sort of day I love in winter.
By my sums I’d covered a good 6.5 miles trekking around the countryside. I did make sure to get some good rest the following day.
As if often the case, the pictures above are a bit of a highlight reel. The gallery below contains more photos – including some alternate edits of pictures in the main post.
