Priddy in Pink - The Mendip Hills in August

My alarm was set at what is still in mid August a hideously early time of 4:45am on a Saturday morning, for a trip to Priddy Mineries on the Mendip Hills with the intention of going out and finding some nice compositions including Heather and Gorse which should both be in peak flower at this time of year.

It had been a few months since I had been on a sunrise shoot, partly due to a lack of motivation, that in turn probably resulting from at least in part the sunrises that at their peak in late June and early July were happening before 5am. On this morning the sun had risen at the positively ‘have a lie-in’ time of 5:58am, which is getting slightly more reasonable, however I may as well have stayed in bed another half hour as that is how long it took for our local star to rise above the stubborn bank of low cloud on the eastern horizon. That extra time, however did afford me an opportunity of trying out a few compositions away from the popular Scots Pine on top of the hill, that I did photograph later on the way back to the car surrounded by Gorse at it’s glorious yellow best.

Image taken hand held on my way back to the car

When it came to framing up some compositions I did struggle a bit with there being promising patches of Heather and Gorse in peak flower but I just couldn’t get them to work in a wider landscape format, which as I’ve already mentioned, was my intention for the morning.

But then everything started to click in stages. Firstly, some wonderful flat headed clouds moved above a tree clump on a hill to the west, the sun just breaking above the clouds to the east, illuminating the crown of those western clouds. It had not yet managed to break free entirely so the landscape was still flatly lit but it would only be a matter of time before the foreground Heather that I had positioned myself for would catch the light and turn a warm pinky/purple hue.

Test shot in portrait orientation before the sun came up

Before that eventually happened I tried a few portrait compositions that I was ok with but knew could be improved upon. As the flat headed clouds grew and spread to the west my composition was decided for me; a 3 x 2 aspect ratio at 17mm focal length, the widest I have to make the Heather clump look much larger than it actually was, with hillsides, tree clumps, bushes and fields providing interest in the mid-ground and background.

My favourite photo from the morning, beautiful golden light highlighting sections of the flowering Heather

Finally it was a case of just waiting for the light, & when it came, as what is often the case, compositions started to appear everywhere! Above and below are two of of my favourites. I’m so glad that I set that 4:45am alarm now.

Thanks for reading,

Alex

Another favourite of mine incorporating the Heather and Gorse