Summertime. For many people, it’s finally the time of the year they have been looking forward to for months. Not for me. First, I don’t have any holiday plans, I work throughout the summer. And more important: summer to me represents a period with few (and early) hours of beautiful light, birds moulding high up in the trees, foliage on trees that looks just dull and so on. So yes, for a nature photographer, summer is slow season. The inspiration and motivation both lack severely. No problem, the past few years have taught me that both rear their ugly heads again as soon as the first signs of autumn are here.
Until then, I’ll pick up the camera every now and then when an opportunity arises. Like the last minute kingfisher nest from last week, or the beautiful sunset skies we had this week. I drove to a vast local heathland, as I did not want the dark lines of the silhouetted forest edge in the frame. The slightly tilted shape of the pine tree matched well with the shape of the cloud. I lay down on the ground to achieve a low viewing angle. I’ll get back to this spot when the sunset sky promises to become a bit more dramatic.
Sunset Tree; Canon 1D Mark III w. 17-40/4; 1/60s at F5.6 and ISO 400; Gitzo tripod
