Landscape Assignment 1 - the season

This first assignment on the OCA Landscape course asked us to produce 12 photographs which captured the feel of the current season (in this case Spring). This exercise will be repeated throughout the course so that each of the four seasons will be covered.



As I am likely to spend part of duration of the course in the UK and part in Spain, the majority is likely to be in the UK and so I decided to make my chosen location there. Therefore, I have taken the photographs for this assignment in and around the National Trust property of Nymans Gardens in East Sussex (which is close to Brighton and our grandchildren).



The twelve photographs were taken over a couple of visits with conditions ranging from sunny to cloudy. I used my Canon EOS 50D digital camera and a mixture of lenses - Tamron 18 - 270mm 3.5 - 6.3 zoom lens, Tokina SD 11-16 f/2.8 DX wide angle lens and Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II prime lens. All shots taken with the Tamron and Tokina lenses were with a tripod and ISO 100. The Canon 50mm shots were handheld at ISO 400.












The first photograph (Canon lens) shows budding branches in the foreground and green fields and trees in the middle distance.


The stone construction gives the shot some balance. The sky isn't very interesting so I cropped the photograph to limit it. The branch coming into the frame top right is a bit intrusive. Taken at f/16 and shutter speed of 1/100 seconds at 50mm.






The second photograph, taken with the wide-angle lens, shows a woodland path winding down



a hill. As well as the new growth on the trees there is evidence of last years brown leaves both along the path and in the woods. Taken at f/9 and shutter speed of 1/15 seconds at 11mm.

The third shot shows a group of trees and clumps of dafodils, for me one of the early signs of Spring.

In this composition, the use of a hot-shoe spirit-level was very useful in capturing the correct incline and, as can be seen, the trees and flower stems are pretty vertical. I wanted to make sure that the main clump of daffodils was placed in accordance with the rule of thirds. Taken with the Tamron zoom lens at f/9 with a shutter speed of 1/15 seconds at 65mm.

In this fourth photo, I have tried to frame the old house and out-buildings with the branch of the tree and the slope of the hill. Ideally, the tree would have been slightly further to the right

but this would have involved the inclusion of some distracting vegetation to the left. The large expanse of grass contains many yellow dandelions, another distinctive Spring flower. Again taken with the Tamron lens at f/9 and shutter speed 1/40 seconds at 55mm.

This is the first of four photographs in portrait perspective and it

shows the close up of a small dried stream bed containing primroses and a variety of grasses and ferns. This type of shot clearly lends itself to portrait rather than landscape and I am pleased with the result. Taken with the zoom lens at f/9 and shutter speed of 1/5 seconds at 77mm.

The sixth photograph is another where I have tried to use the branches of a tree to make a frame within a frame. Here, the branches at the top (not green this time!) form the top of

the frame with the two trees as the sides. The figure in the distance is captured within the inner frame. The foreground is bothersome, however. I think that I should have cropped the bottom to remove traces of the wooden fence but I do like that clump of daffodils! A handheld shot with the Canon 50mm lens at f/16 and shutter speed of 1/60 seconds.

I took a number of photographs of bluebells and there were many with a greater concentration than here but I chose this composition for no other reason than I like it and it is very typical of the bluebell woods at Nymans. The contrast in colour between the blue and the green is always attractive but there are some other splashes of different coloured leaves in the top right hand corner, for instance. Taken with the Tamron lens at f/22 with a shutter speed of 0.40 seconds at 70mm.

This is one of my favourite photographs of this assignment because I like the composition with the little wooden bridge almost concealed by the overhanging branches. I deliberately included the branches in the foreground to add balance to the composition and this seems to me another example of where a portrait perspective works really well.

Here, I used the Tamron zoom lens at f/22 with an exposure time of 2.5 seconds at 100mm.

I came upon this little house on the edge of the Nymans estate and it seemed to me that it was waking from its winter slumber. Although it was surrounded by trees showing plenty of new growth, there was no obvious sign of plant life nearby. Hopefully this will appear as the year progresses - we will see. I placed the house to the right of the frame so that the path would lead

into it. This photograph was taken with the Tamron lens at f/22 with an exposure time of 0.5 seconds at 42mm focal length.







Photograph number ten is another portrait shot, this time from an elevated position, with a tree stump in the foreground and a slope containing bluebells and primroses, leading down to a grass meadow with trees behind. I have included a greater percentage of sky here because there are




some interesting formations which add to the composition. Taken with the zoom lens at f/22, shutter speed 0.30 seconds at 25mm focal length.






The penultimate photograph is a little intriguing and I have included it as the obvious track across the grass meadow draws the eye to the edge of the wood and the boundary fence with no apparent gate.











Again, the hot shoe spirit level has helped to maintain the elevation from the left to the right of the frame. Taken with the Tamron lens at f/9 and exposure time of 1/15 seconds at 130mm.








The final photograph is perhaps my favourite because I love the shallow depth of field produced using the Canon 50mm lens at f/1.8. Here, the blossom typical of Nymans Gardens at this time of year is captured using this lens with a shutter speed of 1/8000 seconds. Both the foreground






and background are out of focus with only a narrow part of the middle ground really sharp.









I had wanted to take a photograph of what has become one of the new sights of the Spring in the UK - field upon field of bright yellow oil seed rape - but was unable to do so. I hope that the above selection fulfills the brief of the assignment. I shall be returning to Nymans Gardens in the summer for the next seasons photographs and look forward to seeing what changes have taken place.