Wickham Rock Lane, Winchelsea

For quite some time I’ve wanted to capture an image of this stretch of country lane on the outskirts of Winchelsea. I loved the old iron fence and the stately oaks that flanked the road, but I never liked the results of any of my efforts to shoot it. Even in the sweetest morning light, when the air had an appealing champagne clarity and logic told me the images ought to be beautiful, the results I had were underwhelming. Not bad, but very ordinary. But this morning I arrived to find it cloaked in ground mist and with dazzling early morning sunshine simmering through, diffusing the light and illuminating the oaks and their canopy of leaves in a rich painterly glow. I hadn’t planned on shooting here, but when I saw this light I put my other plans aside, hastily dismounted and set up tripod and camera and shot a series of images on this elusive lane that, for once, really pleased me.