Autumn is usually my busiest time of year. Days are getting shorter, sunrise times are getting more reasonable and the changeable light and conditions can be amazing. I run a lot of workshops both home and abroad in autumn to take advantage of these conditions and when I’m not doing that I try and spend as much time as possible out with the camera myself. This year things have been rather different. Travel restrictions and quarantines have meant workshops in Canada, Slovakia, Slovenia and Madeira have all been cancelled and lockdowns have put pay to workshops here in Northumberland and Suffolk. While it has obviously been a disappointing time (and I know I’m not alone, I’m sure many you have similar cancellation tales to tell) we are blessed with wonderful landscapes in this country so at least I have been able to spend more time photographing autumn here at home… every cloud and all that.

Curbar Edge, Derbyshire in autumn — Last light at Curbar Edge

The Peak District
A week or so before the lockdown I spent a few days up in the Peak District. I had the time set aside for an autumn workshop in Slovenia anyway so I thought I’d put it to good use. With the moorland turning earthy browns, sprinkled with russet bracken and wheat coloured grasses, streams cascading through woodland gorges and disused quarries populated by golden leaved silver birch trees, the Peak district is a fabulous place for autumn photography… whatever the weather. When the light was good I spent time up on one of the gritstone edges photographing the sweeping views over the autumnal landscape, when it clouded over or rained I escaped into the woodland where the even lighting that comes with cloud was an advantage. This was actually one of several visits there this year to explore and recce new workshops for 2021, details of which will be announced soon so watch this space or get in touch if you would like to be on the list to be the first to hear about the dates.

Deepest, darkest, Essex
Autumn comes a little bit later here in East Anglia, we usually have to wait patiently until November, hoping that a storm doesn’t strip the trees of their leaves before they have had a chance to change colour. As well as lockdown*, November brought calm weather to the regionand plenty of the atmospheric mist and fog that photographers pray for. We still hadn’t had the sort of hard frost that kickstarts autumn into gear but gradually the landscape started to turn shades of gold and copper.

My focus this year has been on photographing Essex, the subject (and title) of my next Fotovue guidebook and I had several places on autumn wish list not least of which was Epping Forest. The Essex countryside is home to many interesting forests and woodlands, many of which are remnants of the 60, 000 acres of ancient woodland that once covered the county. Epping Forest is particularly splendid in autumn thanks to an abundance of glorious beech trees, a smattering of ponds and the tendency to harbour pockets of mist and fog when conditions are favourable. It can also get extremely muddy but head off at dawn armed with an OS map and a pair of wellies and you won’t be disappointed.

All the gear
I actually go into the woods with slightly more than the aforementioned wellies and map. In fact although I do take an OS map, I find the OS app more useful as it keeps track of where I am so I can’t get lost or at least when I do, I don’t stay that way for long. Another essential is my LEE Filters circular polariser, which is almost permanently fixed to the front of my lens while I am in the woods. A polariser cuts out all the glare from damp foliage and woodland floors covered in leaf litter, leaving deep, rich autumnal colours.

*A quick word on the November lockdown. As much as I love photography it is also my only source of income, my job and not one I can do from home. So while I have been out with my camera fairly regularly during the month, I have also taken care to go out early or to remote areas where it is easy to avoid coming into contact with others.

Autumn 2020

SHOP