Early hours, April showers, springtime flowers

Spring.

In its ephemeral brevity, it is a stunning season for landscape photography; the tangled, skeletal, wintry shapes and the remnants of the previous season's muted, bronze-caramel colour palette giving way to the plump cloak of vibrant, fresh greenery and the fleeting effervescence of bloom and blossom.

April is in full, effusive swing right now - and the sunny-showery days are already stretching beyond fourteen hours of daylight in the south of England.

Sun-up at 06.00 already - and daily retreating further into the right-hand hemisphere of the alarm clock, so location work begins at 05.30...

Say hello to regular 4.30 AM coffee again...

Spring and winter colours, April showers. Beech, Birch and bluebells in the mist and rain. Kingley Vale, West Sussex

Nikon D810, 50mm f1.4 Nikkor, ISO 64, 1/30 second at f2.8, polariser, tripod

12th April 2016

As I write, the daffodils are on the wane and the carpet of woodland bluebells is offering up its fresh, new bloom and leaf colours; a floral tidal-wave of cobalt and indigo and emerald and lime, diffusing over the coppery forest floor, soaking up the enriching sunlight and showers for a week or two before the rapidly closing canopy of forest foliage denies it sustenance.

Daffodils in high winds, Easter Sunday. Felpham, West Sussex

Nikon D810, 50mm f1.4 Nikkor, ISO 64, 10 seconds at f8, 10-stop ND, hand-held

27th March 2016

I've been up to Kingley Vale a couple of times at dawn and out to East Ashling at sunset. Two beautiful West Sussex woodland locations currently awash with bluebells.

You might think, looking at the examples here that I produced nothing but painterly, impressionistic images on my visits to the woods; truth be known, I did acquire plenty of representational stuff, but it just didn't seem as appropriate for conveying the mood as much as the abstract studies seemed to.

The combination of springtime hues, dreamy scenery and soft light suited the non-figurative method and pretty much all my favourites are in this style.