Over the course of May I spent some early mornings sitting in beautiful morning sunshine waiting for what may be an impossible image. A vista I have known about for some time on the farm is particularly good in the morning light. A track leads through the image to a row of trees. This makes the eye stay in the image within which a sculpture stands on a high point to give a focal point. At dawn the scene is pretty much side lit but with a fraction of back lighting to add punch. The light is good for about an hour after dawn and then the shadows shorten and the drama disappears.
Early morning mist on the farm track
I have photographed the scene several times over the years and returned to it this year in early May to find a number of hares that were, without stating the obvious, haring around - playing their chase game. The idea dawned of trying to get a pair of hares boxing in the pool of light that crossed the track between the shade of the hedgerows from an open gateway - an area the hares seemed to use as a crossing . One week I was there for three mornings in a row, getting mixed results but each time blessed with the sunshine that came with the sunniest May on record. I gave it a couple more attempts the following week but as dawn became steadily earlier and the hares retreated into less action I decided I was perhaps asking the impossible. I did however manage to shoot some lovely images though including a hare looking into the light. The first image below was taken later than the others (though on a different day) as shown by the shorter hedge shadows. I like the hare looking into the light and the fact it is the same colour as the stone sculpture.
A brief pause, a look into the light, nicely balancing the stone.
A couple of mornings were frosty as the temperatures had dropped low overnight and one morning there was a glorious mist hanging over the fields - the first picture in this post. I really hoped for some perfect hare cooperation as the sun rose with the mist still hanging but clearly it was not to be - though a couple did appear in the zone at different times. It may interesting to know that the stone is about 50yds from the lit crossing point.
Earlier light than above and this time facing towards the stone.
Crossing the track. I was hoping for a pause in the paws hopping.