Imber Tree

The last day of 2015, I ventured out, deeply hoping to find some inspiration, by chance the opportunity thrust forth, my willingness to load up and walk to adventurous viewpoints was well above my motivation, this day I wanted it handed to me on a plate, without the fight, effortless just one last artistic gesture to see out the old year on a high, but my energy waned, festive life was taking it's toll physically and mentally, the bottom off my creative trough. I drove out to Westbury in hope of photographing the White Horse from an unusual unique angle but it just wasn't happening, so I got back in the trusty 4 x 4 and headed down a byway toward Imber. Driving the byways without a map in a capable vehicle is character building, you can travel some distance without and recognisable waypoints and in deep rutted mud roads the adrenaline can rise. That aside as I was driving around the back of Imber village I noticed the sun disappearing behind a heavy cloud. Imber is a village used as a mock up now as part of a training area on Salisbury Plain, the civilian population was evicted in 1943 to allow American troops to train for World War Two.
As the sun began to make a reappearance strong pillars of light were casting down and moving light searchlights across the landscape, I was wishing for a lone tree to silhouette against the horizon and as I came past a thicket there was my deliverance, the tree I needed in my mind to make this shot perfect. I pulled up quickly and set up my Canon EOS 550d on my manfroto 055 carbon legs and began composing to satisfy my imagination, a couple of Cokin Z ND grad filters up front to darken the oppressive sky. The image sharpness is in part due to the F-11 sweet spot but also largely down to the incredible resolving power of the Sigma 50mm F-1.4 ART lens. I took the shot at 1-60th of a second and had time to throw my equipment back in the bag just as the larger raindrops were starting to land on the camera and me. Back at the caravan I uploaded to Adobe Lightroom where I adjusted the contrast slightly, converted to black and white and put in some subtle dodging and burning to allow that much needed shadow and highlight detail. Perseverance and a large helping of good luck were both the making of this image, my skill and equipment played a relatively second fiddle.
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