Missing The Bluebells

Richmond Park

I absolutely love photographing bluebells! While they are not my favourite flower, (that’ll be the Snake’s Head Fritillary), bluebells are my favourite flowers to photograph.

Bluebell Retrospective

Surrey Bluebells – ISO 400; 50-140mm; f/2.8; 1/60 sec (click image to view larger size)

Bluebell season this year, for me, was a bit of a mixed bag. I didn’t get any “out of this world” shots, but I did manage a few I’m happy with.

Bluebell Scouting

At this time of year, I quite often head out into the Surrey Hills in search of bluebell woods that I haven’t been to before. When I’m there, I try to find compositions that I think will work well when the bluebells are flowering.

Hampshire Bluebells

Impressions of a bluebell wood – 100mm; ISO 100; 1/2 sec; f/32 (click image to view larger size)

As well as heading into the Surrey Downs this spring, I also ventured down to Hampshire in search of decent bluebell locations.

I’d heard that Micheldever Wood was a lovely spot for bluebell photography, with some large areas where bluebells carpeted the woodland floor. A tip from Richard Thomas on Twitter gave me suggestions for the best parts of the wood to visit, as it covers quite a large area.

I went on a couple of scouting visits before the bluebells had peaked to get an idea of what the place was like and how far I’d need to walk. On the second visit, I took a bike to get around easier!

Surrey Bluebells

Seclusion – 100mm; ISO 200; 1/250 sec; f/4.0 (click image to view larger size)

Seems like all I’m doing lately is photographing bluebells, but I suppose it is the season for it.

This year I decided to travel further than my back garden in search of bluebells. Internet research showed a couple of promising locations in Surrey within about 45 minutes drive from home.

So I started exploring in late March and weekly thereafter to check on progress. Places such as Ranmore Common, White Down, Leith Hill and Hatchlands Park.

The first bluebells

The First Bluebells – 100mm; ISO 100; 1/350 sec; f/2.8 (click image to view larger size)

For the last few years I have captured images of the first bluebells to appear in my garden.

There is a small patch of self-seeded bluebells to one side of the garden which have gradually invaded one corner of the lawn. The setting of these within blades of grass helps to illustrate their small size and I’ve been drawn to try and capture this and their delicateness.