Late September visit to East Ruston Old Vicarage

This visit was characterised by fine, sunny weather with blue sky:

In this visit, most of which was taken in the morning before the public visiting hours, I tried to capture some views that were a little different from the norm. I did take some 'classical' views of these gardens - this was the first visit since May with clear blue sky. I was able to visit in the morning as one of the owners, Alan Gray, has given me permission to visit outside of the public hours. This enables me to use a tripod and take photos without visitors wandering in and out of the frame.

The picture above was taken in the Exotic Garden. I balanced the camera on the wall forming the edge of the pond to get this image. I love the colour of the blue sky, its reflection in the pond, and the contrast with the colour of the goldfish. Ideally the image needed a slightly wider angle of view but this was the limit of my lens and I could not move the camera further back.

This next photo shows the way into the Exotic Garden from the opposite end. This took a few goes to get right due to the wind moving the foliage. However I was pleased with the final result. Although many people say that you should not have symmetrical images with the subject in the centre, in this image it works (in my opinion...)

Looking out for something different, I decided to try this view through a window:

The photo was taken in the Pavilion by the Mediterranean Garden looking back along the King's Walk to the vicarage. Again, this took a few goes to get right, but I am happy with the result. I could have made the outside scene darker and more contrasty but, I felt, it would have not looked genuine; it shows it was brighter outside than in.

Finally, I tried to get a different view of this holly. Again, I took several shots in my attempt to get a sharp foreground but still show berries in the background hedge. I think I succeeded, but only just. I wanted to stop down the lens further, but there was too much of a breeze moving the foliage which would have blurred the images.

The full set (119) of images taken on this day can be seen in my personal portfolio.