I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to be up in the air once more; the feeling of the gentle air on my face and glory of looking all around at our most beautiful countryside; little hidden villages; hamlets; iron age hill forts, white horses etched into the side of hills; church spires, farms and more mundanely swimming pools! Instead of concrete, acres of the most glorious kaleidoscope of fields as the crops are starting to ripen in all different hues of gold. A truly exhilarating and breathtakingly wonderful experience that no matter how many times I have flown, it still gives me that feeling of joy and wonder every single time; my heart seems to sing a special song of thankfulness just for being alive.
When flying around the circle, a whole lot of things come into play; first and foremost checking that your cameras are fully charged and that you have installed the card. When that is done, your lenses are clean and the settings are correct, you will be ready. Firstly you need to judge the size of the circle and fly around to find the exact angle when suddenly the circle below starts to shimmer like a pearl. Taking different overhead pictures, some directly overhead, some angled, some distance with the surrounding countryside as a backdrop, some close, some zoomed in, just to mention a few.
I wondered if I might be out of practise but luckily all was well. However I am never really satisfied and think the pictures taken by other photographers are often better than mine - good in a way, as it makes me try harder all the time.
I am going to send you a selection of my efforts this year to date. Some circles were quite old when I photographed them.
This is a link to a most remarkable video, shot by a friend, which I can strongly recommend.
Next week, I will be taking my first tour round the circles and ending with the memorable private evening entry to Stonehenge. Fingers crossed for good weather.
I still have a very few places left for my 6th of August tour with the optional extra of a magnificent flight over the circles after the tour. If you would like to book and join me, please hurry.
Wow, what should happen but just as I had finished this letter but yet another circle appeared, this time at Bishop’s Sutton, near Alresford in Hampshire, not too far from where I live. I must try and trace the farmer to try and obtain permission to enter. It was a most glorious evening, the colours, soft, gentle and deep - what an excitement.
With my love and best wishes,
Lucy