The Lure of Local Landscapes by David Askham 2025

During the last few years, certainly since Covid-19, my local landscapes have become ever more important to me. I wake up in the mornings, open the curtains, and glance at the view from my window. I know instantly what sort of day to expect. Wet and windy, or dry and fine? I can also tell whether it is worthwhile taking the camera out to capture a masterpiece, or more likely, to improve my rusty landscape photography techniques.




Sometimes, it is instant reaction as the ephemeral hues of a breaking dawn skyscape require urgent capture before it is too late. There is no time for thinking or searching for the best instrument. So, I use whatever camera falls to hand, all too often a smartphone. Increasingly, I find that the phone camera is used as a stepping stone to the use of a Leica. The latter is superior and is much more pleasant to use.

I am not alone in working this way. During reconnaissance trips to woodlands, many professional landscape photographers use phone cameras to document precise locations of scenes which have potential in another season, or with more appropriate lighting or weather conditions.

However, notwithstanding their usefulness, I have taken to keeping a Leica camera handy at home, increasingly, for these rare short-lived opportunities. The Leica invariably yields superior results.





Skyscapes

In early mornings, ever-changing skies are the main targets. Capturing skyscapes successfully calls for skills both in timing and composition. Skies invariably change constantly. There are new potential pictures every few seconds.

An understanding of meteorology also helps, particularly with cloud types. Recognizing the difference between cirrus and cumulus clouds and its relationship with current, and soon-to-be-experienced weather conditions. Cirrocumulus clouds form the basis of ‘herringbone’ or ‘mackerel’ skies and can herald the impending arrival of a warm front in your area. Whereas cumulo-nimbus clouds threaten thunderstorms. They are often impressive.



When photographing early morning or dawn skies, exposure determination is fairly straightforward. The dynamic range is well within a modern sensor’s capability. However, if you include landform at the base, you might need to make adjustments in post-processing.





Landscape opportunities

There is a temptation to believe that the ‘grass is always greener’ over the horizon. Stunning pictures in foreign places bear testimony to that belief. But most of us are unlikely to visit such locations, so we must make the most of what we have locally. Which brings me back to the view from my window. What can I discover on our horizon?



My view from our home looks onto the western edge of The North Wessex Downs. That is where the sun mostly rises, depending on the season. It is not a majestic range of famous mountains. Just a gentle escarpment separating an elevated plateau from a very fertile shallow valley floor. In prehistoric times, there is evidence to suggest that our broad valley was once a seabed, hence its undoubted fertility. Little wonder that our village is renowned for its market gardens and farming, of which there were about ten farms within our hamlet alone. But back to my view.



A feature of the escarpment is a series of ravines or short gullies. Some thought these gullies were the result of melting icebergs at the end of the ice-age, during a previous era of global warming. I am beginning to doubt that theory, believing that natural erosion, by wind and water, and lack of hillside cultivation is a more likely explanation. Whatever the cause, under glancing sunlight they become a very interesting feature to photograph. And after snowfall, they add interest to the summit of the Downs, at least to my eyes.

There is another surprising facet to these Downs. Just over the escarpment rim, where the upper plateau starts, are the locations of two significant historic sites. The older is the site of an iron-age fortified village, of which there is little, or no trace, now. The more recent one relates to the English civil war, (AD 1642 to AD 1651), the Battle of Roundway, a village on the outskirts of Devizes. For many years a local village public house was called ‘Oliver Cromwell’ until it was taken over as an Asian restaurant and renamed "The Coconut". (I can assure you that coconuts are not grown in this part of Wiltshire!) Perhaps we are witnessing the start of a new phase of British history.

Vegetation and wildlife

A landscape devoid of vegetation is a desert, well beyond my experience in Wiltshire. My local vista contains a very narrow stream, feeding eventually into the river Avon which meanders westwards towards the Bristol channel. Self-seeded native trees proliferate along this water course, adding to the interest in ‘my’ local landscape. But all of this is about ½ mile away and the stream is hidden by verdant growth.

Most of the trees are deciduous, rendering my vista an ever-changing abstract of shapes and colour. Just before last summer's drought, the Forestry Commission engaged contractors to replace lost hedgerows with new native saplings. The aim was to create a new national forest in ribbon form, affecting many adjoining counties, to replace those lost trees over time.

Although I am not a wildlife photographer, mention should be made of creatures we have seen from our home. Some even stray into our garden and include hares, hedgehogs, muntjacks and wild birds galore. But that's a topic for the future.

The nature of farming fields has changed in the 40 years of our presence. Grass for silage to feed cattle; market gardening; grain for combined harvesters to process and vegetable crops are slowly giving way to acres of sweetcorn for conversion locally into gas fuel to meet national energy demands. Is there a risk that we are losing our independence to feed ourselves? Who said landscapes are boring? Happily our local meadow is occasionally used for sheep grazing, but not the rare breed - the Wiltshire Longhorn with beautiful long curled horns - last seen here thirty years ago.



Where to aim my camera?

A landscape is often defined by its skies. They are constantly changing and evolving. Skies change more quickly, depending on weather and temperature, than does the surface of our earth.



Human beings come and go; terra firma is more permanent. As photographers, our view is but a snapshot of time. Choose that timing wisely.

Increasingly I have found that a tele-zoom can be so useful when looking for impressive landscapes. It is possible to find pictures within expansive landscapes. (See the shot above with sheep) And lighting makes or mars a scene. Frequently, it becomes necessary to schedule a shot when the light is right. That is easier when you are working locally.

I hope that the analysis of my local landscape will inspire you to look more critically at yours. And yes, I have lived in cities where the rooftop landscapes can be much less inspiring, apart from the skies above them. Just consider the famous British artist L. S. Lowry who found inspiration in his industrial cityscapes in northern British cities. His childlike style has endured through time and captured the good and the bad of that industrial era.

I have used a variety of mostly Leica cameras to illustrate this article. But the Leica CL, with standard and telezooms, is outstanding and highly relevant for my current needs.