Early Start

RHS Wisley invited photographers into the gardens at 7:30 this morning. I set the alarm and managed to get there a few minutes after opening. Based on the number of cars in the car park only 50 or so people took them up on the offer, so we had the place to ourselves for a couple of hours - and it was well worth the effort.

After a wet night, the spring flowers in the the wild garden were glistening, the sun was shining and the birds were in full song.  I had great fun practising backlighting and shalow DOF for Bokeh, and these late snowdrops proved to be excellent subjects - and well worth looking large.

As the general public started to drift in I headed to the cafe for a bacon bap and coffee, before take a slow meander back to the entrance.  By now the sun had scuttled behind some heavy clouds, the wind had got up, and the air was distinctly chiller - the best of the weather had gone and so was I.

If you are interested, a few more shots from the day can be seen on my flickr site