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Adrift

Brightwell Barrow · Winter

Bare winter trees crown Brightwell Barrow, the low knoll near the Wittenham Clumps in Oxfordshire, rising above a valley floor dissolved by temperature-inversion mist. Shot from altitude at first light on a January morning, low sun backlit the mist into layered golden strata, leaving the trees as the single fixed point in an otherwise formless landscape. The shadow cast downslope through the fog introduces a geometry that separates this from the conventional aerial mist photograph.

These moments long live on in my memory. This particular morning had mist sitting low in the valley floor below Brightwell Barrow, looking like it would stay that way. However, as the sun rose up, the mist rose with it. The gentle breeze pushed it over the barrow, creating this scene. The sun, luckily, strong enough to create my favourite effect - a long shadow sun beam behind the trees on top of the barrow.

Camera
DJI Mavic 3 Pro
Settings
1/800s · f/2.8 · ISO 200 · 19mm
Captured
14 January 2026
Shape
landscape