Summer can be a frustrating time of year but this year had been even more so than any I can remember.
The weather seemed to be fantastic midweek but come the weekend and we would get 2 days of solid rain or high winds, it was driving me mad.
June had been much the same and chances to get out were few and far between, July had been no exception.
I was itching to get out but just wasn't getting the breaks I needed, I was either busy on evenings where the sunset looked viable or it was raining when I was free and then throw into the mix it being the Euros and Englands run of success which was too good to miss and I suddenly found myself in mid July and I hadn't been out, it was not good !
I had spent a fair bit of time driving round looking for poppy fields which Dorset had usually been quite good for but this year it had been strangely free of the reds, and I wasn't alone as several of the other usual suspects hadn't found any either, again frustrations really crept in and I decided to abandon poppies for this year rather than waste too much time on them.
I hadn't put a video out for four weeks either on youtube and I was starting to feel the pressure to do one, pressure of my own making I might add but again didn't want to put out a half hearted effort so decided to wait until I got some decent conditions and something worth shooting.
My mind turned to a holiday to get away from the pressures of work and Scotland & the Lake District both came to mind but the fact that everybody was now stuck with a "staycation" meant that prices of cottages for a week had trebled due to demand and I was starting to think I wouldn't get a a chance to go so I felt very much in limbo and not really sure what to do or where to go.
I was a bit bored of Dorset, after all I had been photographing it for well over a decade and there's only so much you can do before you want to go onto pastures new but for the time being I felt I was stuck with it.
The obvious answer seemed to be to go out in the morning before work but the reality was not really achievable as it would mean getting up around 3 am for a 5 am sunrise then doing a full days work on top and in reality I just couldn't sustain this so I decided to wait till the sunrise was a fair bit later before I would start my morning campaign.
So I was back to square one, evenings in Dorset and praying for decent weather on the weekends which seemed to go unanswered for the vast majority of it.
July was either crystal clear sky and a heatwave or biblical rain and floods and it made getting out an absolute nightmare.
The few times I had managed to go had yielded no results at all and continued to drain me of enthusiasm.
Further to this I decided to take a trip to a much loved venue, Cutt Mill and blow away the cobwebs so after travelling all the way up there I was pleased to see conditions looking very nice indeed, as I walked down the familiar path to the mill I felt at home once again until I looked at the mill and to my horror saw it had been graffitied and looked a right state.
Words can't describe how I felt at this moment, another of Dorsets historical buildings had been destroyed for some idiots personal vanity and I was heartbroken.
Whilst this old mill was in a state of disrepair that was part of the charm and it always looked so nice in that way and now it was scared by some poorly sprayed "art" by an idiot who cared more about their vanity than the building.
This was enough to make me turn round and leave, I didn't want to shoot this once majestic building with a stain of humanity on it, I left in search of other opportunities.
A storm was rolling in so I looked to get to high ground and shoot some light sweeping across the landscape.
As I arrived it looked perfect, but as soon as I had set up the camera the light went off and the storm cloud swept across the plains of Dorset taking with it any hope that I had of getting a shot.
I just couldn't catch a break, and it was really getting to me.
Meanwhile along the coast in Dorset the conditions were fantastic and had lit up for anyone lucky enough to be there and I cursed my decision once again.
Its really easy to just chuck in the towel when you have a run of bad luck like this and everything seems against you but I was determined to keep going and to try and salvage what little was left of the month ahead.
Im not going to bore you with the rest, I made several other trips that were all failures in one way or another, it just wasn't meant to be this month !
Looking ahead, lets hope August delivers a better result !
This months print of the month offer is of Lulworth Ledges and can be purchased by clicking HERE
Happy shooting
Daniel Wretham
