There’s nothing quite like the tranquillity of an early morning, camera in hand, ready to capture the beauty of the day as it emerges. For me, my favourite place to experience and photograph these magical scenes is the South Downs National Park, especially when mist or fog drifts across the landscape.
On a late October morning, I set out to photograph the mist and fog near Devil’s Dyke in West Sussex, only to discover a stunning cloud inversion had formed.
A cloud inversion occurs when cooler air gets trapped beneath a layer of warmer air, leading to clouds or mist settling in low-lying areas like valleys, while higher elevations remain clear.
I have always hoped to see an inversion clinging to the slopes of the Downs, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. The first photo captured the cloud inversion sweeping down the South Downs towards Edmonton, softening the landscape in a surreal, almost otherworldly way.
As the morning wore on, the inversion gradually retreated, revealing glimpses of the villages below. But just when it seemed like the spectacle was over, the cloud inversion surged back up the South Downs, completely blanketing the scene once again. In an instant, the village of Poynings vanished from sight, hidden beneath the ethereal waves of cloud.