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I’ve endeavoured to photograph many red poppy fields in the past but had never seen the pink variety. I planned a couple of nights away in Dorset to look for the mass of Opium poppies that grow there and bloom at the end of June. They are cultivated by farmers and harvested by a pharmaceutical company to produce pain-relieving drugs, such as codeine and morphine. On arrival to the location I was greeted with a spectacular vista of acres of pink farmland. That day I worked hard to explore the area and took a few daytime images in cloudy conditions. The rain had set in for the evening so I decided to chill out and eat in a restaurant rather than grab a snack and rush for a sunset.
It was still wet outside as I was driving back from the restaurant to the accommodation and noticed a hint of pink in the grey sky. With only 15 minutes until sundown I made a spontaneous decision to head for the pink poppy fields watching the sky gradually changing colour. It started to glow with a display of graduated shades of orange, magenta and blue. After parking the car in a lay-by I leapt out of the car like a man possessed looking at the sun position. I quickly set up my gear and headed into the edge of the field through a gateway. “Oh my goodness”; It was absolutely gorgeous with the colours complimenting the pinkness of the poppies. It was raining but I managed a few photos before the vibrancy started to fade into wonderful graduated pastels tones. I chose f/18 to maintain sharpness throughout the scene. I never expected that! I was one of the lucky ones to capture the unexpected sunset which are usually the best ones!
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