Earlier this year I was asked to take some photographs of Sycamore Gap at Hadrian’s Wall. This particular sycamore tree and the steep valley it’s growing in was made famous in the 1991 film, “The Prince of Thieves” with Kevin Costner and so it’s sometimes called “Robin Hood’s tree”. I doubt there is any real historical meaning with this tree but it does look dramatic.

This bit of Hadrian’s Wall, is very popular. Mostly probably due to the tree, but also because it’s fairly easy to access from the main road and has some gorgeous views of the Northumberland country side and you can see Hadrian’s Wall twisting and turning up and down the hills. Walking from the Steel Rigg car park, just off the B6318 you can either take the route up the very steep climb following the wall or go down the right hand side and round the hills. If you feel like it, I’d definitely recommend the climb; the views are wonderful, but it can get very blustery up there.

Because Hadrian’s Wall and “Robin Hood’s tree” are so popular amongst walkers it was difficult to get the shots without anybody else in. Luckily I was there in early April and not in the middle of the summer when I presume it’d be absolutely heaving with ramblers. Nevertheless, patience was required and plenty of it. It was the case of careful framing and quick shooting to get few shots when somebody was just out of the picture and before the next one walked in. Or simply making sure the tree, the wall or the hills covered up the people I couldn’t avoid otherwise.

It was a beautiful spring day and sky was bright and blue with some fluffy white clouds. I would’ve preferred a dark stormy sky, but I wouldn’t have wanted to walk across the hills in that kind of weather!

To emphasise the clouds in the sky and the texture in the grass, I converted the photos into black and white in Lightroom. Adjusting the colour sliders in allowed me to control the subtle differences between yellow, orange and green grass and of course to darken the sky to bring out the white clouds.