Garden variety

The National Garden Scheme/Scotland Garden Scheme is a great way to find gardens. When I started out, I used to visit a lot of the open gardens to arrange a time to come back to get better light – usually first thing in the morning or dusk. With bigger gardens owned by The National Trust, for example, access can be difficult. You can end up shooting in the middle of the day with the sun high in the sky, leading to burnt out highlights and very dark shadows. In the summer, 4 or 5am or 7-8pm is often ideal. I shoot all through the year, however: all the seasons are lovely in different ways.