2020 Review - Top Nine

It’s that time of year when we start to look back on what has been over the past twelve months and look forward to what we hope will happen in the New Year. I think it’s safe to say that this time last year none of us quite expected 2020 to turn out how it did with COVID-19 having such a huge impact on everyone’s lives. So I guess we’ll all be hoping for a better 2021.

What did 2020 look like for my landscape photography work?

I did have higher hopes for my landscape photography in 2020, I planned to go a little further afield to some different locations, but with the restrictions we have had placed upon us, it meant I had to stay very local. Not that it was too much of a problem, I am blessed to have some beautiful locations on my doorstep. I decided to focus on seascapes for a majority of my shoots this year. I don’t have a huge amount of time or opportunities to go out photographing landscapes, so coastal photography with it’s wider range of possibilities was what I stuck with for the majority of the time. By this I mean that an interesting sky isn’t a ‘must have’ to bag some great shots. I find Broadland scenes are very much dependent on what’s up above us. By concentrating on seascapes it gave me a common theme and to shoot in a particular style and give my work a sense of a collection. I’m pretty pleased with what I’ve managed to capture this year, and I feel lucky that the elements have played ball more often than not to enable me to capture these images. There are a number of shoots I’ve done which didn’t make the cut, that is the nature of landscape photography…...you can’t get a winner every time.

Instagram

Being a photographer, Instagram is the perfect social media platform for me, and it has been the place where I am most active (I am on Facebook too). It is great to see what other people are posting, particularly locals who are uploading images of very familiar places, and looking at these scenes in their own way. There are some very talented people showing their work on Instagram, which is fantastic to admire and brilliant learn from.
Although I am on there quite a bit, I am not overly concerned with chasing likes and followers I am getting, to me a lesser number of engaged, genuine followers will far outweigh a large number that aren’t into what you do. I like to think if my content is good enough, then people will follow, so in that sense 2020 has been a total surprise to me. I began the year with around 100 followers, in June it sat at 265, so you can probably understand my amazement when I topped over 1000 followers just before Christmas. With it, and much more pleasing, has come some very positive and kind feedback from a lot of people (mostly photographers) about my work, it’s nice to know I’m doing some things right!

Top Nine 2020
Every year many people share their ‘Top Nine’ or ‘Best Nine’ Instagram posts from the past 12 months. I have done this for the first time for my own Instagram account @mjplandscapes - you can see the posts ranked in order of number of likes received in the image below. It’s interesting to see what other people think, although the older images have been posted longer and so do pick up more likes. What I thought I would do was to share the full size photos so you can see each image without in more detail, and I have written a few words about what I was thinking when I took each shot.



In reverse order (from bottom right to top left)

9. Gorleston Beach in Autumn at Sunset (Oct 2020)
This is the first of two taken on the same day, both are looking south towards Hopton, and is close to the sea defences which protect the sandy cliffs under the golf course. The sun doesn’t quite get to the west before it sets in October, which means any last light colour in the sky can be seen in the south. I was fortunate that the clouds were broken allowing the pinks from the setting sun to be reflected in them whilst still seeing blue of the sky. It’s a colour combination I love, and always gives an image a sense of calm.



8. Hopton Rocks at Sunset (Oct 2020)
After never visiting Hopton before last December, I’ve fallen in love with it as a location and have been back a few times this year. It’s a great change from Gorleston in that the rocks make a fantastic foreground interest for any images of the area. There are some older sea defences which are a short walk from the granite spurs for something different too. It can be challenging though, the amount of sandy available is limited to low tide, high tides the sea covers the beach entirely, so timing is key here. This image was shot very close to high tide, I was nestled in the only place which was dry, but still had an area where I could see waves weaving through the rocks in front of me. I was blessed with a sky which held some colour as the sun set too. It’s actually one of my favourite images of the year, probably because the rocks are very different for the area and make an interesting focal point.



7. Gorleston Beach Sunset in Spring (Mar 2020)
Another of two from the same shoot. Ironically I didn’t include this one in my online gallery, choosing number 2 instead, but it was clearly a hit on Instagram. This one was taken in Spring looking north towards Great Yarmouth. I was actually looking out to sea for some shots, intent on catching some long exposure shots of the waves receding, but when I looked to my left I spotted the colours beginning to develop in the clouds. I managed to capture both elements in this image.



6. Gorleston Cliffs Sunset in Winter (Jan 2020)
The colours in the sky were very short lived when I was taking this winter sunset shot on Gorleston Beach. The sky was totally cloud free, I wouldn’t normally hold much hope for a nice image when the skies are clear like this, but the colours of the sky were reflecting beautifully in the water in front of me, and so helped fill the entire scene with soft pastel tones. It was just a case of capturing a wave going high enough up the beach to emphasise this. This composition involved a bit of tooing and froing as I wasn’t sure what was working. I was originally standing on the other side of the groyne when looking at this shot, before moving back to include the grounds as foreground interest. I’m happy that I did, the colour of the wood is part of the colour palette of the rest of the scene and wouldn’t be the same without it.



5. Receding Waves Gorleston Beach in Autumn (Oct 2020)
This shot was taken during the same shoot as numbers 3, 4, and 9, albeit slightly before the two images looking south towards Hopton. You can see the colours from the setting sun catching the heavy clouds they move out to sea. I was working a long exposure to capture the movement of the water as the waves receded back to the sea. The tide level was perfect for this. High enough to cover a large expanse of the sand, but low enough to give me room to work. This was shot with a wide angle lens to emphasise the waves in the scene, and to include as much sky as possible to add the colour interest to the image.



4. Gorleston Beach in Autumn at Sunset (Oct 2020)
Taken on the same shoot as images 9 & 5, this one was the last of the four and is slightly further north than image 9. What drew me to this composition, apart from the colours in the sky, are the leading lines created by the edge of the water and the line of the sea defences which draw the eye into the scene. Taking this image I was paying a lot of attention to the waves coming in from my left. I had already been caught by a rogue wave taking another shot earlier on!



3. Rushing Waves Gorleston Beach in Autumn (Oct 2020)
Much like image 5, this shot was very much about capturing the movement of the waves as they broke and washed back to the sea. The large mass of cloud out to sea was reflecting the colours of the setting sun to give a sense of calm to the shot, it’s a perfect juxtaposition between it and the energy of the sea below. My last post “Lost In The Process” describes how I find shooting these images very cathartic, and how being by the sea in particular is a great stress reliever.



2. Gorleston Beach Sunset in Spring (Mar 2020)
A close up shot of the scene in image 7. Foreground interest here is helped by bringing the groynes more prominently into the image. I love these structures, they are not only interesting to look at, but when shooting long exposure shots, they act as the still focal point in the midst of the movement around them. The groynes, waves and shaping of the clouds all act as leading lines to draw the eye into the frame, but from the comments I receive about this shot, it’s the colours of the sky that makes it a popular one.



1. Gorleston Beach Groyne in Winter (Jan 2020)
Definitely the most popular image from my Instagram gallery. This image shows how looking at things in a different way can pay dividends. My original intention for the composition looking straight down the groyne structure was to shoot a very long exposure (2 or 3 minutes) in order to flatten out the sea and give an ethereal feel to the shot. However, as I was setting up I noticed the way the water was running back through the structure and leaving trails of white water to follow with the eye. With the texture and structure of the sea defence I thought it made a scene which was interesting to look at. Ironically, I only posted this shot as a kind of after thought to celebrate “Norfolk Day”. I had a number of similar compositions on my feed already, so didn’t want to over do the same kind of image. This one is different, in that I think there is more punch to the shot, with the warmer colouring too makes it quite appealing.



Final Word
It has to be said, the Top Nine doesn’t necessarily reflect my own favourite images from 2020. I find it difficult to nail down a top envy thing as my favourite shots change daily, depending on my mood, but it is interesting to see what others like.
I hope you found this interesting, and that it has given you an insight to what I was thinking when I took these images. If you have any questions or comments, they can be left below. I’m always interested to hear from people, and also happy to advise new photographers where I can. If you haven’t followed me on social media yet, and feel you would like to, I am on Facebook and Instagram, and can be contacted through both platforms.
I’m hoping 2021 is a better year for everyone, and on that note I’d like to wish you a very Happy, Healthy and Safe New Year.

MJP LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY