Caister Beach - An Amazing Sunset on the Norfolk Coast

When I returned to landscape photography two years ago, I had plans to visit a number of locations to build a varied portfolio. COVID and the various lockdowns put pay to that for a while, but as the last few months have seen a return to near normal I can now begin to work through my location list. One place I was itching to visit (or re-visit) was Caister Beach. I say revisit, because Caister was a favourite sunrise location of mine around ten years ago during my first stint of landscape photography.


I captured this composition as I waited for the light to develop. It's currently my most liked image on Instagram!

I’ll be more specific, after all Caister beach covers approximately 2 miles of coast in total, the area I was previously familiar with was North Beach, which is accessed from Second Avenue. The reason I liked this area was because of the small granite barriers that had been built to act as sea defences, having had some positive experiences for this stretch of beach previously I felt it only right to return here again.
I did a short scouting visit a week before this shoot at low tide, and was surprised to see that much of the large rock barrier which I used to shoot, was now high and dry and mostly covered with sand. The others did have contact with the sea, but only just. It’s yet another example of the constantly changing coast in this part of the world.

When I returned for for my sunset shoot the following weekend, the tide was due to be higher, and I was hoping that the sea would interact with the rocks to help with foreground interest. Although this was the case, it was not by as much as I had imagined. However, I need not have worried.


I nearly missed this composition. I was shooting a similar frame a couple of metres to the right, but wasn't really happy with it.
As I moved back along the beach this shot caught my eye, and I'm so glad it did.

Caister has an ace up its sleeve, unlike Gorleston and Hopton, the beach doesn’t have cliffs behind it, meaning the light from the setting sun to the west doesn’t get blocked as it drops to the horizon and the light illuminates the whole scene not just the sky out to sea. Why was this a plus? Well, the light that was developing was quite extraordinary. There was a lot of cloud out to sea, which was catching the amazing colours of the setting sun. It was quite incredible to witness. It may seem strange to some that whilst many photographers would have in locations with their cameras pointing to the dropping sun, there was me looking in the other direction.


The colours from the sunset behind me are really beginning to reflect in the sky out to sea in this image.
I felt so privileged to witness this first hand.

It may appear contradictory, but I have noticed that although sunset colours to the east will be shorter lived than those facing the sun, the effect is often more subtle. You can see in these images what I mean. My favourite blue/pink palette is definitely evident here, but without the harsh glare one the sun. I am used to seeing these kind of colours, but I was honestly blown away by the intensity and amount of colour during this shoot.


The final image of the session was this shot, the colours were at their most widespread, but this was very short lived.
Within a few minutes they had gone completely.

The irony is that this was one of those occasions where I nearly didn’t go out to do this shoot. I did this on a Saturday afternoon, and was planning to do a sunrise session at Hopton the next morning, so was in two minds about whether I needed to go out here as well. As it happened I am very, very glad I did. Especially as the Hopton shoot wasn’t anywhere close to as productive as this one!
It’s definitely a location I will be returning to, I know that I can get a beautiful sunset here, but like all the locations on the east coast, Caister is an ideal spot for a sunrise shoot too. It’s nice to have the option…..I just need to find the time!

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