It's Good to be Back

Summer has gone and Autumn is definitely taking hold, so it’s time for me to dust off my camera, lenses and filters and head out shooting my local landscape. Over the past few weeks I have done just that. Although they weren’t particularly long shoots, it did feel great to get out photographing at the coast once again.

BACK FROM A BREAK
It has been five months since my last landscape photography outing, a dawn shoot back in April at Gorleston Beach. I had been itching to get out again, having really missed my photography over the summer months.
(Summer is a great season to be out and about, but not for my landscape photography. Sunrises are too early, sunsets too late, the locations I want to shoot (sea & coast) are very busy, and the light itself is usually quite hazy, not as crisp, and clear as the months from Autumn through to Spring).
That said, this little shoot was a nice change in that it was a warm evening, and I was able to wear shorts and a T-Shirt. I certainly won’t be doing that in November!


The first of only two compositions from the shoot.

SHORT BUT SWEET
Ironically enough, for the first trip out I returned to the exact same area of the beach, capturing the crooked groyne marker I had done previously. Of course, conditions were different. A high tide and at sunset, as opposed to low tide at sunrise as was in April. It goes to show the beauty of coastal photography. The conditions are very rarely (if ever) the same.
The beach was busy, so composition and timings were important so as not to include people walking along the shore. I was only shooting for around 35 minutes., and could only work two compositions in this time. The warm light of the setting sun behind me was catching the clouds out to sea and painting the scene with my favourite combinations of blues and pinks. It was a beautiful show. Right up to sunset. This is when the late summer warmth spoiled the show. It seemed within five minutes of the sun going down, the light died completely, a thick haze took over and any post sunset colour was instantly lost. There is a phase of the day called the blue hour, which occurs just after the sun goes down. The tones of the sky change from oranges/pinks to blues and the light temperature decreases. You can get some beautiful images during this time, but not on this occasion. The sky was just a grey blanket, so my first shoot back came to an abrupt close.


The second composition. Here the light is fading very quickly.

OUT A LITTLE LONGER
A week or so later, I headed out to Gorleston again, for another brief shoot. This time a bit further south nearer the cliffs. It was a Friday evening, I had planned to go to caister the next day (Saturday,) but the weather forecast was so hideous, I thought I’d better have a plan B to get at least a short time out capturing the coast in case the weather boffs had got it right (which they did!)
As per my last outing, this was a bit rushed, so I was working quickly to capture shots before the sun set for the evening.
Whilst I was waiting for any sunset colours to appear, I worked on my first composition, one which I am drawn to regularly - one which looks straight down one of the groyne structures looking out to sea. I love the imagery of the water flowing back to sea around these beautiful old timbers. I do have to be disciplined when shooting these photos, it is very easy to lose track of time and spend the whole shoot firing frame after frame, but the colours were beginning to develop to the south, so I turned my attention to that direction.


My 'warm-up' composition, whilst waiting for the colours to develop in the sky.

Looking towards Hopton is the most photogenic view (in my opinion), and at the base of the cliffs, the beach is fairly wide and flat, which allows the waves to break high up the beach, and with it gives the beautiful receding surf shots I love to shoot. It was during shooting this next composition that I was stopped by a gentleman who was walking along the beach towards Hopton. We had a good chat about what I was doing, the filters I was using and how the beach has changed over the years. This location is certainly loved by many locals, that’s for sure.


Looking along the flat beach as the waves recede back to sea.

As the sun finally set, and the pink colours began to fade, I changed my direction of shooting to the east, directly out to sea to capture the last remaking pink hues on the horizon. This simplest of compositions is another addictive one, always hoping the next wave patterns are better than the previous ones, and being totally mesmerised by the sea. The light was fading quickly, so I was limited to how long I could photograph this composition, but even during the last of the light it still provided a beautiful scene.
I'll be posting about my next shoot at Hopton soon....don't miss it.


One of my highly addictive compositions. Wave watching.

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LIMITED EDITION PRINTS
I have a selection of images available for purchase as fine art limited edition prints, This blog post gives further information. The gallery will be updated regularly, but if you see an image you like on a blog or Facebook and it's not in the gallery, please drop me a line and we'll see if I can offer it as a print.


Final shot of the session. It was almost dark at this point.