Beautiful Weybourne Beach

In my last post I mentioned how much I love Weybourne, for it's ruggedness and reasonably isolated position along the North Norfolk Coast. There are a couple of things that really strike you about the place. The cliffs to the East, and the proximity of the sea to the beach. The waves crash onto the shingle, only a matter of yards from the car park, so there's no long trek over the dunes to reach the sea, (although there's nothing wrong with that if you want a nice walk). 

I've wanted to try and capture a fairly simple image of a Weybourne vista for some time, and I managed to finally spend a few hours there a couple of weeks ago. Shooting West along the beach/sea line seemed to offer the best combination of composition and beautiful, soft fading light, which was just catching the tips of the waves as the sun started to dip below the shingle bank. A slowish shutter speed of 1/4 second recorded motion throughout the waves without them becoming 'too misty like', which I felt would have reduced their power somewhat. Shooting with a much faster shutter speed however, almost certainly creates a very static image, where the motion of the sea can be lost, something I wanted to try and avoid. The Fuji X-T1 was set up on a tripod with a cable release, and a Lee two stop hard grad in place, positioned across the horizon. As the waves crashed in I tripped the shutter, reviewing the images on the LCD. I ended up with three that I really like, taken over a six minute period. What's quite amazing is just how much the light has changed in such a short space of time, completely affecting the feel of each image.

Warm light at Weybourne

Crashing waves 

Last Light 

Notice how the light has become a steely grey by the time we get to the last image, taken just six minutes after the first. I love the movement of the retreating sea in the second image. This really sums up Weybourne beach for me. And finally, notice the little sea creature in the first photograph, which looks like a Common Sunstar. 

I love this place, and I know I'll be visiting again real soon.

Outfall pipe at Weybourne, North Norfolk Coast

One of my favourite spots along the North Norfolk Coast is Weybourne. It's one of those places that you could easily miss whilst travelling along the coast road. It lies between Blakeney and Sheringham, and on first glance, is a quiet, unassuming little village. But if you follow the sign to the beach, along a narrow, potholed single track road, and climb over the shingle bank, you will be greeted by the most wonderful of vistas. A steep pebble beach quickly gives way to the sea, waves crashing and breaking, only a matter of metres from the car park. To the East, chalk cliffs stretch as far as the eye can see, to the West, wonderful views back towards Cley and Blakeney. I think I like Weybourne so much because it feels isolated and away from the crowds. It feels wild, untamed, and I like that. 

Photographing here, for me anyway, requires a different approach to my usual landscape work. I'm trying to capture the rawness, almost emptiness of the place. It's a challenge, but any excuse to visit and I'm there. On this particular occasion, I photographed the Outfall pipe, something that greets the eye as soon as you crest the bank. The pipe makes a great subject, and for some reason doesn't look out of place in such a beautiful spot. This particular shot was taken four minutes after sunset. A shutter speed of two seconds was used to create a sense of movement through the water, as it started to envelop the pipe. I was using the Fuji X-T1 with Fujinon 18-55mm, tripod, cable release, with a Lee two stop, hard N.D. grad filter.

The Outfall pipe at Weybourne 

The image was converted to black and white, with a few simple tonal adjustments.  

Fuji X-T1 with Fujinon 18-55mm F2.8 - F4 lens.
2 seconds at F14, ISO 200.  

Two more from the Moor

Happy New Year everyone. Wow, what a busy few weeks. December was taken up with a Christmas Fair in Wells-next-the-Sea, where the gallery, 'Saltmarsh and Samphire', was exhibiting photography, craft, and fabric makes. And after that, towards the end of the month, I had a wedding shoot in Hull. Before I knew it, fireworks were signalling in a New Year, and I realised that I hadn't written or uploaded anything to the blog for some time. So apologies for my lack of posts, I'll try and pull myself in to some kind of shape and get back on it from now on. This week, I've been out and about along the North Norfolk Coast, to one of my favourite places, Weybourne. I captured an image that for me sums up this pretty magical place. I will upload it soon, and try to describe why I love the place so much . But for now I'm posting my last two images from Roughton Moor that were taken recently. They have a sepia type filter applied to them, similar to the recent 'The Long Path' and 'Fallen Leaves' uploads. Filter stuff isn't something I normally do, but I quite like this set of images, and it's fun to try something a bit different every now and then. They have a slightly haunting appearance, and for me,  it kind of sums up Roughton Moor quite well. The wood has a special place in my heart, I used to muck around there as a kid, and I'm now the woods voluntary reserve manager for the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust.

I think the four images might look quite cute as A4 sized framed prints, and I may offer them for sale in the gallery in the coming months, just to try something a bit different.   

www.saltmarshandsamphire.co.uk       

Not a Breath

Still waters

I've also been shooting some film stuff too, both colour and black and white. I'll have some new film blog posts in the next couple of months or so. I do enjoy shooting with this medium, and they are amongst the most read and commented on articles across my site. I'm still on the look out for a Leica M6 and Nikon FM2, to add to the collection.... maybe this year. 

So lets get snapping everyone, and here's to a fantastic 2016.