Here’s a little break from the Sefton Coast with a shot of the Cornish Coast! I took a few days way down south on the South West coast of England at Fistral Beach near Newquay. The hotel room overlooked this wonderful bay, and when on the last day of my trip the clouds and sun combined to produce a wonderful sunset I was there to capture it 🙂
On the way home from visiting friends in Liverpool we stopped off for a walk around the waterfront area. The sun was setting, but there was no glorious burst of colour, just a gentle softening and deepening of the sky. Looking from the Albert Dock towards the Three Graces and the new Museum of Liverpool I could see the skyline reflected in the water producing some lovely reflections.
OK, I admit it, these aren’t the colours that I saw when I took this shot. It was a bland, overcast day, the tide was out and the beach flat and lifeless save for the pooled water in the dips of the sand. What is a guy to do but play around with the colours and create something a little more atmospheric? It’s amazing the difference colour makes to our perception of an image. The original is quite flat and, perhaps, boring, but add a little colour into the equation and the whole becomes much more interesting.
One of the many abiding images of the Sefton coastline is the blown grass waveline of marram guarding the coast. The marram provides a perfect complement to the shoreline, soft grass contrasting with the flatness of the beach and shoreline on this stretch of coast. I love how the light changes every time I visit. The light on the water reflecting the blue of the sky. I call these sort of shots marramscapes 🙂
There are just so many ways to shoot one pier. Getting down on the beach at sunset is one great way to get the silhouette of the pier framing the setting sun.
One of the few features among the marram grass on Ainsdale dunes is the fencing. This selective focus shot puts the fence post in the frame.
I’ll confess to photographing Southport Pier many more times than any normal person should, and yet, after all these shots I’m still searching for that definitive image, the one shot that becomes the accepted look for this landmark. In part this has been prompted by the widespread unlicensed use of an early shot of Southport Pier. Given that so many locals seem to think that this is the shot to use I thought I might try to improve on my 2007 equipment and skills. This isn’t an entirely new shot, but it’s been processed in a radically different way to try and build on the feel of the previous image.
What works? Well, the red sky seemed to attract attention. In the 2007 shot this was done by adding an old fashioned tobacco graduated filter at the time of taking the shot. This image is a composite to improve the dynamic range – the colour was then boosted in Lightroom to give it a similar (if more saturated and contrasty) feel. The leading lines of the planks also help to make this a shot that draws the eye in.
Is this photo of Southport Pier the definitive shot? I don’t know. For now I like it, but, I know that sooner or later I’ll be drawn back to try it again…
On my first visit to Crosby beach, last month I struck lucky with a wonderful sunset. The tide was out, which meant that I had wet sand for the foreground rather than water, but the results were pleasing nonetheless. I’ve put a couple of images together so that the scale of the installation can be seen better.
It’s not often that the tide comes right in on Southport Beach. It’s less often that high tide is really high. Once in a while it is possible to see the pier completely over water from the breakwater outwards. Yesterday was on such day. The light wasn’t great, but it was better than we’ve had for some time. Of course, high tide’s not of itself a pretty scene. The water is so shallow that the waves are small and choppy and the sand is stirred up along with the waves. The best solution is to take a long exposure of many seconds to smooth out the sea. This shot is a 50 second exposure which gives the sea a smooth texture, with whorls and patterns caused by the movement of the waves and tide.
There are many paths to making a striking, or memorable image; some images are engineered for instant impact – either colour or composition, but become just as quickly; other images are designed to grow on you – not that tug of instant attraction but the gentle pull of something familiar and pleasant to look on. Ainsdale beach, with it’s lack of features lends itself particularly to the kind of minimalist image that grows on you rather than hitting you between the eyes.
When one thing is lacking in an image I often find that it allows for the enhancement of another aspect. In this shot, for example there is not a lot of micro detail – lines, objects etc. There’s just nothing to work on. So, instead of going for detail I’ve worked on the colour. No, it’s not natural, but then this is a statement, not an objective and functional facsimile, but a bold mind’s eye imagination of what it should be like.