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.
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.
Blackpool is easily seen from Southport on a clear day. It’s only 9 or 10 miles away as the crow flies (or the fool walks), but it’s a circuitous route around the Ribble Estuary to actually get there. So this is the long end of my longest zoom to see the skyline from all the way down on Ainsdale beach. The sky was clouded over bringing a soft light and gentle contrasts. I hunkered down between the marram clumps to place the view in context and balanced the marram, sea, skyline and sky for this shot.
The Southport coastline can be a little featureless, so I’m always on the lookout for something to add a little interest to these images. To be honest, I love the minimal style that this coast imposes on me, but the eye needs a focus and a direction.
I love these heavily cloud covered seas because the darkness of the sky is reflected in the sea, giving a wonderful dark line along the horizon. In contrast, the gentle slope of the beach provides a soft white line of tide rather than the athletic waves of other coastlines.
In combination the grass and sky provide the layers and the dark and white lines provide a focus for the eye to rest on.
The Sefton coast is a vast space, and once the autumn chill sets in the beach is largely deserted. On an overcast but warm autumn day you will see the occasional visitor loitering along the water’s edge. The tide comes in so gently on this gently sloping beach that it’s a rather tranquil experience standing and watching the water lap gently closer and closer to the tide line.
With the flat light on the surface of the water the sky and sea blend almost seamlessly into one vast bright plane of soft colour and light. The couple standing at the water bring a sense of scale and perspective to the image.
The turquoise tones of the shelter paint go splendidly with the colours of the water and sky. I’ve deliberately emphasized the blueness in the white balance to produce a bright cool feel to the image.
The Marine Lake in Southport is surrounded by a series of Victorian shelters – designed to allow the discerning visitor to the town to take in the view whilst keeping the worst excesses of the weather at bay. Time, wind, rain and neglect have left these shelters in a rather forlorn state – weather beaten and paint peeled and generally the worse for wear. They still do the same job, but not with the same panache that they would have done in their heyday…
I’m still fascinated by the interplay of marram, sand, sea & sky that presents itself at Ainsdale Beach near Southport. On a good day the sky is cloudy, the tide is in, and the beach is empty. The heavy clouds seem to balance the foreground marram and the sand and sea sit neatly in between.
This photo was taken a while ago using my preferred technique of ETTR (expose to the right). This generally gives my a light and airy starting point for processing the image. On this shot I decided to push the contrast a little more than usual to give a more punchy feel to the image.
One of the things that I love about Ainsdale beach is the space! I love wide places, I love the wind in my face. This coast is lined with marram grass that fringes the beach and provides the perfect foreground for the beach, sea and sky.
Due to its proximity to home sweet home I’ve been out again along the big bank towards Banks just to the north of Southport. It’s a vast landscape, with sweeping views across to Blackpool: you can see the tower and the roller coaster clearly against the skyline. But it’s the detail and the light which make this such a fascinating spot for photography. As I’ve often mentioned, there’s not a lot of foreground interest along the north Sefton/Lancashire coast. It’s flat and quite featureless. So, it’s necessary to make use of every little thing (and a long depth of field) to get a striking shot.
This is the same drop of water as seen in the previous shot, but looking along the near edge away from the sunset. I hope you enjoy it…
