It’s been a while since I’ve managed to shoot Ainsdale Beach, but I managed to get there for a few minutes last week. The holidaymakers are beginning to thin out, and the weather is beginning to cool, so it’s just right for capturing the vastness of the beach.
We took a trip to the other end of the country for a few days. As it was a holiday I didn’t really have time to do much photography, but I did take my camera with me on the beach. This shot was taken hand held from the beach looking towards Brighton’s burnt pier. This pier has been the subject of many photographs, so I wanted to try and do something a little different. The shot was taken hand held, but slow enough to show movement in the waves.
I haven’t been down to the beach for ages, and certainly haven’t had time to take my tripod with me, but at long last I’ve got a long exposure shot of marram, sea and sky all in motion together…
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…