alan frost photography

Cuckmere Haven alone in the mist

By alan frost on June 1, 2018

Regular readers will know that I am a great one for projects or bodies of work both large and small. Some last many months, even years and others are achieveable in only a day. They all have merit. Stand out single or what I like to call ‘Hero’ images do have their place but somehow the portrayal of a location and the prevailing conditions can really only be told in a series of pictures.

This selection of images were all taken during one visit to Cuckmere Haven in East Sussex.

I wanted to use my newly acquired Sony RX100 Mk3 compact camera to make a set of monochorme images for the first time and be able to assess the quality of the results.  Very simply I decided beforehand to try and capture the location using no more than a dozen pictures; in fact there are eleven in this post.

I enjoy being in unfamiliar locations and taking photographs. My mind is fresh to the possibilities of what I might see and capture in camera. Weather plays a big part of course and I was fortunate on this particular occassion to find the area shrouded in low cloud and mist. These conditions are ideal for black and white photography. I can adjust the contrast to suit each image to portray not only what the eye saw but how the scene felt to me.

All the pictures are landscape in format with a 3 x 2 aspect ratio for consistency. I think this is important if a set of images is to be presented as a harmonious panel of work.

As I walked around the lagoon  I found myself being drawn to some minimilist compositions which I rather like.

None more so than the picture below of a single post with the far bank just visible in the distance.

As for the Sony RX100 camera – well I have yet to make prints, but for the purposes of this blog, the quality of the RAW files is excellent.

Water, posts and reflections always have an appeal and these things all came together for my last image, with the added bonus of a sheep in the centre of the frame.

This part of East Sussex is a very popular with tourists visiting not just Cuckmere Haven but also the Seven Sister cliffs (the first image) and further to the east, Beachy Head. Although there were other people around, I felt quite alone here. Alone with nature – the mist largely obscuring my visibility of people or distractions I didn’t want or need to witness. I can easily imagine how this area might look bathed in sunshine with many people to be seen in every direction. Call me melanchonic but give me the mist and solitude any day of the week please.

To enjoy these images at their best, please click on each one to view a larger version.