seascape | alan frost photography

Posts from the ‘seascape’ category

Keeping it simple at Langstone Harbour

In recent days I have tried to simplify my approach to image taking. Let me explain. I have been out and about walking and exploring the footpaths that surround Chichester Harbour. I have taken with me the following: A Leica Monochrom and just one lens; a Leica 50mm Summilux f1.4. A spare battery just in case. A three stop ND filter should I want to shoot wide open in bright light, a shoulder strap for comfort and finally a microfibre cloth for cleaning the viewfinder – oh, and a 16GB SD card! This limited amount of equipment has been quite liberating and if anything stirs the creative juices as I look for images which work with one prime lens and in black and white of course. There have been times when a wider or longer lens would have been useful but I rather like a more minimalist approach.

In many ways the picture which accompanies this post of Chichester Harbour from Langstone is also very simple. It’s all about the clouds in the sky, a skyscape no less. An uncluttered horizon with a band of sea low in the frame, confirms a waterside location. There is no main point of interest but there is plenty to enjoy in the sky, with the various forms of cloud constantly changing with the light and moving in the breeze. I have kept processing to a minimum as well. A minor crop to place the horizon. An adjustment for levels, whilst adding a little contrast to bring out some detail. Lastly the removal of some dust spots on the sensor. Job done.

Low tide at East Head

A few weeks ago I had the day off work and was watching the weather forecast and the tide times with more than a degree of interest. I knew that the tide was going to be very low in the afternoon and the forecast was indicating that early morning cloud and rain would clear around lunchtime as well.

A trip down to East Head in West Wittering was planned, and being out of season and a normal work day, I did not expect to see many other people. A low tide, improving weather and no people should be good recipe for a few photographs of this wonderful Sussex coastline.

This is a location which is never stays the same, the tide and light constantly changing, revealing endless photographic opportunities to be enjoyed and captured.

Do click on any of the images to view a larger version which will open in a new window.

Here are some links to more entries which feature this particular location.

Gathering storm at East Head

‘To flip or not to flip?’ that is the question

Looking through the archives – Dune fence

Dunraven Bay – a brief visit

Dunraven Bay is situated on the south coast of Wales in the Vale of Glamorgan. The bay itself faces west and is also known as Southerndown beach after the nearby village.

I visited this lovely coastline on a cold and windswept afternoon at the end of March. I was fortunate to find the tide was out, revealing the sands and rocks which make this such an interesting place to photograph. With the weather as it was there were only a few people around, just a handful of walkers and their dogs to leave their foot and paw prints in the sand.

I tried to imagine what it would be like mid summer, in warm temperatures and blue skies. The car park would be full, families would be enjoying the lovely beach, children rock pooling and building sand castles. The surf would also attract windsurfers and others who enjoy their water sports. For me though, I enjoyed the isolation, free to wander and explore, and take shots of anything which took me eye. Rarely did I have to wait for people to move out of the frame.

I hope you enjoy the selection of images shown below. To view a larger version click on the image and it will open in a new window.

Blakeney to Morston…..along The Peddars Way or Norfolk Coast Path

Blakeney Harbour

For a variety of reasons we didn’t go on holiday this year until the middle of October, so when we finally got around to deciding where to go, we thought we would visit a part of the UK which was not known to us. We chose the North Norfolk Coast and stayed in a pretty village of Weybourne which we were reliably told by the locals was pronounced ‘Weben’. A short drive from here is the small harbour town of Blakeney and one of our favourite walks started by the jetty and followed the Peddars Way footpath to Morston.

For this entry I have chosen to include a selection of images taken over a number of days, which hopefully capture something of the essence of this rather beautiful part of the UK coastline.

Last leg first – Walking the South Downs Way

Whist this blog is about my photography, there has to be an inextricable link between taking pictures with the things I do, the places I go and the people I meet. I don’t ‘set up’ my photographs or continually ‘pixel peep’ by testing cameras, lenses or other equipment. I may from time to time comment on my gear, but for me this blog is more about my experiences and trying to capture those moments with a camera. Nor may I finish processing the images in the strict order they were taken. I will be drawn to a shot, work on it and then return to it later on, and in the interim start processing another image which could have be taken earlier or later.

So you might be asking yourself what is the meaning of the title to this particular entry? Well quite simply in September I walked 100 miles along the South Downs Way from Winchester to Eastbourne and as you might imagine I took many photographs. Although I have now finished processing quite a few of these, there are still others to do. Unfortunately there are only so many hours in the day. However I think I have completed work on the images I took on the last section of the trail as we walked from Cuckmere Haven, up and down the Seven Sisters, over Beachy Head, before the final descent into the East Sussex town of Eastbourne. So this entry covers the last leg of our walk and other posts in the future will I am sure cover other sections of the trail which took place in the preceding days.

Sunlight on Eastbourne as rain clouds circle all around.

Beachy Head lighthouse

Seven Sisters with Belle Tout lighthouse on the cliff in the far distance

Rain approaching the estuary at Cuckmere Haven

All the images in this post were processed in Lightroom 4, converted to black and white in Photoshop CS5 and the grain was added in Silver Efex Pro2 using the Kodak Tri X400 film preset.

Whilst writing this entry I remembered a great line in a Morecambe and Wise sketch from many years ago with the conductor Andre Previn, in which Eric Morecambe was trying to play a piece of Grieg’s Piano Concerto.

Andre Previn said to Eric –
“You are playing all the wrong notes”
to which Eric famously replied –
“I’m playing all the right notes, not necessarily in the right order!”

So until the next leg of the walk, I hope you enjoyed the last one and if you have never seen this wonderfully funny sketch before, then here it is. The section of the sketch referred to above starts at around 10 minutes.