I am very pleased to have been asked to exhibit at York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in their Seascape Exhibition which is on the main corridor until the end of October 2020.
I submitted seven of my storm wave photographs and made them as big as possible in order to capture the mood and the detail in the water. Together they are extremely dramatic and from a personal viewpoint they perfectly reflect the nature of the storm I was watching.
I’ve just spent 5 days on a fabulous resort on the Maldives and loved every moment of my holiday. Not only was the resort a wonderful place to relax but the island was everything I had imagined from my perusal of online videos and photographs.
I have just returned from a wonderful holiday in Sri Lanka and the Maldives and one of the many highlights was the drama on the south coast near Yala and Galle. It is the Sri Lankan equivalent of Newhaven as the waves come roaring onshore from the Antarctic and after thousands of miles they hit the Sri Lankan coast.
This year I stayed in a new apartment high on the West Cliffs which had fabulous views of the abbey and the sea. As I only had to cross the road and walk down the cliff to access the beach I spent a lot of time wandering about at different times of day looking for patterns and reflections in the sand as well as photographing the waves ricocheting off the sea wall.
After favourable comments from numerous people who have attended my coastal photography talks I am very pleased that I have encouraged people out to the coast to have a go for themselves. My friend Debbie Dixon was recently inspired to visit Marske-By-The-Sea which is the next town north of Saltburn and after a discussion of her photo on Facebook I decided to go there myself.
Druridge Bay is often overlooked by photographers visiting the Northumberland coast as they prefer to visit the well known locations around Bamburgh, Holy Island and Craster. However the beach at Druridge is worthy of closer attention as it is a diverse and interesting location. It has fabulous wet sand which holds reflections well and the waves are relentless. They are also deceptively high and you have to be very watchful of frequent rogue waves.
Every year I spend a week in a house in Amble, Northumberland. It is a bit south of the usual Northumberland honeypot locations but there is a wonderful pier walk and beach that overlooks the iconic Coquet Island. As Cresswell and Warkworth beaches are 2 of my favourite places for walking and photography Amble is ideally situated.
The workshop run by Jon Gibbs was based in a wonderful cottage in Sheringham and was only a stone’s throw from the promenade. Consequently we paid a few visits to the front at different times of day with different weather conditions.
I’ve just returned from a 4 day workshop to the North Norfolk Coast run by Jon Gibbs and we had a wonderful time exploring the little towns and beaches.
One morning we drove off to Overstrand to watch sunrise and it was glorious. We went through the blue period and wet promenades to watching big orange waves being lit up by the early sunlight. At the end of the shoot we captured the shapes of the groynes and seawall which were being lashed by the sea.
I am ashamed to say that in all the years that I’ve been exiled in Yorkshire I’ve never been to the arboretum at Thorp Perrow. The leaves have been late to turn this season so it was only at the end of last week that I decided that it was worth a trip to photograph some autumn colours.
Staying so close to the Harris beaches meant that I was able to pay a few visits to each beach under different conditions and tides. However, I loved going to Luskentyre as it was so peaceful and beautiful. I found a new access point near the graveyard which enabled me to get close to the sand dunes and the ponies although it did mean I had to keep a close eye on the tide in case I got trapped on a sand bank.
I paid a few visits to Scarista beach when I was staying on the Isle of Harris. It is a wonderful beach with very few people and the most amazing waves breaking onto the steep beach shelf.
Of all the beaches on Harris I think that Seilebost offers the most variety to a photographer. In addition to the sea and sand interacting there are some wonderful sculptured shapes on the edge of the beach. I visited Seilebost a few times on my recent trip to Harris and I captured a different mood every time.
Whilst in the Lake District last week I set off at 4.30am to capture dawn at Blea Tarn. The plan was to have orange light on the Langdale Pikes with a foreground of peaceful Blea Tarn.
Things didn't quite work out as planned….
After parking in Pateley Bridge I set off on a walk up the hill and around Guisecliffe Woods before returning along the River Nidd. It was a lovely walk and I discovered that paying careful attention to the map enabled me to reach areas I’d never previously encountered!
Apparently it is always cooler by the sea where the breeze is cooled by the water. With this in mind I set off to explore a new location on the North Lincolnshire coast. The advantage of this was that my car has effective air conditioning so I would stay cool for most of the day as I navigated my way from deepest Yorkshire.
One evening last week I had an irresistible urge to go to Saltwick Bay but having consulted the tide timetables I realised that it wasn’t going to happen. So where to go? As time was limited I decided to drive to Fraisthorpe as it is the nearest beach with the easiest access so I could fully enjoy beach and the evening light.
In the March issue of Outdoor Photographer we were invited to submit photographs from extreme locations. There was a joke that I’d never been to anywhere extreme but I have proved my doubters to be wrong.
After a day of low cloud on Monday the weather improved on Tuesday to provide light cloud and sunshine by late afternoon. At dinner I decided to pass on my pudding and set off with my kit to Plemont Bay and see what sunset brought. I checked the tidal runes and saw that the tide was rising but I reckoned that there would be enough time to work the beach before the light went and the sea covered the sand.
#Sheclicks is a social media group on Facebook for female photographers. It has a friendly, informative vibe where we can seek advice or just chat with like-minded people. It's open to anyone who is interested in photography in any form. In addition there are meets organised so that we can take part in shoots and get to know each other face to face.
