Dreaming of the summer nights at Bantham Bay in Devon, looking into the sun with no one around. Actually, the reason there was no one around was because it was Easter 2013 and it was bloody freezing. Still, one way to get such a beautiful beach all to oneself.
On a walk along Exmouth beach, the light was not particularly interesting, so I decided to play with my Lee Big Stopper, so blur the waves behind the lifebuoy. The colour cast of the filter and the strong red of the lifebuoy made up for the flat skies.
Sometimes, squaring off against the elements for the shot can be worth the wait.
I sat on Exmouth beach as a storm front rolled in over the English Channel. The orange afternoon hues were soon extinguished by the choking, omnipresent clouds. Day was transformed to night as the wind suddenly picked up. Moments later, the heavens opened and I realised how exposed I was, sat alone on the stretch of sand.
A perfect afternoon as I recall.
Still getting used to mixing light levels between graduate ND filters and a Big Stopper. This was a 2 minute exposure on the Devonshire coastline, as the afterglow of the sunset dwindled just long enough to be captured on film. To the naked eye, the scene was almost devoid of colour, verging on the black and white.
Following on from my last shot of the day on August 10th, this shot was take a few hours earlier at Ayrmer Cove, just as the sun was setting behind the peninsula. The magic of the moment was having this entire beautiful scene to myself, something that rarely happens at sunset.
I had originally intended to photograph one of my favourite beaches in southern Devon but it was the wrong time of year for the sunset across the opening of the cove. Instead, I retraced my steps by a few miles to Ayrmer Cove and waited until around half an hour after the sun dropped below the horizon, to capture this long exposure shot.
Another early rise shot on Dawlish Warren. The clouds had meant the sunrise was not as spectacular as I had hoped, so I tried my Lee Big Stopper. This created the pleasant softening of the clouds and water. It also added a blue cast to the image, which I chose to preserve.
A shot from earlier this year on a very cold Easter morning, it was taken on the southern Devon coastline, close to Exmouth.
Finally, the night before I leave for foreign shores and my mind is awash with so many small details. I think I am missing the virtue of the bigger picture here. Just spoken to my good friend Leslie on Skype. She is currently at home is the US after an operation. Apparently, they are not quite so well equipped in Rwanda. Anyway, I digress. It was great to her from her and it got me to thinking just what an adventure I have stretching out ahead of me. My cycling buddies from last year’s trip, Pete and Mary, were also on the phone tonight, wishing me luck with the tour. I really wish they were joining me.
This weekend was my dear friends Caroline and Duncan’s wedding, in wet and windy Devon. It was the best wedding I have been to in ages. So many friendly faces and a lot of gossip to catch up on. I think Caroline’s mother thinks I am nuts and there I cannot fault her. However, comfort zones are there to be lived both inside and outside of.
Now, time to go to be as I have a very long first day of cycling ahead of me tomorrow. I reckon about 90 miles through central London down to Dover. Apparently, the rain will fall hard so I envisage a tough day in the saddle. Something interesting to sink one’s teeth into.
So far, people have been pretty generous on the old charity donations. I have raised almost £750 on my Just Giving site. Child’s I Foundation, the charity I am raising money for posted a story about me on their blog today.
All Terrain Photography 