light changing

16th October 2017, Embleton Bay, 7:30am

The sun rose in misty grey revealing only a faint version of itself.  It seems that this mist and colouration may be due to the approaching ex-hurricane Ophelia which is bringing with it dust and smoke from Portuguese first fires!

As the sun rose clear of the mist the colours changed dramatically.

clouds at different times

13th October 2017, Dunstanburgh, 7am and 12 noon

The sky above Dunstanburgh was beautiful with multilayered clouds at different heights catching different angles of the sun. Here it is just before sunrise and at around noon.

Meanwhile I tried some more deliberate camera movement

alternative views

12th October 2017, Embleton Bay, 7:30am

The early pre-sunrise sky was beautiful but I was at home making breakfast and by the time we got to the beach the colour was fading as the sun got higher.

The view was nice enough in a conventional "photograph of the view" sense but I wanted to make a photograph from the view

Here are two alternative views:

I came across this technique years ago and it can create beautiful 'painterly' images.  The technique is apparently now known as ICM or Intentional Camera movement.

No trickery here, just a different composition making a photograph from a small part of the view.

12th October 2017, at home, 11am

This beautiful bird was sitting watching the comings and goings in the garden for quite a while.  There were no comings or goings as all the wee birds were in hiding.  Sparrowhawks like this one regularly fly acrobatically though our garden and sometimes take songbirds for their dinner.  I know it's upsetting for some people but to me it's just nature and we have no right to interfere.  They were here first.

after being away

11th October 2017, Embleton Bay, 10am

After being in bright colourful Madeira for a week it was unsettling to be back into the grey cool of Northumberland.

It took a force of will to find inspiration in the patterns and textures of a landscape under a dull sky.

11th October 2017, Newton Point 4pm

After a dull and rainy day we started our walk just as a final heavy shower cleared away leaving the sun bright in the blue sky.

It takes some adjustment back to the normal life of Daisy walks too after a week of being dog-free.

The sea was unusually calm and glassy reflecting the last of the disappearing clouds.

show-off

30th September 2017, Embleton Bay, 7am

A gentle sunrise with more subtlety than some showy mornings

messy

27th September 2017, Embleton Bay, 8am

Sunrise was trying to make its presence felt beneath the overcast. There were 3 gull carcasses on the beach today and one guillemot stretching his wings at the edge of the sea. I was glad to see him fight his way back through the surf to the open sea where he belongs.

This shot is not my normal style at all. Too busy and messy, but deliberately so as it was a messy morning of wind and waves and mist and cloud. It shows how subjective a game this is that some may prefer this to my normal minimalist compositions...

29th September 2017, Newton Point, 5pm

On the way home...

29th September 2017, Alnwick, 6pm

On our way out - a lovely autumnal atmosphere

misty day too

26th September 2017, Dunstanburgh, 8am

A second misty day but it's quite dramatic in an understated kind of a way...

I'm not sure what these shoreline succulents are but they are a tiny mass of colour just now as the autumn hues develop.