too fast

14th Feb 2020, Embleton Bay, 8am

The sunrise colours I saw from my bedroom window had faded by the time we got to the beach.

The light was still beautiful and the patterns in the sky were intricately woven.

Twelve Whooper swans on Newton Pool.  On their way to Iceland to breed.

Daisy was full of energy but was running too fast for the ball to keep up with her!

moss and snow

12th Feb 2020, Shilbottle, 7:30am

The car was too frozen to bother with and I knew the beach road would be icy so we went local and saw sunrise over the frosty fields.  The sun still rose out of the sea - right behind Coquet Island.

Sometimes you see a photograph as you pass by and you are lucky enough to have the time to consider how to make a photograph from the scene you've observed.

This morning I came home from the dog walk and happened to notice these tiny mosses in amongst last night's snow on my garden wall. They had their spore capsules held aloft with water drops here and there among them.

I popped into the house for a camera with suitable macro lens (which was just my trusty old Canon G15 compact camera if you're asking!) and headed back into the garden to see what I could photograph.

I was out there for quite a while. You can get lost in photography sometimes. It can be a very mindful process when there are no distractions or time limits.

12th Feb 2020, Rothbury, 4pm

Fun in the snow...

snowy castle

11th Feb 2020, Bamburgh, 8am

A quick walk with Daisy braving the whipping sand

There was blue sky and a freezing wind and the odd snowy shower that obliterated the castle...

waiting...

10th Feb 2020, Alnmouth, 7am

Pre-dawn colours looked very promising so me and Daisy played about on the windblown sand until the sun broke the horizon and it was time to go...

hanging moon

6th Feb 2020, Howick, 4pm

A beautiful, calm afternoon.

The late sun lit up the sandstone quarry face with warm light

...and the moon hung above the sea.

what's new?

5th Feb 2020, Alnmouth, 7:45am

Sunrise is now just before 8am and I nearly missed it today...


When I used to walk on Embleton Bay most days my eye was endlessly drawn to Dunstanburgh Castle. Now that Alnmouth is my local beach, I have to look harder for a subject for my photographs.

Sometimes the sun itself is sufficient to make an interesting photograph...

Often Daisy is in a convenient place...

But sometimes you need to seek out another ingredient.

 If I can, I like to find something that I've not photographed before, or something that makes today unique.

no right and wrong

4th Feb 2020, Alnmouth, 8am

There was only a hint of colour at sunrise...

I was chatting on the beach this morning and I was asked "How would you make a photograph from this view, I wouldn't know where to start"

So I explained about composition and what to include and what to leave out.

This morning, just above the sun's rays was a big bright patch of sky that had to be cropped out of the photograph. Here you can see a couple of different ways of doing that.

In this one I cut it out from the top of the frame in portrait format,

In this one,  I made it a panoramic 'letterbox' format.

In the third shot, the bright sky could be included with the magic of High Dynamic Range (HDR) on the phone camera. Not everyone's cup of tea but a striking image to others.

Last night's wind had left beach pebbles and seashells perched on sandy plinths.

Gorgeous Cookie