vertigo

30th August10, Newton Point, 7 pm

A beautiful evening with warm light from the setting sun.

I ventured down on to the cliffs for this angle across the waves towards football hole beach. In the meantime Su took Daisy away to keep her from the cliff edge.

wind and wave

30th August10, Low Newton, 8 am

All day yesterday a North wind blew cold and brisk down the coast. This morning the sea didn't know what to do for the best as it boiled and raged; waves impotent in the face of a stronger force of nature. Onshore waves fought against a northerly swell and the Emblestone rocks were harried from each side. Meanwhile the wind whisked away the spray but not with yesterday's ferocity.

cloud and stone

28th August10, Embleton Bay, 7:30 am

Daisy's so sociable with other dogs that it's possible to take her to busy beaches. Not that Embleton bay is exactly busy at half past 7. We had 4 decent conversations with other doggy people and were out the house for ages!

28th August10, Howick Coast 4pm

Fantastic light as stormy clouds whizzed past on the breeze. As ever the light at "the golden hour" as the sun sets makes the Howick sandstone glow with warmth. The clouds show up best in black and white so here are a couple of each.

A classic view of Dunstanburgh Castle and the Bathing House in the evening light.

I Spy

27th August10, Newton Links, 8am

Daisy is such a tinker that I keep her on the lead until I can see what's on the beach first. Today there was an incongruous but tempting pile of clothes and a gentleman looking the other way in tempting shorts! We went North and she was able to run to her heart's content over the low tide sands. A beautiful morning and, considering it's a bank holiday weekend, one of the last times the beach will be this quiet for a few days.

Not Quite Autumn

26th August10, Christon Bank, 06:30

An early start brought me out into an autumnal atmosphere. "mists and mellow fruitfullness" indeed

26th August10, Craster, 8am

The warm sun soon made the day feel more summery and it was nice to be by the sea on such a good day. This early there are no crowds, just 3 of us photographers having a chat.

My little camera doesn't have enough depth of focus to keep the castle and the lichen sharp. Better then that the foreground should be in focus with a distant, slightly blurry castle... Yellow Splash Lichen, Sea Ivory and Black Shields are 3 common lichens on our coasts.

Seaweed for breakfast

24th August10, Newton Links, 8am

Daisy got soaked last night in the rain. It's the first time she's been properly wet and she wasn't used to it. She has an undercoat so doesn't need a rain jacket, but she does need to get used to the rain. This morning the clouds were heading off West and it was very pleasant on the beach.

Daisy seemed to be appreciating the dry weather and was running and skipping over the sand ignoring her ball and eating seaweed (as usual)

after the busy weekend

19th Aug10, Newton Point, 4pm

Avoiding the crowds by staying inland on a beautiful sunny day. This former coastguard lookout post is now a holiday cottage (with incredible TV reception!!)

22nd August10, Low Newton, 8am

An amazing morning for sky views. Just the tonic after a busy weekend with 2 fantastic weddings. I've taken nearly 2000 photos over Friday and Saturday so you'll understand why I don't feel so inclined to get my camera out when I'm on the beach!

22nd August10, St Aidan's beach, 8pm

Su and I had a great day at the Embleton Craft fair selling our greetings cards and I played a bit of music. The village was mobbed with visitors but they mostly went to the beach as it was a cracking day (24C and sunny) so it was quite quiet in the village hall. I met a few of my regular readers and was touched by the sympathy for Trooper's passing, the sharing of delight in Daisy's arrival and the lovely comments on my photos. I've not been posting so much recently as paid work has to take priority on my time but I'll not be deserting the blog!

This was a beautiful evening and lovely photographic opportunities abounded. Sometimes Daisy made her presence felt where she wasn't really wanted. So much for my mirror-like pool...

A sunset without Daisy

A long legged family portrait

23rd August10, Newton Links, 7am

Rain forecast for later but it was a fine morning albeit chilly at 9C in the car first thing.

Drifting Wood

18th Aug10, Embleton Bay, 8am

This bit of driftwood has been handy for training purposes. I have photographed it for the blog before but I'm replicating here the composition that one of my clients used on Monday. The grain seems to draw the eye into the centre of the image from lots of directions. I was lucky to have two people passing by to balance the composition just nicely. 99 times out of 100 a shot like this would be devoid of life but where's the story in that?

Nearby, the morning sun was lighting this rainy blade of grass. Each droplet is acting like a magnifying glass to show the structure of the grass beneath and in doing so they resemble sea gooseberries (see blogs passim)

An attempt to photograph a limpet on the sand with the camera set up completely incorrectly resulted in this abstract impression of a limpet.

Another semi-abstract of the sun on the waves taken from the top of the dunes.

18th August10, Embleton Bay, 7pm

The aforementioned driftwood has drifted some more. It's now in the skaith (I suspect with human help) and the nice grain is hidden from view. It's still in a nice spot for a composition. The setting sun lights the scene beautifully.

A visitor catches the last rays of the sun while their friend surfs away the evening.

The dunes themselves cast a cold shadow over the beach as the sun goes down but out over the castle there's still drama in the sky.

An abstract composition of the roseate clouds.

19th Aug10, Christon Bank, 06:30

Up early for Daisy's walk; she looks very pretty against the morning sun.

High Tide Hikers

16th August10, Embleton Bay, 7am

A grey morning for a training course but there's always something to see and Sophie & Jamie were great folk to spend a few hours with. The tide was very high and the waves were coming right into the skaith sending ripples across the surface as their energy dispersed.

A lesson in the use of low shutter speed to give some movement to the waves and the use of black and white on a dull day (which regular visitors will know all about)

...and a lesson in photo-journalism. When you see a photo opportunity - grab it! These hikers had given up trying to keep their feet dry on the thin strip of sand.

17th August10, Newton Point, 8am

A normal walk with Daisy up along the coastal path to avoid another high tide. A very calm morning with last night's rain clouds heading off to bother the Danes. This wee boat seemed to be making slow going with its little engine in lumpy seas but there was no wind for a sail.

August?

13th August10, Low Newton, 8am

No people this early but lots of boats parked on the sand.

Further on, the remains of last night's beach party. The chairs were arranged as if for a discussion. I was thinking that last night's rain must have brought the festivities/meeting to a hurried end when, just to make a point, the rain returned and we turned our back to the deluge and moved on.

14th August10, Newton Point, 7:30 am

After a day of cold and rain yesterday, more of the same this morning. The wind was joining forces with the drizzle giving it some gusto and it was all pretty unpleasant. These fellows had a telescope pointing out to sea under their umbrella. I would have gone to ask what they were looking for but I was pretty sure Daisy would go mad and knock the umbrella over, or the telescope, or both. Anyway, I was keen to get back to the shelter of the car.

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