Monday 30 January 2017

frosty things

30th Jan 17, Newton Point, 8am

A beautiful morning.  Once the sun broke the horizon the bright early light shone over the frosty ground





Andy Craig Photography


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Sunday 29 January 2017

a new friend

29th January 2017, Embleton Bay

Glad to have my new camera with me today.  I'm swapping from my trusty Canon G15 to my new Canon G3X which has a rather lovely 24-600mm lens.

I'm very pleased with today's shots all handheld as usual but some of these are at 600mm in half-light and they are pin sharp.


These two shots would have been impossible with my old camera






Servo focus seems to work well too...



and the depth of colour is beautiful





Andy Craig Photography


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Wednesday 25 January 2017

blue sky day

25th Jan 17, Dunstanburgh, 8am

There was promise in the sky but no spectacular sky this morning.


25th Jan 17, newton Point, 3pm

After a blue sky day stuck in the office it was nice to be out as the sunlight turned golden for the late afternoon.






Andy Craig Photography


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Tuesday 24 January 2017

3 stages of dawn

24th Jan 17, Embleton Bay, 8am

We had a wander around the beach and watched things develop from pre-dawn to sunrise to full sun.  I often see photographers setting up their tripod and waiting for the light but I prefer to keep moving (I don't have much choice with a bored lurcher calling the shots).




This little egret was a nice bird to see this morning.  I've seen them at Long Nanny but never on the skaith.


Meanwhile Daisy dug herself a hole and completely ignored the spectacle behind her.



Andy Craig Photography


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Monday 23 January 2017

morning walk

23rd January 2017, Embleton Bay, 8am


This calm weather has hung around for a few days now giving a very gentle, if undramatic, light in the morning.

I thought a very simple composition was called for to reflect the calm sea and lack of wind.


We walked up the beach chatting to friends and playing a few games and watched the light of the hidden sun play on the clouds.

We headed back to the car just as others were heading out for their morning walk.  It's an enticing sight for a walker to see a designated footpath inviting you to stroll under the morning sun.


23rd Jan 17, Howick, 3:30pm

A quiet, soft, late afternoon light.



Andy Craig Photography


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Sunday 22 January 2017

Wrong way

21st Jan 17, Embleton Bay, 8am

Me and Daisy climbed up the dune for a view over the bay.  As usual Daisy's interests lay elsewhere so she turned her back on the sunrise and watched a passing dog instead.

Wednesday 18 January 2017

different paths

18th Jan17, Embleton Bay, 8am

Usual time, usual place so we headed off some different paths past the currently empty bungalows.



 Back down on the beach a gentle light replaced the grey of early morning.  So much for sunrise.


18th Jan17, Newton Point, 4pm

The sea is now like a millpond.  All of the weekend's violence has dissipated.




Andy Craig Photography


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against the sun

17th January 2016, Christon Bank, 3pm

Around the woods against the sun.




Andy Craig Photography


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Tuesday 17 January 2017

uncovered

17th January 2017, Embleton Bay, 8am

The spring tide has uncovered these WW2 remains.  A lot more structure is now visible than I've ever seen before. This is S end of Embleton Bay but it's now obviously a D shaped concrete sandbag construction exactly like the one at the summit of the concrete road between Dustan Steads and Dustan village.

The concrete sandbags used to construct the pillbox lie just where they were placed in 1940.



This anti-tank block has been uncovered too.  The graffiti is as fresh as the day "Thomas" wrote his name in the wet cement with his finger.

I wonder what it said?
I wonder who he was?


Here's a poem/song I wrote imagining Embleton Bay through the eyes of a young soldier posted here in 1940 when invasion was a real threat...

A Letter Home

It’s winter 1940, in a bunker’s where I stand
I’m staring out the window at a mile of golden sand
There’s a castle in the distance, it’s really rather grand
A castle in the distance, and a mile of golden sand

I’ve been posted here with Geordie, he’s a canny little man
He’s got a Ukulele and we’re going to start a band
And he says “one day we’ll make it big, and tour throughout the land”
From our castle in the distance, to the mile of golden sand

How’s my brother Tommy? He turns 18 next Jan.
They say this’ll all be over, at least that’s how it’s planned
But if he does get posted, where could be so grand
As a castle in the distance, and a mile of golden sand

On a Sunday (like today is) we’d be sat with you and Gran
Having meat and veg and roasties, and peaches from a can
Well Geordie’s made a cup of tea, it’s the finest in the land
From the castle in the distance, to the mile of golden sand

When all of this is over, we should come back with the ‘van
There’s some spots to put a wind-break up, wouldn’t it be grand
To be here in the summer, imagine me all tanned
With a castle in the distance, and a mile of golden sand

But they say look out the window, watch the sea beyond the strand
It’s a canny wee bit scary, the thought of fighting on the sand
But we talk about our folks back home and we know we’ll make a stand

For our castle in the distance, and our mile of golden sand




All the dramatic weather of the weekend has faded to grey...



Andy Craig Photography


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Sunday 15 January 2017

a change

15th January 2017, Christon Bank, 8:30am

After a rare lie-in we walked up the field and down the road.  It's not a busy road but Daisy likes the smells on the verge, the mice in the grass and the views across the fields


15th January 2017, Howick 2pm

Beautiful light as the sun is so low even in the middle of the day.


As we walked along the path me and Su were stopped dead in our tracks by a glorious perfume.  We looked all over and eventually spotted the tiny fragile flowers of what we thought was jasmine. In fact a friend later told me it was sarcococca. It's interesting that Daisy with her amazing sense of smell had no interest in this smell and showed no sign of even noticing it.  Same planet, different world.



Andy Craig Photography


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Saturday 14 January 2017

waiting

14th January 2017, Embleton Bay, 8am

We got to the beach half an hour before sunrise.  The pre-dawn light was beautiful on the Skaith.  Yesterday's storm tide had flooded right up to the edge of the golf course.


The sand was swept clean and the sea had been up to the dunes and had nibbled at the edge to reveal the tank traps.  I've turned this on its side so you can see what I reckon is a caricature of Hitler beneath the swastika.


Daisy and me went up to our perch to watch the world go by and wait for the sunrise



Sunrise was delayed by a bank of cloud at the horizon but eventually the sun appeared above the cloud




The bay was transformed as the sunlight washed across the big breakers rolling into Embleton Bay


14th January 2017, Football Hole, 2pm

We were here early enough to catch the sunlight on the waves although the shadows of the dunes was creeping up.

The waves were bonny from above but intimidating from head on





Daisy was content to head inland towards the setting sun


14th Jan 2017, Christon Bank, 3:30pm

A sunset afternoon run through the woods



Andy Craig Photography


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