busy sea

30th October 2018, Embleton Bay, 7am

Lovely light on the sea in between more of these pesky windblown showers.

31st October, Fallodon, 10am

Spooky Halloween goings-on in the woods

Screaming leaf and poison berries

watching movies

29th October 2018, Embleton Bay, 7:30am

We sat high up in the dunes and watched short clips from other peoples' movies.

stormy skies here and there

28th October 2018, Dunstanburgh, 7am

While rain/hail showers approached from the north, our view south was of retreating storm clouds lit in all their intricacy by the light of a new day.

A few minutes later, after sunrise and the view was very different.

28th October 2018, Cuddystone Hall, College Valley, 11am

Nowhere near the coast but I was up here for a Big Sky gig and it was a remarkable place.

slow start speeds up

26th October 2018, Embleton Bay, 7:30am

The morning started slowly with not much sunrise colour in the sky at all.

Soon a burst of colour underlit the clouds as the rain fell out over the sea...

It was just a patch of sunrise compared to some mornings but it was worth a photo or two...

Heading home and the Skaith is blocked off from the sea just now.

A final look back West to towering rain clouds and a bit of a fiery sunrise...

ICM: Intentional Camera Movement. This technique is growing in popularity and turns a normal photograph of a sunrise into an interpretation of a sunrise (see examples below). It's not for everyone and I only do it now and again. Set up a slow shutter speed and sweep the camera along the horizon as you press the shutter button.

If you're interested the techy stuff, the settings for the normal picture are: f8.0, 1/160th, ISO 200, -0.3 exp comp.

For the ICM picture they were: f8.0, 1/8th, ISO 80 -1.0 exp comp, Using Canon G15's built in ND filter.

Try It!

Moonset

25th October 2018, Dunstanburgh, 7:30am

The clouds hung in the sky like SciFi jelly fish floating in a Roger Dean painting

The beautiful full moon set at the same time over Embleton.

quick sunrise

24th October 2018, Embleton Bay, 7am

An early walk and a quick walk as I needed to be elsewhere by 9am

In fact the timing of the sunrise developing from darkness to full daylight just fitted in nicely and I was home by 8am with an armful of images...

The same water feature on the beach from high on the dunes and from low on the beach...

I like both of these.  I like the leading line of the wave but I like the simplicity of the foam...

You can see the "footprint" photo waiting for me once Daisy wandered off.  That's how it works...

watching the view

23rd October 2018, Embleton Bay, 7:30am

The beach and the sea both reflecting the golden sky

Happy Anniversary

22nd October 2018, Dunstanburgh, 8am

The first post on this blog was 21st October 2008

To mark the 10th anniversary I thought I would revisit the same spot that appeared back in the first couple of days of the blog.

I knew the sunrise alignment would be the same but the weather conditions and the colour of the sky turned out to be the same too.

back

21st October 2018, Embleton Bay, 7:30am

Back to our favourite spot above Embleton Bay (after a week away in Scotland).

The wind was in our ears and we watched a sunrise where we never actually saw the sun.

Twelve other dogs on the beach at 7:30 this morning so we sat up high on the dunes and let them get on with it.

one shot

14th October 2018, Dunstanburgh, 7:30am

The grey sky held no prospect of a bright sunrise but then colours spread quickly across the sky.

Soon the brightness faded as quickly as it had come and the sun rose from the horizon quietly into the clouds.

I took one photograph.  There is something quite satisfying about that.

waves

12th October 2018, Football Hole, 4pm

Stormy winds and scudding clouds.  briefly the sun broke through the crowds and lit up the waves as the raged into the beach.

13th October 2018, Embleton Bay, 5pm

A long day of non-stop rain with a stiff breeze on its tail.  Eventually it cleared away and we headed out.  It was high tide and spring tide and so there was little or no beach.

the hole story

10th October 2018, Embleton Bay, 7:30am

There was no-one else here.

We walked up and down the beach and no-one appeared.

We sat down and Daisy dug a hole and still no-one came.

Eventually we had to go so we left the empty beach for whoever came by...


This cygnet is still hanging about.  I've watched two young swans grow up and seen them trying to learn to fly off the water.  The sibling has now flown but this one remains.

Trails of fresh water percolating through the sand from under the dunes.

Birds crossing (Oyster Catcher prints)

Daisy's excavation.

shifting sands

7th October 2018, Long Nanny and Beadnell Bay, 7am

We walked up to Long Nanny as the high clouds were painted with the colours of a new day.

Then back down the beach as the sun appeared over the horizon.  With every step there was a different foreground to the sunrise backdrop.  (Although I couldn't resist posting these first two which are two different compositions from the same location)