My disappointment last week with the Martello Tower at Corballis beach kept with me all week, so I knew I needed to go back and redeem the location. Stealing the last hour of light on Thursday gave me these satisfying shots from the same location, but different conditions [what’s new!]
My bad habits persist and this was a costly night. I piled my gear back in the car and managed to break a filter in the process… €99.00 I could have spent elsewhere. Note to self: Never leave the beach until all gear is safely stowed, even is the tide is chasing you!
The most amazing thing for me about the above image is it’s the first time I’ve taken a sunset seascape at this location facing the sunset at this time of year. It needs high tide, and this one was particularly great with an easterly swell producing plenty of surf. It is also only possible in winter when the sun is setting well to the south. A wide angle lens helps keep the interest in the foreground and sky but reduce the beach prominence.
Inspired by these images and my renewed enthusiasm for seascapes I looked for new locations this week and decided to give a beach in Howth a go. So using IMap and Focalware I determined Nuns Beach on the south east of Howth head was a sunrise candidate. Forecast for dawn was light winds, partial cloud and ebbing neap tide, possibility of fog and mist. Sounded promising…
I did not know this was called Nuns beach until i met a local photographer heading to the same location in the dark at the same crazy time. It was nice to bump into a local before I attempted to wander down the long slippery cliff walk [with sheer drops]. Maybe that’s why other photographers find locations during daylight hours and come back another time…. Am I just careless, or is technology making me careless?
Anyway, this was just a location hunt, so I was not expecting amazing images, but I did learn a lot about the location and have a much better understanding of what would work here, and when to come back… which I’m definitely going to do.
More and more I find I’m using a combination of my 16-35mm and 28-300mm lenses. This shoot is a great example of how both are really useful in a location like howth. I guess my days of ONE lens are officially over now:-)