Even More Sand
We stayed in Whitby over the weekend with Mel and Jeremy Foster (check out some of Mel’s wonderful pictures here – she has many more even better photos which she hasn’t uploaded yet – come on Mel!).
Unfortunately, conditions conspired to make it not the most successful photographic jaunt but a most enjoyable personal trip. The sand was even higher again than last time, probably by about 30cm. You can see from the small pictures below the difference on one section (which wasn’t the worst). The weekend was also gloriously sunny, which isn’t good news for daytime shooting, but was loveley for just wandering around (I even think I got a little sunstroke!)
On the saturday we wandered around the beach a little but then decamped to Saltwick Bay which was extraordinary! Between finding ammonites and remains of alum mining, we were also admiring the red sands and the amazing coloured conglomerate rocks. The minerals around this part of the coast have imparted incredible variety of colour into the the boulders, cliffs and bedding. I can understand why this is a mecca for geologists (and photographers!).
We finished the day off over towards the moors at fen bog with a glorious display of evening colour made all the more intense by the bracken fires that were burning (managed fires I think). I got to use my 360 for the first time, picking off a detail of trees and shrubs against a blue and pink sky. I’d been led to believe that the 360 was difficult to get tilt focus working well but I had no problem at all with it.
I tried a couple of polaroid shots too, one at Saltwick and one at Fen Bog but both were a little unsatisfying. I’m coming to the conclusion that the type 79 effect is an acquired taste and probably only good for certain subjects. This is probably quite good as Polaroid have just cancelled production of all instant films.
The Sunday finished the weekend with a trip to the beach again to see if the sand levels had changed. Alas not but the colour in the sky was very pretty and fun was had trying to find detail shots with the minimum of material.
One incident still amazes me; whilst I was taking a shot of the shoreline, a dog walker walked towards me (out of his direct way) and then straight in front of my shot, walking all of the clean sand.. He apologised just afterward, saying “Oh I’m sorry was that in your shot?”.. I’d have thought he was just a bit dim if he hadn’t then done exactly the same thing to Mel another 100 yards down the beach. Some people seem to take a perverse pleasure in this sort of baiting. Very strange.
