February

So incredibly, it is already the middle of February…and what have I achieved (other than a twisted knee) . Sadly not a great deal…

I did go out to Spurn Point near Hull to have a go at the long exposure photography and enjoyed myself . The main issue I had was arriving at the wrong time , the tide had receded too far to get the best of images early on and this put me slightly on edge as to what I would be able to capture before the tide was too low , or risk the long wait for it to return..I opted for the former of these and captured what I could - actually this was more down to the weather forecast being worse later on and the chance that there would not be such good light. Having decided on a position and composition I was happy with it was then just down to experimenting with exposure times and making sure that subjects were acceptably sharp, not easy when the wind was gusting heavily and the cold was making my eyes water.

So I captured a series of images that I could work with , as this type of photography requires a fair amount of work in post processing - mostly to bring back the right amount of contrast into the image to get the right feel. Some of them are on the Landscapes page of this website.

In order not to freeze too much I decided to walk towards the lighthouse at Spurn Point again hoping to create a pleasing image (well to me anyway) and so I set off down the beach…

It was a short way down the beach that the sand shifted a little and I felt some discomfort in my right knee , as the pain worsened a little I decided to abandon my walk to the lighthouse and turned to head back to the car, still this was nearly 3 miles. Reaching the discovery centre near to the car I felt the need for some refreshment (stupidly the first since the previous evenings meal) - keep hydrated out there .

Anyway I spent another couple of hours in a hide close to the discovery centre hoping to see Owls as the light faded in the afternoon , no Owls came out during this time though I had witnessed three earlier that morning on the approach to Spurn Point - you know that time when you don’t have your camera ready.

My local camera club also held a development meeting in which we tried doing some light painting , sadly indoors as the weather outside was atrocious, and further to that having watched the latest edition of the Photography Online You Tube broadcast in which a really great local Photographer Stephen Elliott featured his skill at light painting I am determined that before the nights get too light I will go out and have another attempt at something more spectacular, knee injury permitting of course..

Bye for now

Phil