Guiding Light

My last outing with my camera had been to a local woodland where I photographed fungi, which was very relaxing. A week later I found myself on the beach at New Brighton photographing the lighthouse and sea defences, which was also fun and relaxing. I didn't have a lot of time but fortunately despite a couple of light showers the weather and the light was very kind to me so I was able to get some nice shots.

I have photographed this lighthouse a few times in stormy weather and it really looks magnificent with waves crashing around it. However, this was the first time I had been down to see it with the tide at its lowest and on such a nice day. Whatever the weather I think it must be a welcome beacon to the shipping that comes into the River Mersey.

I experimented a little with a variable ND filter and longer exposures for some of these shots to  get the most out of the reflections and the sky. I have also mixed up some colour and black and white images for contrast.

Walking on the beach was pretty safe, but I often like to make things difficult for myself; (in the past I have waded into the middle of streams to get a better angle on a waterfall, or set up close to the edge of a cliff for a particular view), so why should this outing be any different. I wanted to get some shots of the sea defences which involved a bit of scrambling over some slippery rocks and it was a bit fiddly setting up my tripod and finding a safe foothold at the same time. I think the effort paid off. I have shot these in black and white because I think it creates a better image. In colour images the green seaweed coating on the concrete groynes is a bit too much and doesn't give as much definition or depth. I think the shot of the groynes which includes the lighthouse (the penultimate image) would have been better using my 17 - 40mm lens instead of the 24-105mm because 24mm just wasn't wide enough to get it all in as I had wanted. However, swapping lenses at that point was a risk too far. There is always next time...

Enjoy, and feel free to comment.

Criss Cross

A break from the wintery images for today with a shot of the support structure beneath a bridge across the River Ribble into Avenham Park and then secondly a picture of one of the benches along the riverside walk in the park. 

I think these are quite strong images with the brutal lines and angles of the concrete supports and the strong geometric pattern in the ironwork of the bench and I have chosen them as a contrast to the bright and delicate ice crystals of my last few posts.