Needles

 Here are two views of the Needles seen from Hurst Castle.

I have some happy memories of the Isle of Wight, as a child I had an aunt who had a gift shop on the island and we would often have day trips to visit her. I remember the ferry to Ryde then walking along the pier and then bus rides across the island. Sadly I haven't been back to the island since I was small and I imagine that it is a very different place 50 years on.

I have always been fascinated by the Needles rocks and lighthouse, because you can see how the power of the sea, its tides and currents, have eroded the chalk cliffs and shaped the landscape.

From the top of Hurst Castle you can see the powerful currents at work through the solent.

Although they are similar views I have given them slightly different treatments. In the first I think the boat in the foreground adds interest and gives a sense of scale. I have adjusted the exposure slightly to enhance the colours in the sky but apart from that all I have done is crop the image to give it a better balance. In the second image I have cropped it and applied the auto white balance setting which gives an overall warmer tone. 

If you look closely you can see three small vessels near the lighthouse which do give a sense of scale but you do have to look really closely.

By the Solent

Today's selection were taken from the beach at Milford on Sea, the first two are looking across the Solent towards the Isle of Wight, more specifically the Needles rocks and lighthouse.  As you can see it was a little overcast, a storm front was moving across the channel and so the beach was deserted but it was really refreshing crunching across the stones.

The beach huts were as you can see really colourful and I can imagine that on a sunny day they would all be open and in use.

I like the final picture because of the different colours and the contours of the beach.  We enjoyed collecting pebbles from the beach to add to our collection of stony mementos...