Southend Before the Storm

I took a walk along the front at Southend before giving a talk at Hadleigh Camera Club - always a difficult location to photograph with the mile-long pier but some late sunshine and impressive skies prior to a very violent rainstorm later helped the compositions. I couldn't resist the new versus old toilets or the rather starling moulting from fluffy juvenile to resplendent spotted winter adult.

Hunstanton Beach

This pair of Common Seal pups were left on the boulders at Hunstanton as the tide receded on Saturday afternoon. Although not distressed, I was worried about their safety with a lot of dogs and people on the beach so contacted the Seal Rescue unit and someone arrived to assess the situation. Being a very low tide, contact of the mother with the pups was particularly difficult. I don't know whether the pups were guarded in situ or transported off the beach to the recovery centre but hopefully all was well with them. Very dramatic lighting all afternoon and the heavy rain eventually arrived in the night.

Ventnor to Bonchurch, Isle of Wight

On Saturday morning we walked along the coast from Ventnor to Bonchurch in beautiful sunshine but with very strong winds. As well as photographing the spray, I played with multiple exposure to give the impression of the overriding presence of the rough seas.

Storm on Freshwater Bay, Isle of Wight

Friday was very windy with gusts up to 50mph and near horizontal rain - not pleasant for being out but well worth time spent in a shelter on Freshwater Bay photographing the spray and waves. These were taken with shutterspeeds  from1/3200th to 1/8th second, all handheld, some with deliberate camera movement added. 

Stormy Skies at Hengistbury Head

I am spending a few days in Dorset and, having travelled through snowstorms yesterday afteroon, decided a visit to Hengistbury Head might would give a good view of the sunset. In fact, the sun sets a bit too far over the land for good sky reflections but great views across to Bournmouth one way and to Isle of Wight the other.