I revisited an old friend last weekend, as I made a much needed trip to the coast for some 'chill out' time and photography.
The soon-to-be pressing need for me to relocate from my current living location, led to me looking around Seaford for rental and job options and I followed that with some walking and photos.
My first stop was at the East end of the promenade where the sea pounds the cliffs at the base of Seaford Head. It was sufficiently past high tide for the waves to be fairly undramatic this time around, but I took a few photos anyway.
After shooting a few frames, I turned to my left and headed up the cliff walk at Seaford Head - my intention was to get far enough up the steep second part of the climb to turn and look across the bay towards Newhaven Harbour entrance especially as the sea was a lovely turquoise colour. It is quite a climb despite there being well worn footpaths, but the view is worth it I reckon.
A steady stroll back down to my car was made more difficult by the very strong wind blowing straight at me as I walked West and, having reached the car it was time to contemplate where to head for next.
I eventually opted for South Hill Barn, just on the Eastern edge of Seaford Head and an area at which you can park, though it does seem now to be much more popular than in past years so not always possible to find a gap. I managed to park and then set off on the familiar walk down to Hope Gap.
I chose Hope Gap because by now it is due to be low tide and you can get out on the rocks at beach level to obtain a nice view looking East along The Seven Sisters chalk cliffs - a view I taken photos of on many occasions and in a wide variety of conditions.
I set up my tripod securely on the rocks and fitted my brand new ND1000 ,filter from K&F Concept together with their Square filter system holder and the appropriate adaptor ring for the lens. These are recent purchases from K&F and the first time I have ordered or used their products and I must say how impressed I have been with the ordering, delivery, packaging and presentation, and the quality of the actual items. I am looking forward to trying out the NDGrad filter and the Reverse NDGrad filter that I have also bough from them, those mainly for sunrise or sunset use. I do also have a brand new carbon-fibre tripod from them, but I didn't use it here as it states about not using it in sea water.
The ND1000 is 'big stopper' Neutral Density filter which allows me the use of a slower shutter speed in bright conditions and therefore gives the opportunity to blur the water movement. I might have chosen too slow a shutter speed (6secs) on this occasion, but it's trial and error, as the water was rendered very smooth in my shots.
I then tried a few without the filter, using a shutter speed of 1/60 sec, and these gave me some detail on the breaking waves of the now incoming tide.
At this point I decided enough was enough for the day, I had a few nice pics and had tried out my new filter. The tide was now incoming and I needed to retreat anyway, but the amount of walking coupled with the very strong winds meant I was ready for a rest and I knew I needed to get home early enough for good sleep as I was due to work the following morning.
That view, though, is one of my Happy Places and I returned home suitably rejuvenated - though these days that rejuvenation doesn't last too long, as another curve ball comes flying my way trying to knock me off a course I haven't yet managed to set anyway.
I would dearly love to live near or within easy reach of the coast, somewhere interesting with plenty of nice walking opportunities and plenty of variety in the photo possibilities. Seaford would suit me just fine, probably the most ideal location for me, but somewhere around The Gower in South Wales and or the edge of the Lake District would also suit well.
Let's see what transpires, maybe my photo opportunities are going to vastly increase in the near future - I certainly hope so.........
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