The blue hour in black and white

It's not often that I prefer a monochrome landscape image over the original colour shot, especially when taken at either end of the day, but there are exceptions. The sunrise itself was still two minutes away, but apart from the warm tones in the sky, the rest of the scene had a predominantly blue tinge. 

The conversion to black and white had little consequence as a final image, as the original was just a variance of blue hues and shadows.

© 2025

Two bites of the cherry

"Unpredictable as weather..." goes the line of a song from a well-known Rodgers and Hammerstein musical that has the word 'music' in the title, but it's true. At least here in the UK.

The pre-dawn light was nothing special, but as I began to set up my camera on the beach I quickly become aware of a soft magenta light enveloping everything as sunrise approached. It's not that unusual at either end of the day, but the trick is to be at a suitable location when it happens.

The hue is ephemeral, and moments later it fades away completely. The sky becomes a uniform grey, and thinking that's all I'm going to get light-wise, I leave the beach. But nature isn't finished yet, and as the cloud breaks up I'm treated to another dazzling display. The whole episode lasted a mere 9 minutes.

© 2025

 

Preferential treatment

In the past decade or so, replenishment schemes have built up my local beaches to the point of taking away the exposed expanses of foreshore at low tide. Ripples in the sand, and reflections in tide pools once left by the ebbing sea (and very photogenic), were replaced by a subnstantial sandbank that extended to the low water line. 

But the current increase in winter storms, coupled with high tides, is beginning to shape the shoreline back to the way nature (and I) prefer.

© 2025

No excuses needed

There's something about black & white photography that is timeless. Even with today's ubiquitous hi-res colour imaging, the genre is still widely practiced.

I took the photograph of the zipwire tower in colour as the sun rose over the sea, but the monochrome rendition has more impact.

© 2025

Getting the ball rolling

I'm roughly half way through my seascape season, and the weather isn't playing ball. It's either heavily overcast, or any pre-dawn cloud simply melts away with the sun just below the horizon. So I'm posting what I got, not what I would have liked, just to get the photographic ball rolling for the new year.

© 2025

 

A nine-and-a-half-mile walk, only to come home with this?

It could have been worse. It's the last day of the year, and I'm out early in a bid to see it out with a photograph. The sky didn't look encouraging from the off, and the weather forecast was more or less spot-on. The tinge of warmth that did materialise in the cloud as the sun rose disappeared as quickly as it appeared, and I was left with endless grey.

Still, at least it was good exercise.

© 2024

In one sixth of an hour

I've been at this photography game for quite some time now, but it still amazes me as to how quickly conditions can change. 10 minutes before this shot was taken it was raining, and the sky was heavily overcast.

© 2024