Mullion

I've been struggling to get out and about for the past few weeks.  Partly due to the crap weather and partly due to my degree starting to bite into my free time!  A last minute decision to force myself out in less than perfect conditions saw me arrive at Mullion Harbour just before sunset and struggling to remember where the sun was setting as it tends to move around a bit from summer to winter in this part of Cornwall!  Only one decent image taken:

Kimmeridge Fight Club!

Another few days in Dorset afforded me the opportunity to have another go at Kimmeridge sans twisted ankle and gashed arm like last time.  The tide was incoming which isn't the best for shooting in this area as more of the interesting stuff is below the high tide mark but i plodded on regardless perked up by what was becoming a better than average sunset (still not great but considering the rest of the weather last week i wasn't going to complain)!  On arrival i was greeted by at least 6 other photographers all sharing the one ledge that was not covered by the tide - great, time to fight the other "pros" whilst waiting for sunset.  I hate this sort of set up as it generally becomes a bit of a penis size contest.  Once getting on the ledge and  a closer inspection revealed that i was in excellent company with at least 2 of the 6 other photographers on the ledge being nationally awarded bods, some serious competition for the optimum space was occurring with all of us juggling for the little space there was as the sun set rapidly.  Two of them binned out almost as i set up leaving me with the 2 pro's and one other.  The other guy left 5 minutes later as i tutted and cursed as he continually stepped in my shots, narrowly avoiding a bollocking!  In comparison the pro's didn't give a shit and were playing the "all's fair in love and war" card - get there early or get the fuck out!  It was by far the most vicious situation i have ever been in when trying to take a landscape shot and the pros weren't budging a bit.  At this point i decided to let them have their moment which they did before going back to the carpark.  A quick change of position and i was ready to go.

Moving up the ledge yielded some interesting compositions that i haven't seen at Kimmeridge before as i normally shoot from further along the beach.

Finally the ledge yielded to the sea and the final shot was taken!

All in all a worthwhile evening out and i'm starting to understand what the freelance paparazzi feel like against the big boys!

Calm before the storm

I was in Porthleven again this week to watch the football but bored sat at home so i  packed my gear and had a little drive down the pier.  The sunset was ok but i was struggling with people standing in my shot, like they missed the guy with the silly hat and a camera on a tripod!  Best of the bunch was the following:

Hopefully i'll soon gather some motivation to go shoot somewhere other than 3 miles down the road!  Oh well, another trip to Dorset tomorrow, we'll have to wait and see what that brings ;)

Wedding

On Saturday 15th October myself and Phil, my business partner, shot the wedding of James and Kezia at the Porthminster Hotel, St Ives.  It was a good day by all who attended other then the rude member of staff who seemed to lack all the expected communication skills needed in her position.  The rain stayed away and the wind dropped so the photos were able to be taken outside, good job as i don't know where we would have taken them if it had been raining.

Photo: P Ruberry

Photo: P Ruberry

Photo: P Ruberry

Porthleven different angle

I went out with the intention of bagging some shots and stitching them together to make a massive panorama, i've done it before and learnt that it's not as easy as it seems.  However not one to be out done by the limitations of technology i also wanted long exposure shots to stitch together.  First fuck up of the evening - using a really wide angle lens is not the best idea because of the distortion - i'm lazy and couldn't be bothered to shoot a load of shots on a 35mm prime when i could get the same using 2 shots on a 10mm dedicated ultra wide angle lens!  I took a series of shots and settled down for another disappointing sunset in "sunny" Cornwall.  Much amusement was had by watching the lady on the beach forget to use her shit bag for her dog and instead use her bare hand.  As i chuckled to myself she then proceeded to try to wash said shitty hand in the sea and got soaking wet feet by the next wave.  I was pissing myself so much that i almost fell off the rock i was sat on.  Next laugh a minute sat on the freezing rock was had from the lone surfer that was so desperate for a surf that he spent 20 minutes paddling around going nowhere and being in all the wrong places for the sparse number of decent waves that were coming in.  Anyway it got dark and after the shot i took last week of Porthleven at night i decided to raise the bar and see if i could get a panorama at night.  Here is the result:

These are a real bastard due to the fact that the camera doesn't have enough ambient light to focus, cleverly gotten around by focussing on a light area of the scene and nailing the camera into manual focus quick smart before re-framing!  Next pain in the are is that looking through the viewfinder yields as much a detail as a blind person would see - so again it's time to wing it every time you move the camera for the next shot in the sequence.  Not a bad attempt considering it blowing a gale?  Below are a couple of others that i took in the pano sequence that i decided to process separately:

I'm severely pissed off with the other shots i took to stitch together at sunset as they are a definite no-go due to the tide being further in/out on each shot, it really screws up the auto stitch in PS  and doing it manually is a non starter due to the complexity of the shots.  Live and learn to fight another day! 

Gwithian / Porthleven

I spent the evening getting sandblasted to shit at Gwithian for what was the most part a complete waste of time.  Once again the sunset was looking promising and with a high wind i expected some decent fast moving cloud shots.  Well from the top of the cliff i spent the majority of my time trying to keep the sand out of my eyes whilst setting up the camera.  After the first couple of shots it was evident that the wind was causing severe camera shake and i decided to venture onto the beach instead to see if it was any better down there......it wasn't!  Thoroughly pissed off i treated myself to a macdonalds and started driving home.  I decided to drive through Porthleven on the way back and got a decent night time shot of the clocktower in the moonlight.

Collifird lake and Golitha Falls

With a hangover free Sunday on the cards i decided late to have a bit of a road trip up the A30 to scout around potential areas for some winter photographs.  First stop was Colliford Lake which i'd driven past loads of times on the way up country.

Basically 2 shots from slightly different areas and differing exposure times.

After the excitement of the lake i wasn't far from Golitha Falls, somewhere that people rave about so i thought i would check it out.  The resulting shot was obtained after a lot of pondering at where the "good stuff" was that everyone goes on about and a gashed leg from a slippery rock.

All in all a poor day out really, i wasn't expecting much because of the bright high sun but thought i may have come away with more than i did.