Sea fever
“Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions. You change direction but the sandstorm chases you. You turn again, but the storm adjusts. Over and over you play this out, like some ominous dance with death just before dawn. Why? Because this storm isn’t something that has nothing to do with you, This storm is you. Something inside you. So all you can do is give in to it, step right inside the storm, closing your eyes and plugging up your ears so the sand doesn’t get in, and walk through it, step by step. There’s no sun there, no moon, no direction, no sense of time. Just fine white sand swirling up the sky like pulverized bones.”
OK, so the quote doesn't really fit the pictures but I've wanted to use it for a while and this is probably the best chance I'll have...
I went down to Goring-by-sea last Sunday thanks to seeing some gorgeous pictures taken there by my neighbours. So inspired was I that I even decided to dust down the tripod, which hasn't seen action for a fair few years. Well, that was the plan... Tripods and cameras go together really well if - and this is a really big if - you have the little plate that connects the two...
So off I went - plateless - arriving one hour later to discover lots of wind, heavy cloud and only a bit of sun sneaking through - and the tide in. The scene reminded me more of the "flung spray and the blown spume" of John Masefield's Sea Fever then the multi-coloured hues of a sunset reflecting off the shimmering beach that I'd had in mind. So that meant Plan B - more pics with the zoom effect.
For once, many of the pictures I'm posting here aren't square. To see the full image, please click on one and then you can scroll through them all, viewing them in their proper size. Most of the shots were taken at 1/3 sec and f32, with a couple a tad slower. And because of that little plate problem, all of them were handheld...
Anyway, I had a lot of fun taking the pictures and I hope you enjoy looking at them. Thanks so much for stopping by.
(PS Just realised that the title to this post is also the title to a wonderful book of images by David Baker and published by Triplekite - my copy's ordered, you should take a look too!)