August - A trip back "Home"

Can’t quite believe August is already over and we are heading into Autumn. I’ve had quite a good summer photography wise. Despite it being one of the more difficult seasons for Photography with the early starts and late sunsets I’ve captured some images I’m really happy with.

In addition the month started with a trip back “Home” Despite living on the Isle of Wight for over 11 years now, Dorset will always be home for me as it is where I grew up and lived for 10 years after University. It was great to be back with the camera and spend the weekend with an old school friend who is also a very good photographer so we headed out a few times to capture some images.

We started at Portland for some Astro Photography. Unfortunately there was some low cloud around so I didn’t get a good clear shot of the Milky Way Core, but was happy with this image of the Great rift section of the Milky Way and was very happy to see a Perseid Meteor fly through the frame. I didn’t head out for the peak of the Meteor shower this year as there was a full moon which always washes the sky out making astro photography pretty difficult.

The following morning we went to Kimmeridge, which is always a special place to visit and has many happy childhood memories of visits. We were treated to a wonderful sunrise with great colour in the sky. But it was this image some time after sunrise with the light hitting the hill and the Clavell tower on the hill that was my favourite from the morning.

After the weekend it was back to the Island for the remainder of the month, and the first objective was to capture the very low tides we had in the middle of the month. I had always wanted to capture the dinghies at Seaview during a very low tide when some of them go aground as the water retreats. I spent some time capturing one boat that was well aground when I noticed this one, still slightly afloat in a little pool that had remained when the tide retreated. I really liked the sea grasses and the mooring line.

After that it was back to a bit of Astro towards the end of the month. I had always wanted to capture the Milky Way at the Pepperpot, but had never made it up there. On one previous occasion I managed to go in completely the wrong direction in the dark and ended up round the side of the hill in a field of cows and calves. Fortunately they friendly and didn’t mind the interruption. On this occasion I made it up there with a fellow photographer who brought their drone to add a bit of extra effect to the image by getting some light trails around the top of the Pepperpot. I had to jump in for a bit of a selfie as well!

After that we had a bit of a holiday and didn’t take the camera out. But I’ve been back out at the start of September already, but more on that next month.

So that’s summer done, and the mornings already have that lovely autumnal feel. Very excited about the next couple of months and have lots of shots planned if we get the right conditions.

Thanks for reading.

Chris