May - What a long month! — CJC Landscape Photography

Welcome to the May update on the #12in12photo challenge, and what long month May has seemed. Probably not helped by some really awful weather with several stormy weekends. Despite some challenging conditions I have continued to progress with the project for the year and managed to find a few good days of light to get out with the Camera.

Compton Bay

The start of May saw me make my second visit to Compton Bay, this time I managed to time my visit for low tide at sunset. Its a fantastic beach at low tide as there are so many rocky ledges and pools that make for interesting subjects. On this occasion I found a small rock that aligned perfectly as the sun sank behind Tennyson Down with the wet sand reflecting the clouds. It really is a wonderful spot in good light

NEW LOCATION - Watershoot Bay

So my quest to include Binnel Bay in the project has not gone well, on two previous occasions I had been beaten by closed paths due to dangerous conditions. Neither of those paths have been reopened, however I thought I had found a third route to the bay. However despite getting close (with the help of a boat) on the final stage I was confronted by….

Another closed path on the route to Binnel Bay

Yep, another closed path! Now I have seen an image from Binnel Bay recently so I think it is possible to get through to the bay if you ignore the signs, but personally I don’t want to ignore the signs and really don’t want something to happen on a closed section of path, that would be rather irresponsible. Therefore I have decided to drop this location from the challenge.

Instead I will use Watershoot bay. This is another location I hadn’t been to before despite it being just along the coast from one of my favourite spots at St. Catherines Lighthouse. It is a really interesting spot with lots of lumps and bumps where the coastline has slumped and risen. I captured the image below as the sun touched the horizon just off the headland at the Western end of the Bay. I really liked this spot and am already looking forward to my next visit.

Bembridge

Another trip to Bembridge, but this time I had some company. Melvin Nicholson, a professional photographer was visiting the Island for a couple of days and had asked on Facebook for ideas of where to go. I’d sent him some locations and got a reply asking if I would like to join him. I nearly always go out photographing on my own and really enjoy the solitude of it, but it was also really nice to go out with someone else and have some discussion as we enjoyed a couple of shoots. Initially we met up for sunset at the Needles, If you only have one sunset on the Island I guess you have to visit our most famous landmark! (And now voted one of the 7 wonders of the U.K.)

Whilst there we discussed where Melvin should go for sunrise the next morning and he settled on Bembridge, and asked if I would join him again. Initially I was reluctant on the basis that I’ve never had good conditions when I visit and I didn’t want to hex his one visit! Fortunately he insisted that I join him and I’m really glad I did as it was a stunning dawn on the beach. The best of the light actually happened about 40 minutes before sunrise when there was an incredible glow in the sky and I was very happy to capture the image below at that point.

Interestingly Melvin commented that he would have preferred the tide to be higher with water covering more of the ledge, however for me Bembridge is all about low tide and the rocky ledges which are the reason that the lifeboat station had to be built at the end of the long pier, low tide tells the story of the location better for me.

So I was very glad to have joined Melvin and really enjoyed the two shoots, and it was nice to capture an image for the project as well.

Yarmouth Harbour

And then the weather changed! The second half of May was rain and wind, we had weather more associated with Winter storms then late spring with 80mph winds hitting the Island over one weekend. Despite the storm being forecast I headed to Yarmouth in hope that the sun might break through. It didn’t! However there was an incredibly dramatic sky as the storm arrived overhead and that strange light that accompanies a storm which gave a really interesting colour to the water in the Harbour. I’m not sure the resulting image will have a place in the final 12 images but it still has a certain appeal to me.

So now we are five months through the project and I am still really enjoying it, and am genuinely excited to get back round the locations throughout the summer, even if that means some early mornings and late nights! Even those spots that I think I have an image I would like to include in the project I am excited to see if I can do better or if the location looks better in Summer. So far I have captured 22 of the 48 images for the project. I have 2 locations that I need to visit in December for the Winter shots. I also have 2 shots from earlier in the year that i’m really not happy with (Brook Down and Bembridge - The later only because I only got a portrait shot and am going to use Landscape images for the final images) so will revise those in December as well.

And with that, Spring is done! it has been an interesting three months as the Covid restrictions have been eased in the U.K. and we have been able to get out and about more and meet up with friends. I’ve had my first dose of the Vaccine for which I was very grateful. We still haven’t been off the Island (8 months now!) however, we are venturing off to the mainland tomorrow to finally meet some family which will be great. In addition we have a little holiday planned for June so will be heading down to Dartmoor for a week. Its not a photography trip as such, but the camera will be coming with me, and I’m sure there will be at least a couple of early mornings!

All the best

Chris

Landscape Photography by Christopher Cockroft, based on the Isle of Wight

May - What a long month!