CHALLENGE1:HIGHTIDE
Cornwallis renownedforitsrugged
coastline,surf,beachesandbigtides,so
DannyandI arrangedto meetin theNational
Trustcarparkat SandymouthBay,justnorth
of Bude.I hadcheckedthetidesbeforehand
usingtheAyetidesapponmyphoneto
ensureourvisitcoincidedwithhightide.
DannyandI hadmetpreviously,sotherewas
noneedforbigintroductionsandinsteadwe
gatheredourkitandheadedstraightdown
theslopingpathtowardsthebeach.
Aswewalked,DannyandI discussedthe
challengeahead.Havingrecentlymoved
to thearea,healreadyknewthebeachand
howrockytheterraincanbein places.He
wasalsowellawarethatbigwavesarenot
uncommonhereandthatevenwhenthe
tideis receding,it is possibleto getcaught
outbyanunexpectedlylargewave.He
wasgearedupforthetaskaheadthough,
wearinggoodneopreneWellingtonboots
thatwouldprovidedecentgripontherocks
whilealsopreventinghimfromgettingsoggy
feet– unlesswereallymisjudgeda wave!
Whilewebothknewthatthisis a big
sandybeachat lowtide,at hightidemost
ofthebeachis underwater,soit wasno
surprisetoseewavesrushingfarupthe
beachwhenwefirstarrived.Withsolittle
beachexposed,I suggestedtoDannythat
thiswasa goodtimetoexploretheintimate
landscape– close-upstudiesofrocks,
geology,colourandtexture.Sandymouth
is hometosomewonderfulgeologythatis
easilyoverlookedat a lowertide.Dannyis an
experiencedphotographeranda landscape
enthusiast,buthehadlessexperience
photographingthisstyleofshot.It is good
togetoutofyourcomfortzonefromtime
totime,though,andI encouragedDanny
tonotworryaboutusinga tripod,butto
shoothandheldat firstwhilehelookedfor
images.Thiswouldgivehimmorefreedom
andencouragespontaneity.Oncehefound
a compositionheliked,hecouldsetuphis
tripod and refine the shot. He found thisapproachhelpfulandusingthetelephoto
endofhis28-70mmstandardzoom,he
beganexploringtheamazingstrataand
structureoftheCornishcliffsandrocks.
Thisis quiteanabstractstyleof
photography,andI alwaysthinkthebiggest
challengeis ‘seeing’theshotin thefirst
place.Imagesarelessobviousandyou
havetoworkhardertofindthem.Excluding
theskycanhelpkeeptheemphasison
structureanddetailandbydisguising
scaleandcontext,youmaketheviewer’s
imaginationworkhardertointerpretthe
photo,whichis nota badthing.Despite
it beinganalienstyleofphotographyfor
Danny, he quickly adapted and began toenjoythisnewwayofviewingthebeach.
Ratherthanjustcaptureonestandout
shot,I encouragedDannytotakea
mini-series.I suggestedthesecould
workquitewellalongsideeachother.
Technicallyspeaking,theimageswere
quitestraightforwardtotake.Anaperture
in theregionoff/8-f/11providedmore
thanenoughdepth-of-fieldandDanny
focusedviaLiveViewusinghisNikonD850’s
excellentautofocus.Froma metering
perspective,noneofthetextureshe
photographedprovidedanyissues,being
lowcontrastandeasytometerfor.
Whenyouworkona smallerscalelike
this, there is more potential to captureThePhoto Workshop
124 5368 DigitalSLR PhotographyMa y 2019