Mike Page Mountain Light Photography: 2020 UK Coastal Photography

Sunday 11 October 2020

Homage to Home II: Wales

So. Wales. I only lived there three years, Sharon six, but it was a very significant time for both of us. We studied there, found our faith there, fell in love with the mountains there and met each other there. And love for each other? Well that came a bit later. But wild wet and windy Wales will always have a special place in our hearts.

Following on from last week's first instalment looking at parts of Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire, this week I'm focusing on a previously unvisited part of Wales.

Tenby: All the Weathers || Olympus 11 mm, f/8, 1/50 s, ISO 200

Last year after taking Joshua to Pontypridd to carry on the family tradition of studying west of the Wye we spent a week in a cottage on The Gower, the peninsular west of Swansea. We had a great time exploring a corner of the country that we hadn't seen before, but despite the fantastic scenery, I struggled to find great images.

This year we (i.e. Sharon) found a cosy harbour-front cottage in Tenby (view from the kitchen window above). I don't think I'd ever been to Pembrokeshire before and fell in love with it on the spot. It took us a while to get our bearings though - we couldn't work out why the main beach faced east rather than south, facing the morning sun. Once we got our heads around the concept of the south beach all was well.

Tenby Town and Beaches

Tenby Harbour and Castle || Olympus 14 mm, f/8, 1/200 s, ISO 200

The tidal range in Tenby was incredible. At the time we arrived it was spring tide with a massive 7.5 m tidal range. Seeing the harbour rapidly empty and fill twice a day was unnerving to start with.

Tenby by Night || Olympus 14 mm, f/f, 3.2 s, ISO 200

Old Tenby || Olympus 16 mm, f/3.8, 1.3 s, ISO 800

Tenby has two icons, the old lifeboat house and the painted houses along the top of the east bay. Both are very grateful photographic subjects and I unashamedly shot both to death in all sorts of conditions. And we had all the conditions bar snow.

The Old Lifeboat House || Olympus 12 mm, f/8, 1/160 s, ISO 200

And the New One... || Olympus 47 mm, f/6.3, 1.3 s, ISO 800

Sundown over the Old Town || Olympus 12 mm, f/8, 1/400 s, ISO 200

Driftwood on the Beach || Olympus 29 mm, f/8, 2.5 s, ISO 200

Harbour by Night || Olympus 12 mm, f/8, 1/8 s, ISO 200

St. Catherine's Island || Olympus 18 mm, f/8, 1/200 s, ISO 200

First Light || Olympus 12 mm, f/8, 1/250 s, ISO 800

Castle Bandstand at Dawn || Olympus 31 mm, f/22, 1/15 s, ISO 200

Tenby Surroundings

After having had to drive through the pedestrian centre of the old town in our massive Kodiaq, we essentially didn't dare move the car for the first 48 h after arriving, exploring the town and walking along the coast to Manobier and beyond.

The rest of the coast is as stunning as the town, if not more so, offering gorgeous views over the craggy cliffs and turquoise waters.

Rocks below Giltar Point || Olympus 50 mm, f/14, 2 s, ISO 64

Pembrokeshire Coastal Path || Olympus 17 mm, f/5.6, 1/320 s, ISO 200

Pembrokeshire also has a north-facing coast - the Angle Headland on Milford Haven, a huge natural harbour. Here views across the Haven to St. Anne's head were just as stunning as anything we'd seen on the south coast.

Angle to St. Anne's Head || Olympus 29 mm, f/8, 1/125 s, ISO 200

Surprise Bracken || Olympus 12 mm, f/8, 1/80 s, ISO 200

Abandoned Inn || Olympus 12 mm, f/8, 1/200 s, ISO 200

Right outside our cottage there were several booths offering a variety of boat trips along the coast. Most of these were closed due to Covid, but the 90 min trip round Caldey Island was still running. Unfortunately, it was impossible to land on the island when we were there - the 40 elderly Cistercian monks were self-isolating to avoid succumbing.

Sightings of seals are almost guaranteed year round. Sadly we were too late for the puffins, razorbills and guillemots (oh dear, we'll have to come back!), but the close-up views of the blubbery sea dogs more than made up for it.

Caldey Seals || Olympus 300 mm, f/5.6, 1/640 s, ISO 800

Caldey Cliffs and Gulls || Olympus 100 mm, f/4, 1/640 s, ISO 250

Lastly, a trip to Amroth and the Colby Woodland Garden gave us some wonderfully green Welsh woodland, moss and ivy growing abundantly on ancient oaks.

Ancient Forest || Olympus 66 mm, f/4, 1/600 s, ISO 1600

I hope you've enjoyed my visual homage to Wales (and England). We'll definitely be back to chase the waves and try to spot some of the other wildlife visitors. Until then it'll be back to our usual haunts in Bavaria and Austria.

Glass Mural || Olympus 44 mm, f/8, 1/20 s, ISO 800

St. Catherine's Island || Olympus 16 mm, f/8, 1/200 s, ISO 200

South Beach Surf I || Olympus 18 mm, f/8, 1/250 s, ISO 200

South Beach Surf II || Olympus 18 mm, f/8, 1/250 s, ISO 200

South Beach Bar and Grill || Olympus 13 mm, f/8, 1/250 s, ISO 800

Goodbye Tenby || Olympus 8 mm, f/8, 1/80 s, ISO 200

Saturday 10 October 2020

Homage to Home I: England

Back in September, Sharon and I took our son back to university in Wales - quite an ordeal in the end given the circumstances, but a great opportunity to do some photography together, particularly as I'd just bought her an Olympus E-M10 Mk IV for her birthday. Even though I've lived more than 60% of my life now in Germany, there's still an un-severable connection to the country I grew up in. I'm currently applying for (dual)German citizenship, but despite the years, despite the madness that is Brexit, I'm still British at heart.

My parents now live in Somerset, but I grew up in the chalk downs of Wiltshire, seven miles from the ancient stone circle of Avebury. Our village had its own white horse carved into the overlooking downs, though it's looking a bit worse for wear at the moment. We sandwiched a visit to Tenby in Wales (Part II of this series) between staying at my parents home and visiting friends near where I grew up.

This first part of my Homage to Home is dedicated to the south-west of England, focusing on the delightful town of Lyme Regis on the south Dorset coast and one of the fossil centres of the country, lying on the Jurassic Coast, the area around Yeovil, a trip to the wild north Somerset coast on the Bristol Channel and a visit to my old stomping ground at Avebury.

Montacute Panorama || Olympus 7-Shot Panorama 25 mm, f/8, 1/125 s, ISO 200

I'd forgotten how different the quality of light is in the UK compared to central Europe; it's a lot more diffuse and in early autumn the sun is a lot lower. It may sound trivial, but it does present a subtle challenge when photographing.

These two posts are going to be very picture-heavy and word-poor, for which I make no apologies. Feel free to leave any comments below.

Lyme Regis

Three-quarters of an hour from my parent's place, Lyme' is our go-to coastal town in the UK. With the picturesque Cobb, the painted beach huts and a wonderful town complete with fossil shops, tea shops, picture galleries and enough eclectic dress shops to keep even my wife happy, what can go wrong? There are a couple of decent pubs too at the Cobb, meaning that you can comfortably make a day of it and wait for sunset, which rarely disappoints.

Tide's Out || Olympus 100 mm, f/4, 1/200, ISO 200

Down at The Cobb || Olympus 16 mm, f/8, 1/80 s, ISO 200

Lyme Beach Huts || Olympus 8 mm, f/8, 1/250 s, ISO 200

I've had the shot above in mind for a while. Whilst I'm reasonably happy with this version, I think next time I'll have to use my fish eye lens; I wanted to get the bend of huts as an element of the photo and it hasn't really worked here.

Golden Wave || Olympus 100 mm, f/5.6, 1/125 s, ISO 200

Catching the rays of the setting sun. Although we've seen more spectacular surf at Lyme' in the winter storms, this was still a decent swell. I love the way that the wind catches the surf and the curve of the wave acts as a mirror to the sun. The water is quite brown here though, especially when you compare it to the beautiful colours we were getting on the Pembrokeshire coast, but you'll have to got to Part II for those...

Yeovil and Surroundings

Although I grew up in Wiltshire, the area west of Yeovil was familiar to me growing up as a great aunt and uncle (great as in my father's aunt and uncle) lived in a wonderful thatched cottage in West Chinnock. We came here often as children, enjoying the local surroundings as well as occasional visits to The Muddled Man, the village pub, once we got a little older. I think fondness for his aunt and uncle were a large motivator in my parents moving down here when they retired and we certainly enjoy the 'away from it all' feeling we get when we visit, though going by the amount of traffic on the A303, I suspect this might be an illusion!

Montacute || Olympus 50 mm, f/4, 1/160 s, ISO 200

Montacute Highstreet || Olympus 25 mm, f/8, 1/50 s, ISO 200

Cream Tea and Post Box || Olympus 35 mm, f/8, 1/40 s, ISO 200

What could be more quintessentially English than cream teas and red post-boxes?

Path to the Light || Olympus 28 mm, f/8, 1/10 s, ISO 200

English Oaks || Olympus 41 mm, f/5, 1/400 s, ISO 200

From Ham Hill || Olympus 12 mm, f/8, 1/320 s, ISO 200

Porlock Weir

On our return from Tenby, we ventured up to an isolated part of the north coast of Somerset on the eastern edge of Exmoor. On paper, Porlock doesn't have an awful lot to recommend itself to the visitor, there's a tiny harbour, a very stony beach that's open to the elements. But it's a photographer's wet dream, as I hope you'll agree.

According to the Wikepedia entry, the name comes from Old English:

"Porlock means place of the port and Porlock Weir is its harbour. Weir refers to salmon stakes and traps that were situated along the shore."

Looking Back to Porlock Weir || Olympus 12 mm, f/8, 1/160 s, ISO 200

Porlock Cottages || Olympus 44 mm, f/5.6, 1/640 s, ISO 200

Porlock Weir || Olympus 35 mm, f/5.6, 1/160 s, ISO 200

Porlock Breakwater || Olympus 24 mm, f/5, 1/500 s, ISO 200

Stones in Breakwater || Olympus 25 mm, f/4, 1/1250 s, ISO 200

Pebble || Olympus 35 mm, f/4, 1/1250 s, ISO 200

Between the Posts || Olympus 44 mm, f/4, 1/200 s, ISO 200

Pebbles || Olympus 100 mm, f/4, 1/400 s, ISO 200

Breakwaters || Olympus 50 mm, f/4, 1/500 s, ISO 200

Avebury

Our last port of call before heading back home was Avebury in Wiltshire. I think that to get the best of Avebury (photographically speaking) you have to arrive around sunrise with mist on the ground. By the time we got there, the sun was well up - and about to disappear. There was still enough time to visit the ring and walk 12 miles to West Kennet and back though.