A first trip out with the Sony RX1R Mark II to Saltburn on the Cleveland Coast. All shots were hand held except the second, classic, shot of the pier, which was balanced on a railing (my tripod is stowed away ready for our Norway adventures). All have been treated in Lightroom, pulling back highlights and lightening shadows. First impressions are that this is a superb little camera.
Inspired by finding the 2011 shot of Spurn Point (the subject of the last post), and realising it had been nearly five (eventful) years since I last visited, on Sunday I plugged the Point’s co-ordinates into the Sat Nav, turned on the engine, and headed due East.
Two hours in, and five minutes before it was deemed too dangerous to cross, I was stumbling across the sand, silt and mud of the breach that at high tide turns the Point into Yorkshire’s only island. I was now trapped! … at least for the next hour and a half.
Heading down the three miles to the end of the Point my motivation and inspiration were low, the tide too high, the wind too strong, my patience non-existent; I wished I’d headed up the coast, to Scarborough, or to Robin Hood’s bay, but I was stuck!
Rounding the tip of the Point I watched the boats go past, taking their cargo up the Humber, and then began the slow slog back to the car.
Stopping to take some shots of the old water tower, I noticed the sky taking on a pink tinge, but it did nothing to lift the mood.
But as I marched up the sands, the tide was literally turning, the spit widening, the sky becoming more interesting …
… and the last 30 minutes I found myself, as I often do, lost in the moment.
All good things come to those that wait!
Shooting Notes
Sigma Quattro DP0 & Sigma Merrill DP3, ISO 100, all using the obligatory tripod, all post processed using SPP and Lightroom.
Light was slowed down using B&W ND filters.
I took this shot of Spurn Point, a 3 mile long strip of land stretching out into the Humber Estuary, back in May 2011 and have studiously ignored it ever since. It was the last shot of the day before I turned to head back to car after a day of shooting the groynes protecting the shoreline. Back then the Point hadn’t been breached but in December 2013 a tidal surge destroyed the road and at high tide the Point is now an island and the image became part of Spurn’s long history.
Coming across it tonight, whilst looking back over my photo library, I started to play around with it it in Lightroom, and I’m glad I did! Resurrected from the image graveyard it’s become my favourite shot of that day.
Shooting Notes
Nikon D700, 2.5 Seconds at f22, ISO 100.
After spending 2 hours standing in the rain, failing to get any sort of decent Autumn shot in Sneaton Forest, I found myself at Whitby’s East Cliff one hour before sunset, ran down the 199 steps (counting each one of course) and frogmarched myself to the harbour. Forty minutes later I was running back to capture the classic shot from the steps as dusk set in and street lights flickered into life. Another thirty minutes found me balancing the DP3 Merrill in near darkness, hoping it was focussing on Whitby Abbey. As I climbed into the car for the two hour journey home it was still raining! That’s Britain for you!
I’ve been lucky enough to have the loan of a Sigma DP0 Quattro over the last couple of weeks. Sadly a combination of work and poor weather limited the time I was able to dedicate to the camera, and to understanding how to make the most of it’s capabilities.
Nevertheless Staithes, high up on Yorkshire’s East Coast, and Teasdale, just across the border in County Durham, aren’t bad places to try out the camera, even on dull, flat, days!
The above image is stitched from three shots. Even the DP0’s wide lens isn’t wide enough for Staithes!
Shooting Notes
The images are a combination of hand held and tripod steadied shots, at a variety of aperture’s and shutter speeds, all at ISO100, post processed in SPP and Lightroom.
The classic view of Staithes, North Yorkshire, taken in the early evening at hight tide.
Shooting Notes
Sigma DP1 Merrill, hand held, at 1/100th of second, f7.1, ISO100
