Next Stop...Exeter

Yes, being on the road for hours on end can be quite tiring at times. The owld dog aint getting any younger ya know. I remember opening a can of Relentless to help ease the drooping eyelids as I headed towards the A30 for our final journey to base. Those robbing bastards at Trowell Services stung me to the tune of £2.10 for a fix of the energy drink that would keep me going on the long journey south. £2.10 I tell you!!! At least Dick Turpin had the decency to wear a feckin' mask!!!!!!!!!

Aye well, the journey onward was a decent one - sun was shining and the roads weren't too busy. After a while I could feel a toilet stop beckoning. That large can of Relentless was beginning to take it's toll so the anchors were ready to drop in nearby Exeter - another place I hadn't visited before.

It was a fairly brief stop. Must have been no longer than an hour at most. First port of call was Exeter Cathedral and the surrounding shops and cafe's. By this time the weather was great and the crowds were out. I took a few photo's after a coffee stop near the cathedral then it was time to head back to the car. It would have been nice to explore the place a bit more but time was against us and Cornwall was almost around the corner.

Speak soon. Cheers,
Ash

Severn View, Bristol

Severn View, a place I hunted down after a brief spell on the M48 motorway near Bristol. The sun was quite low and it was an ideal time to check out this so-called 'View'. As I drove towards Severn View Services, where the best view of the bridge was supposed to be, I had a feeling it was going to be well worth it. I parked up near the old service building that overlooked the River Severn and made my way towards the banks, lugging my rather heavy kit bag and tripod as I went.

My first shot shows the bridge as the sun was dropped behind it. I was in luck! The sun could have been setting anywhere but luckily it was exactly where I wanted it, so it was clear I was standing in a prime spot as I took my first batch of shots.

The second shot (shown here) was taken shortly after sundown, with the nice subtle colours becoming more prominent over a period of minutes, which is often known in photographer's terms as 'Golden Time'. A mid- range ND Grad was used to balance out the exposure between the highlights (sky) and the dark zones (river at bottom of shot). It worked very well - even with a rather fast shutter firing at 1/60th, freezing the oncoming car headlamps, as opposed to blurring them and giving a light trail effect which I didn't really want.

The third and final shot was taken the next morning as the sun briefly shone across the River Severn. A circular polariser was used to emphasise the cloud formation. Yes, it was a good spot on the river banks and well worth a couple of visits. I was lucky to get a good sky for the two night time shots. Job done. It was now time to move on and another brief stop-off in Exeter was round the corner. Weather forecast is good - let's see what lies ahead...

Cheers, Ash

Bath Revisited

It's been almost a year since my last visit to Bath, in the South-West of England. I wrote about my earlier visit on my blog and it can be found here.

A year on and my return to bath coincided with another one night stopover in nearby Bristol. This was the half way point for us as we headed back to Cornwall for another family holiday. Not being at all familiar with Bristol, it was an obvious move to spend a few hours in Bath once again, especially after an enjoyable visit in 2009, but once again the sun wasn't shining. Oh well, you can't have it all I suppose.

We dropped anchor in the Waitrose multi-storey car park and made our way towards Bath Abbey and the nearby York Street. The area was busy, as expected, even though it was a mid-week late afternoon. For a short while we sat near the Abbey, where a busker played acoustic guitar. Later, we headed up towards The Circus and Royal Crescent. It was a lot quieter there, which was unexpected as both locations are often considered to be the more popular tourist attractions of the City. It was back along Brock Street towards The Circus, passing Margaret's Buildings on the way (see image below).

A bite to eat and it was time to head off towards our hotel near Bristol. Once again our visit to Bath more then worthwhile and it probably won't be our last. A lovely place.

Ash

Local Coastline 4 - Seaburn, Sunderland

The last stop on our coastal journey brought us to Seaburn beach in Sunderland. I had recently been commissioned by the Tourist Board to produce a set of ten postcards featuring scenes from the Sunderland Area. The postcards would be available to buy in the Sunderland Tourist Information Centre and two of them were to be beach shots, taken along the Seaburn/Roker coastal path.

Today presented an ideal opportunity to get a typical postcard type shot as the conditions were ideal. I'd already bagged seven of the ten postcard images and the designs had been to print and then delivered to the Sunderland branch, where they are now available to buy. Only three postcards were outstanding - two beach shots and one of the local church, more commonly known as the Stadium Of Light (wink).

I'd planned to photograph my two 'Beach Shots' from planned locations, one with sandy beach and one without. The top image shows the coastal walk between Seaburn and Roker, along the promenade towards Roker Pier. It's a very popular area of our coastal region and one which has great views across the mouth of the River Wear, especially from the bank top near the Roker Hotel.

Well, that's eight cards down and only two to go. A batch of 1600 cards have been delivered so far and as soon as the other 400 have been sorted it will be time to focus on a similar project for the Durham City branch. The last shot (shown below) is my attempt at a 'Smoking Cigarette'.

So, our coastal journey comes to an end. Just two hours and Shields to Seaburn was covered, on a day that typified an ideal day beside the sea. Next time I might brave the rocks and waves by getting up close and capturing some more of those blurred water shots, similar to those I got at Dunstanburgh Heugh's a couple of years ago. Quite a challenge, but that's half the fun.

Time to go. Until the next time, thanks for reading.

Ash

Local Coastline 3 - Souter Lighthouse

Souter Lighthouse is a National Trust property that is located between South Shields and Seaburn, just off Whitburn. Boldly hooped in red and white, Souter is an iconic clifftop beacon that was first opened in 1871.

Decommissioned in 1988, the machinery remains in working order and visitors can learn more from resident tour guides. To the north, The Leas has two and a half miles of beach, cliff and grassland with soaring seabirds and, to the south, Whitburn Coastal Park provides coastal walks and family trails.

The last time I was here there was a deep covering of snow and I got some great shots of the lighthouse and it's grounds, including the pathway to the main entrance with it's converging walls.

Today was a much different affair. High temperatures, bright sunshine and broken clouds - a chance to grab some nice postcard shots. The pathway from the main car park always offers a great lead-in line (see first picture), with it's rocks that lay staggered alongside the route to the lighthouse gardens.

Souter Lighthouse - A nice photogenic area of our coastline.
Next, and final stop - Seaburn, Sunderland. The return to God's Country.

Ash

Local Coastline 2 - Marsden Bay

The seaside town of South Shields in South Tyneside was our first port of call and this was followed by a short ride down the coast, heading south, to Marsden. There are two main access points to Marsden Beach - the first one is the steps down the cliff edge next to 'The Grotto' pub and restaurant. The second is the lift shaft, although it seems to take an age to arrive and even longer to drop down to the beach area via the pub itself.

Well the cliffs were in shade when we arrived so there wasn't much point in photographing them from the beach so I played safe and fired off a couple of lazy frames from the car park on the cliff top. It was a nice view along the beach towards Marsden Bay, and the clouds added something extra to an otherwise 'Flat' seascape. Not a great deal of interest in the picture shown here, but never mind, there's always a lot more further down the coast. Time to move - Souter Lighthouse was next on the list...

Ash

Local Coastline 1 - South Shields

Cooked up in the sweat shop all week before waking up on a Saturday morning to bright sunshine and the urge to get out and get amongst it. Two days off work and certainly not a time to sit indoors without taking advantage of the good weather. The little man was off out with his nana for the day so me and Mrs Corr got the owld glad rags on and jumped into the car, leaving it all behind for a few hours. A weekly ritual that has been going on for quite a while now and the first port of call was a nice pub near Fulwell Mill where a pub lunch kicked off proceedings. The Harvester does a great spit roasted 'Kickin garlic chicken' with all the trimmings, plus a free salad bar, which comes in very handy. Weshed doon with refillable pepsi - hey, ya cannit get robbed man!

With bellies full of scran we then headed off on our coastal journy towards South Shields - also known locally as 'Sand Dancer Land'. We parked up at Littlehaven, just off the dunes, and walked onto the fine sandy beach that overlooked the Groyne Lighthouse and Tynemouth. The sun was beating down and there was hardly a breeze - perfect summer weather! A couple of lads owned the waters nearby, going ape-shit on their jet ski's. We just sat for a while and took it all in. There were plenty of broken clouds kicking about, which were ideal for those polarising shots that I keep churning out, he he. These filters come in very handy, not just for landscape photography, but also those occasional seascapes. Job done - it was now time to head back along the coastline towards Marsden...

Ash