The period of spring tides made me head into the Bay looking for the very low tide.  I’ve found in the past that you can access/photograph rock pools that cannot be seen for much of the month and that was the plan.  There was only one day of the peak tides [...]]]>

The period of spring tides made me head into the Bay looking for the very low tide.  I’ve found in the past that you can access/photograph rock pools that cannot be seen for much of the month and that was the plan.  There was only one day of the peak tides when the weather was forecast to be ok too.

As is so often the case I didn’t end up taking photographs of what I’d planned!  I walked quite a section of Torbay in the Paignton area before the tide was fully out.  I was not the only one who was “waiting” for something – even the seagull on the rock was.

I got back to Preston beach just before the tide turned and found that a paddle surfer was making the most of what was available in the way of surf.

His viewpoint – quite a bit higher than those using boards conventionally – allowed him a better view of where the best surf around the beach actually was.  He seemed to get some worthwhile runs in.

One of those irresistible shots; this youngster was just staring out at the sea so intently.  Was it a case of “when I grow up…”?  His transport across the sand appealed too!

While the waves were not big some of the other surfers were also getting some good runs in too.

Some had to work quite hard to catch the waves but for a while there was quite a bit of activity.

Just after the low tide the sea became far flatter and, for some at least, it was time to head back.  For me too – I had had a good walk along the beaches and even if I didn’t get any rock pool shots it had been well worthwhile.  Large seas are quite unusual in Torbay as the arms of the Bay shelter it from all but easterly winds but when they do get in it can offer some good water sport.

I thought that the really cold weather was maybe over around Totnes by now (22 December 2010) but checking the thermometer this morning it had hit -6 deg C overnight.  The minor road I live on has had little traffic so had some aspects of a skating rink but I’d arranged [...]]]>

I thought that the really cold weather was maybe over around Totnes by now (22 December 2010) but checking the thermometer this morning it had hit -6 deg C overnight.  The minor road I live on has had little traffic so had some aspects of a skating rink but I’d arranged to meet someone and needed to get out so I wandered out to check the road.  The first clues of the level of the frost can be seen above – spiders webs on a beam.

Equally much of the garden had very significant hoar frost.  The fact that there was a little colour left in the dead rose petals merely added to the effect.

I drove to Paignton for the meeting and, given it is on the coast, it was perhaps not surprising that there was hardly any frost or snow.  Heading back one route had too much traffic so I took an alternative – chance plays such a role in photo opportunities.  This is almost a “good news, bad news” story.  I drove past another photographer who had a great view point – more of that in a minute – but headed to another spot I know.  As I’ve said before I love mono tonal images and this sums up the feeling quite well – clean, simple and cold!

This is the other half of the above part.  This is the spot the photographer was at in the late morning.  He had a little sunlight on his scene – but the time I got back in the early afternoon that light had disappeared!  I’ve said to quite a few people that I like to capture what I see quickly – the moral to the story is to stop and get the shot not hope it will be there later.  Even though I do like this one it would have been better with a touch of light.

Looking for some “good dawn” images I headed into the Bay for 6:30 am with dawn being at 7:15 am.  By the time I looked into the Bay I could see that I was not going to get a “clear” sunrise of any sort; the lights in the distance are Brixham.  [...]]]>

Looking for some “good dawn” images I headed into the Bay for 6:30 am with dawn being at 7:15 am.  By the time I looked into the Bay I could see that I was not going to get a “clear” sunrise of any sort; the lights in the distance are Brixham.  So the question was whether I went back home or stuck around to see what would happen.  I stuck around!

As with my last posting looking for just good weather images is a habit I must get out of I think.  The effect of the light behind the clouds was worthwhile.

The blue of the sea, sky and clouds was very vivid really I have actually reduced the colour slighly on some of these images as it was “unbelievably” vivid.

While there was no sun in the Bay it was clear that the sun was coming through in places and the effect of “first light” on the clouds was very good.

I headed back inland but just before I left I took this one as the glassy look of the sea caught my eye.

Having caught up with the backlog of the holiday snaps I started working on the relatively small number I’ve taken since I’ve been back and wondering about my next post.  These are not all taken on the same day but I realised that on a number of days I’d taken photos [...]]]>

Having caught up with the backlog of the holiday snaps I started working on the relatively small number I’ve taken since I’ve been back and wondering about my next post.  These are not all taken on the same day but I realised that on a number of days I’d taken photos that were effectively on a theme – light on water.  The above looks from Paignton towards Berry Head.

I guess it is partly the time of year with a lower angle of the sun and less good weather however I do love the coast and the play of light on the water.  The one above is taken from Preston and shows a windsurfer spotlighted on a stormy autumn day.

Shooting into the light has its problems.  All too often a shot will be out of sensor range.  A camera sensor can only get the exposure (roughly) right over a fixed range of light.  Outside this range there will either be black with no actual content or white similarly.  This may or may not be considered “wrong” by some people however I do like to catch what I see and so I have no real issue with this if most of the image has valid content and portrays what I want it to.  The above – shot from Goodrington looking towards Berry Head – is a good example.  It is not a “perfect” image with some parts of the image over or under exposed.  The limitations of the camera also mean that the quality is not as perfect as I would wish but it conveys the scene I saw in the way that seems correct to me (& I like it!).

These shots were taken over a number of days and while mostly they are taken in Torbay the one above was taken on Slapton sands looking towards the lighthouse at Start Point.  The light on the water really had a sparkle to it.

I find I do tend to look for “good weather” images but the one above is a reminder to me of how wrong that approach can be.  Taken from Preston Sands with Berry Head just visible the rain that is coming in can be seen (& it rained shortly after I took the picture).  The contrast between the better weather and the rain is quite striking.

And finally – I’d watched this person flying their kite for a while.  I was looking for a good shot of them and got one or two with the kite in the air and in sunlight.  However this one seemed to catch the mood of the weather (which kept changing) at the time.  This was taken from Preston Sands.

At Goodrington the last light of the sun on the waves looked good.  The area has some colourful buoys marking [...]]]> A short evening wander around the centre of Torbay and I found from a photographic perspective that looking down at the sea and up at the sky was the most rewarding.

At Goodrington the last light of the sun on the waves looked good.  The area has some colourful buoys marking safe channels which added to the colour.  I was a little surprised at the amount of swell as the Bay is sheltered from all but easterly winds and the wind was rather more northerly at the time.  However the water is so often very calm that this made a change.

The above is a result of one of the buoys coming loose.  The dog was having great fun playing with the rather large ball in the waves.

At the other end of the walk at Preston the sky looking back to the south was lovely.  The light and colour was really beautiful.  There were a few people surfing here but the light levels were really too low for any meaningful shots by this time.

Looking inland towards the sunset gave me another striking picture.  I guess it would have been better had the town not obscured some of it – Dartmoor would have given me a better view of it.  However it did look good.

In practice the area looks fairly quiet, however Paignton seafront was extremely busy with the weekly motorbike meeting.  The whole of the seafront had motorbikes all along it of varying types and ages and there were a lot of people there.  I’m no “biker” but the BMAD organisation has raised a lot for charity since it started in 2002 and they provide a good attraction.

It looked a little brighter when I got to Goodrington beach.  It was quite warm and rather windy – the beach had [...]]]> The weather had not been that good for a few days so despite it looking a little grey and rather thundery I decided I had to get out.

It looked a little brighter when I got to Goodrington beach.  It was quite warm and rather windy – the beach had few folk on.

Given some blue skies, daytime and August the one above is unusual.  It was taken wide angle and I’ve not cloned anyone out!

While the weather was not really good for the beach there were plenty of folk making the most of the water.  It is regatta week and there were races going on out in the Bay and a number of people heading back into Paignton harbour.  The little blue sky that there had been had gone by then and I decided to head to the pier before turning back and heading home.

Although there was some evidence of lightness in the sky and there were a few folk around on Paignton beach (though not many as can be seen) there was also some rain in the air and I headed home.

One of the iconic sites of Torbay is Thatcher Rock.  As seen above from Meadfoot beach (& [...]]]> I’d not been out around the Bay for a while and so I decided to take a look around the northern arm of the Bay wandering from Torquay around to Hope’s Nose and beyond.

One of the iconic sites of Torbay is Thatcher Rock.  As seen above from Meadfoot beach (& from quite a bit of the Bay) the “thatcher” can be clearly seen going up the “roof” with a bundle of thatch on his back.

Moving on a little towards Hope’s Nose a different view of Thatcher Rock can be seen.  This is looking back into the Bay and from this angle the thatcher cannot be seen.  Brixham is to the left of Thatcher Rock and Paignton to the right.

Almost at Hope’s Nose some guys on jetskis went by.  This shows the Ore Stone (the other main island in the Bay) behind them.

At Hope’s Nose there were quite a few people fishing.  This scene caught my eye with the fishermen on the edge and the Ore Stone in the background.  The smaller rock in between had quite a colony of gulls on and is known as the Lead Stone or Flat Rock.

Finally wandering around the Babbacombe area of Torquay I came across a scene that made headlines locally when a large section of the cliff face collapsed in February.  This is Oddicombe Beach and was reported as a 5000 ton rockfall.

This shows the storm approaching.

There was a fairly brief storm, rain, hail, sleet  (which we did not shelter [...]]]> On a Wednesday night I will often walk with friends on Dartmoor however it has rained quite a lot recently so we decided to take a shorter walk in the Bay.

This shows the storm approaching.

There was a fairly brief storm, rain, hail, sleet  (which we did not shelter for!) and this shows the storm having just passed us heading out to sea.

The aftermath of the storm clouds out at sea, in the dusk, can be seen here.