I have recently returned from a wonderful ‘Tides and Tempests’ workshop with Rachael Talibart on the south coast. Whilst we were there strong gale force winds of 50mph blew in from across the Atlantic and hit the coast at Newhaven. Once I had covered my camera with a huge plastic bag and lens hood I scampered across the shale beach to watch the waves.
They were huge! Newhaven lighthouse often features in the national press when there are strong winds as the waves tower over it but the other waves are also spectacular and great fun to photograph.
It took quite a while to learn to read the waves so that I could raise and aim the camera at the collision point and even tho I had my camera on continuous shutter the focus and exposure were difficult to control. My shoot wasn’t helped by the fact that my reading glasses fell out of my pocket and got blown into the sea so I couldn’t easily see the settings on my camera.
After two hours I was thoroughly happy but also completely windswept and saltified so we all retired to a nearby hostelry for refreshment and a warm up.
I’ve been told that the storm waves at Seaham are immense but they will have to be special to beat those on the south coast. It was a fabulous experience.
