Today the weather in the North East of England has been, well, challenging! A strong northerly winter wind has been blowing down our lovely coastline and wiping up some impressive waves as it does. So I headed off to the fishing town of Amble in Northumberland in the hope of catching an image of some of those waves, and it was rather tricky. I originally envisioned beautiful morning sunrise light striking the red and white lighthouse on the end of the pier whilst huge fierce waves shrouded the small but interesting structure. However, as the winds were defiantly strong, and the waves unforgiving, they didn't really give me the drama I was after. I had intended to make a new vlog with the visit but trying to juggle a camera, tripod and video set up was proving problematic so I put the video away and concentrated on the still images. Even the tripod went back on my back pack as the wind was just too strong for my 3 legged friend. So hand held shots dodging the waves and spray was the only way. I had hoped to get some long exposures whilst using the tripod but this is the only one that wasn't affected by the wind shaking it about as much. Unfortunately no wave crashing against the lighthouse but still a nice image.
Later in the day when the tide was on the turn, a trip to Seaham Lighthouse in county Durham was called for. Seaham always gives a great show when the waves are crashing so I knew that I would have a chance to get something dramatic. Using a long lens from a distance helps to compress the waves and lighthouse making it even more dramatic but shooting at such a distance has its draw back due to all the moisture in the air which reduces the sharpness on the image. Not to mention the strength of the wind as it tried to thwart my attempts! Still, this location was defiantly the best of the day.
Finally, the last stop of the day was Roker in Tyne and Wear as the light was starting to fade. Its a lighthouse you will have seen frequently on these pages and its so close to home but every visit yields a different image. Even though I had missed the best of the waves it was still a great sight to see as the weather gave its final daylight assault on this iconic Wearside landmark.
