For this assignment I decided on using Cleethorpes near where I live. Over the years I have got to know Cleethorpes well and spend a great deal of time there pursuing my interests of bird watching and wildlife photography.
I have included here the complete shortlist of images for this assignment. The first 7 are my final selection and the ones I have submitted to my tutor.
No seaside resort would be complete without its donkey rides. This was an image I thought I might not be able to capture so early in the year but I was fortunate that early March was sunny, if not particularly warm. I have deliberately placed the pier in the background to the picture to place it in Cleethorpes.
I have included this picture because it is a link to Cleethorpes emergence during the Victorian era. The building was originally built by the railway company and was the restroom for passengers using the station. It is now a fish and chip restaurant and takeaway and the ‘chef’ has recently won a ‘fish fryer of the year’ award. I like the way this picture links the past and the present and shows not only people enjoying their traditional seaside fish and chips but also people enjoying the sun on the promenade.
No set of photographs of a seaside resort would be complete without one of the pier and Cleethorpes is no different. I took this picture at sunrise early one Sunday morning just before it began to snow. The wonderful colours lasted for only a brief time before the snow clouds swept in from behind me.
The quieter south end of Cleethorpes is a popular venue for water sports such as kite surfing, buggying and windsurfing. I was pleased to get this picture on a clear day of strong winds and cropped the image so that the kite, surfer and kite lines form a diagonal line across the photo.
The east coast has problems with coastal erosion and deposition and it is no different at Cleethorpes where groynes have been built in an attempt to ease the problem. I like this old weathered and barnacled construction and was pleased to get the gull sitting on top of the buoy. I am also pleased with the reflection in the water and framed the image to include the lighthouse at Spurn Point in the distance. I also like the two tiny figures in the distance.
The south end of the beach is much quieter and I was out one evening on a stormy day hoping for a sunset with big skies and clouds. I liked the way the sun setting in the west lit up the storm clouds driving across the Humber estuary. I used the fence to lead the eye into the picture and towards the town on the distant horizon.
At the southern extreme of Cleethorpes the beach blends into Salt marsh which is preserved as an RSPB reserve. This is one of my favourite areas for wildlife photography. The Humber Estuary is well known for its wintering flocks of wild fowl and waders. On large spring tides thousands of birds are driven off the beach and mudflats and wheel in the air in huge flocks as they search for roosting areas to wait out the high tide before they can begin the all important task of feeding again. This is my favourite Cleethorpes a wild evocative area redolent with the cries of curlew, redshank and oystercatcher – a complete contrast to the busy seaside resort only a mile or two away.
The remaining photographs are those that were shortlisted but didn't make the final selection for a variety of reasons.
One day whilst out looking for pictures for the assignment, I came across two teenage boys performing amazing acrobatics. On engaging them in conversation I discovered that they were members of a local Parcours Team. They were only too pleased for me to photograph them. I cropped this picture so that the lad was moving into the frame. On the skyline can be seen one of the first world war forts. There were two and they had anti submarine nets slung between them.
One very popular feature of Cleethorpes is the light railway that runs along the seafront. Here it leaves the station in full steam with the two drivers fully concentrating.
Another photograph of the pier. I like the sky in this shot and the way that the sun has caught the pier. I would have liked there to be more light on the foreground however.
Another photograph taken at sunrise close to the pier with the wonderful presnow colours suffusing the whole image. If I hadn't used the one of the pier in the same light this one would have made it. I have placed the horizon on a third and the jetty on another third.
Grimsby Dock Tower, adjacent to North Cleethorpes foreshore is a famous landmark both from the sea and the land. I took this picture at sunset earlier this year. I would have liked to have been able to take it later in the year when the sun sets behind the tower. I am pleased with the reflections in the wet mud. Care needs to be taken here - I nearly lost my boots (and camera and tripod in the soft mud!). I shall return.
A typical Cleethorpes scene - visitors eating fish and chips out of the bag on the sea front. I was attracted by this man's colourful coat but was unable to get a shot more 'face on'.
I like the shot of this jetty but felt it too similar to the groyne shot that I put in the final selection. I think that the young boy looking out to sea at the ship completes the image.
The south beach at Cleethorpes is very popular for walking dogs as well as kiting. The dog walkers make a clourful foreground and Spurn Point can be seen in the background.
Another sunset shot of the south Cleethorpes beach. I love the storm clouds reflecting the light of the setting sun.
I was pleased with this shot of a kiter on a buggy rather than kite surfing. The picture was taken on a calm day . It would have been nice to see him straining against a strong wind.
This was a shot I have been trying for for some time. I like the way the gulls line up along the railings on the sea front. It might have made the final selection had I not used another to depict the birdlife.
The final two shots are again of the thousands of waders wheeling in the sky at high spring tide.
Fill-in flash was used on the above two shots.
This picture was taken using flash
Fill-in flash used
I used fill-in flash of this shot of Steve juggling in order to reduce the effects of contrasty sunlight.
Again I used fill-in flash for this photograph of my son and daughter.
I used fill-in flash in this shot of Linda and Steve and in the one below of their son David.
Weston went through two phases in his landscape photography, starting from the view that in order for an artist to make a proper landscape, he must choose the elements of nature that he wished to include. This early example of Shell and Rock Arrangement brings to mind a montage that might have been done today in Photoshop.
From the beginning of his career, Weston photographed nudes. In order to create photographs which have a timeless quality, Weston made sure not to show any birthmarks, scars and especially the face of his model. I find this of interest as during this course my emphasis seems to have been on showing the faces of subjects although I do like portraits when the subject is looking away from the camera and not always directly into the lens.
