Earlier this week, I met an old friend in New Brighton for photography. In hindsight, we should have met in a forest, as that would have suited the conditions. But we believed the weather forecast and opted for the coast.
On arrival, the conditions didn’t look promising. Then, after a swift coffee when my friend arrived, the conditions were even worse. It was as though all light had been sucked out of the area to leave grey.
Despite this, I was keen to shoot some long-exposure images of the lighthouse and sea defences as I thought the conditions would suit it. That’s when I realised I had left my filters at home. While the lighthouse is an interesting subject, there isn’t much that can be done with it in these conditions.
I shot this using a Panasonic G9 and a Panasonic 14-140 lens at 115mm. The exposure was 1/125 second at f/8 and ISO 100. Even processing in Nik Color Efex Pro didn’t improve the interest.
Believe it or not, the conditions then worsened as the light rain set in. That’s when we decided to relocate and headed to Heswall to photograph the old boats moored there.
When we arrived, I was surprised to see more boats than when I had last visited some 10 years earlier. I had heard many stories about the boats being removed by the council, but that didn’t seem to be the case. I even recognised some from my previous visit, although they looked a little worse for wear.
As expected, the conditions at Heswall were no better, but at least there was wet mud to reflect the light. Here are a couple of shots that I took.
This is also shot with the Panasonic G9 and 14-140 lens but at 125mm. It’s a 1/125-second exposure at f/6.3 and ISO1600. I had intended to convert it to black and white, but I think the colour image works better.
With this next image, I prefer the black and white.
My friend spotted this somewhat ironic shot. However, despite this opportunity, we had lost much of our enthusiasm for continuing. And although this muddy location had saved the day photographically, I didn’t leave feeling inspired. Hopefully, the next outing will be better.
Have a great weekend.
The Lightweight Photographer 
Very well done for persevering and getting some shots though Robin!
I really like the signature on each image. Is that new, or have you been doing it for a while?
All the best, Ken
Thanks Ken.
Yes, I’ve been doing the signature for a while; I use it as a form of advertising. I created it in Affinity Photo as explained in this video https://youtu.be/9e2wO0uXDgU