Two of us fancied a Saturday morning sunrise trip so good Ol’ faithful Caister-on-Sea was the chosen location.
Caister is a popular location due to its half an hour drive from Norwich, the various zigzag groynes and posts, dunes and other features which provide plenty of interest.
We wandered down to the beach and observed a cloudy sky so our expectations were low. We made our way to the zigzag groynes and observed that they were buried a little deeper in the sand than what we remembered last time.
I was struggling initially with a composition due to the warning signpost which I felt was hindering me.
Rant – warning signs on the beach
The increase in the erection of warning signs at beaches is incredibly annoying. At least there’s only one here.
In Lowestoft, it seems each groyne has to be plastered with multiple warning signs. I really don’t understand why so many signs are deemed necessary. It’s the same story at Southwold.
It’s as if people are so dim and unaware, we have to compensate by installing more and more warning signs so it increases the chances of someone noticing them, or the local authority can claim that the person couldn’t fail to see the signs.
The old ‘Elf and Safety’ gone wild I think. Sharp, rusty, metallic objects may hurt you if you step or climb on them. Pretty easy to guess that on observing them!
The Shoot
I took a few shots of the zigzag groyne but it wasn’t wowing me.
As the sunrise emerged, the sky was starting to look amazing.
Danger Danger, High Voltage!
This next shot has turned out to be my best of the morning.
The square crop has emerged because I had to straighten the signpost in post production. However, the streak of light in the sky akin to a lightning bolt with the ‘danger’ sign seems to tick the telling a story box.
This image will certainly be making its way into the club competition.
At the time, I hadn’t realised that shot would be that good and had moved back to zoomed in shots of the zigzags.
I decided I needed to change something to try a different composition.
I see many fellow photographers go low down for a different composition. I do occasionally try this too, but recently I’ve had some successes composing a shot higher up, as shown below:
My first shot looked good so I thought I would maintain this high tripod position.
The higher position means that the signpost is well under the horizon. I also think this composition allows more depth to an image.
As we were chatting and talking about the how well the sky was developing, I noticed it was now looking like a watercolour painting.
Of course, I took loads of images with differing shutter speeds as my usual swooshery addiction was at play.
One of my final shots is below where I particularly like the water flow and textures.
And with that, we called it – the end of the shoot.
End of Shoot
As we walked back to the car, it was interesting to observe lots of branches and debris on the beach. It made us realise just how much these locations can change between visits.
We also agreed that Caister always has something to offer the photographer.
Back at the car, a most enjoyable chat with a cup of coffee and we then departed. Of course, I handed Ronald and the Golden Arches more of my money on the way home.
This was to be a double sunrise weekend – more on that in the next blog post.
Onwards and upwards…