A summer evening in Overstrand was the chosen location for some seascape photography.
This was in early June when the weather was particularly chilly for this time of year, but the forecast looked more favourable for the Friday evening.
About Overstrand
Overstrand is a village (population 1,030) on the north coast of Norfolk in England, two miles east of Cromer.
It was once a modest fishing station, with all or part of the fishing station being known as Beck Hythe.
In the latter part of the 19th century it was catapulted into prominence, and became known as “the village of millionaires”.
As with much of the Norfolk coast, erosion was and continues to be a major problem.
Clifton Way is an experimental site; its sea defences include riprap (at £1,300 a boulder, predominantly shipped from Norway), wooden groynes, revetments, gabions and Offshore Reefs.
The cliffs of soft boulder clay slump because of the water running through the clay, and the resulting material on the beach is removed by the succeeding high tides.
In the neighbouring village of Sidestrand, the church was moved back from the cliff edge in the 19th century, though the tower of the church was left standing on the cliff top.
The shoot
We all walked from the car park down the slope to the esplanade and then onwards to the beach and up to the curving wooden sea defences.
We looked around and waited for a while for the sun to emerge from the clouds.
My fellow photographers set up right up against the wooden structures which prompted me to try something a little different.
I put my 100-400 lens on and shot handheld trying my best to get a shutter speed that would show enough motion in the incoming waves.
I’m very pleased with this early shot and it may well be my best from that evening.
I took a break from this spot to shoot a nearby groyne.
It was just a snap really, well a photographic snap and after post-production, I quite like the colour tones and the detail in the sky.
My fellow photographers had moved on from the prime spot for shooting the sea defences so I grabbed a couple of shots.
These shots are good but they do not match that early shot shown previously.
I had one more shot of this wooden curvy sea defence to grab.
Shot from down the slope
I moved to the slope which takes you towards some railings and concrete steps.
The evening sun was casting a pinkish tone across the top of the water.
I moved down to the bottom of the slope for a potentially better composition.
A couple of early shots told me this looked promising.
The following shot is my favourite, due to the motion in the water.
I got the drone up for a quick fly but didn’t get any shots of particular note.
And that was a wrap.
We packed up, got back to the car park and after a quick debrief departed for our homes.
Onwards and upwards…