The club monthly landscape shoot for September was Sheringham, with a meet time of 05:30 so rise and shine was 04:25.
The last sunrise trip here was last October 2023 where I was obsessed with a slope, and getting a particular swooshery textured wave effect of the incoming tide.
We met at the car parking spaces near the boating lake and wandered down to the promenade and headed to the beach huts past the lifeboat station.
I achieved that, but I kicked myself for not getting separation in the rails on the metallic steps.
Guess what the first shot was on this revisit?
Yes, that slope!
However, on this occasion, the tide was not in enough for that to be attempted again.
I was on the slope with fellow photographer who was honing in on the steps, and therefore, I decided to have a go at a shot with just the railings.
I don’t mind it tbh.
It’s a nice shot, nice colours, bit of swoosh. One could argue it lacks balance right to left but it is what it is. I can literally hear a club competition judge’s comments in my ear!
I noticed that many of the group had dispersed and wandered around to find their preferred shots, and I am increasingly impressed at the differing images and range of shots we all produce from our trips out.
If I was thinking my early efforts were hovering around the mediocre category, I was to hit gold next.
I wandered further along the promenade and past two of my fellow photographers, one shooting the rocks and another the beach huts.
As I wandered further along, I could see the sky was lighting up and had some glorious pink-dominant colours on show.
I spotted a reflection in a large puddle next to some railings, and decided to stop and give it a go.
I took two or three single shots then decided to take some bracketed shots as the sky was brightening up.
In post-production, the single shot was good too but when I merged the bracket shots, I felt it was a lot cleaner, and I’m really pleased with it.
Below is the single shot with the reflection almost gone, and a monochrome version. Note the slightly different composition with the top of the railings above the horizon.
What most pleased me about this capture is its uniqueness, and I observed so many different and fantastic shots from us as a group, it appears our first shoot of the season was great.
The reflection in the puddle didn’t last long at all, and was gone within minutes so my timing was so fortunate. I preferred the composition where the handrail is running along the horizon.
It was time to shift my carcass and look for some other subjects.
I spotted the remains of a metallic sea defence on the beach and it required me to climb over the railings, and hop down to the beach.
There wasn’t much room to get my tripod in but I went portrait mode.
The morning sky was now getting quite bright, therefore I fired off some bracketed shots being careful to get a perfect exposure for the foreground and another for the sky, with a mid-range exposure too.
I am pleased with the shot, it’s got a good leading line, a slight sunstar and is very pleasing.
It was time to get the drone up.
Once the relevant apps were checked for wind speed and restrictions, I set up ready for take off.
I recorded some video and a few stills, and a standard stills capture now is three bracketed shots.
Below is my favourite drone shot.
The next drone shot is nothing special but I like the angle of the groyne going out to sea, and you can just spot two fellow photographers on the beach.
It was time to head back to the car.
I got my macro lens out to see if I could capture anything of interest.
Below is a capture which can only be interpreted as desperate!
There was one more quick capture as I was trying to chat to a fellow photographer on our return at the same time as keeping on eye on potential last gasp captures.
The mono shot above is nothing special, but one of my fellow photographers really likes it.
We all arrived back at our cars, grabbed our flasks and enjoyed a good debrief.
Regarding Sheringham as a location for shoots, I think it’s a great place with lots of options, and well worth repeat visits.
What pleased me was that I was initially disappointed as I did not think that epic shot would come out as good as it did.
We left for our respective homes, and of course Ronald snared me again in Cromer, albeit with zero resistance!
Until next time, Sheringham.
Onwards and upwards…