A silly O’ Clock peel out of bed and I’m aiming for a 05:00 meet with two other photographers at Caister-on-Sea for sunrise.
The deckchair used at Southwold would be making another appearance and I decided to bring a couple of props myself, namely a fold-out chair and a bottle.
The chair because I didn’t want to do shots with the same chair as the others, and a bottle as I had in mind a message in a bottle themed image.
Would either of these ideas work?
We walked from the car park, down the steps and across the dunes to the beach and it wasn’t far to walk until we reached some rocks.
While the other two set to work with the deckchair, I got my chair out and started thinking of compositions.
The fold out chair
My first few shots were quite uninspiring but I persevered.
Clearly I needed water moving under the chair and a little longer for the sun to start peeking over the horizon.
Next up was change of position thinking about a leading line and a slower shutter speed for capturing movement in the water.
I was much happier with the later shots and was now in the groove.
As the sun came up, I was very pleased with what I was getting.
This next one was also a favourite and the one I posted online entitled ‘Mastermind Coastal Edition’.
It was 05:31 and also a square crop (I probably don’t need to state it).
I’m a little torn between the two shots as I do like the texture of the waves in the first shot but the latter one has a calmness and the sun reflecting across the sea.
I had achieved what I had wanted with the chair and I moved onto the bottle.
The Bottle
My first shot was straight on with the bottle nestled upon some red seaweed which I had collected behind me.
I was pleased with this shot but it didn’t have the drama I was after.
I was conscious that the sun was rising rapidly now and knew I only had a few more minutes to change things.
I decided to go handheld with the camera and get as low down as possible.
I quite liked the next shot catching the splash of the inbound waves.
In the end, the next shot was my favourite and the one that got posted online entitled (of course) ‘Message in a Bottle’, and on Instagram the image was accompanied by the famous song of the same name by the band The Police.
I like the early morning sun shining behind the bottle and how that light backlights the bottle and seems as if the bottle has a built-in light.
And that was a wrap.
We packed up our gear and props and headed back to the car.
I had brought my Canon SELPHY printer, a portable power bank and we had a bit of fun editing one image each of our favourite shots to print.
I had no visit to the Golden Arches as I’ve decided to give the McShite breakfasts a miss.
Instead of lining Ronald’s pockets with what is now nearly £7 for a noticeably smaller ultra-processed package, I made my own at home for lunch once I had a nice snooze to recover from the super-early rise and shine time.
Aside from supermarket UP muffins, I cooked my own bacon and some poaches eggs for homemade muffins for lunch. Very nice they were too, although two were too much if I’m honest.
Onwards and upwards…