We decided to visit Sizewell in Suffolk for sunrise which meant a meet time of 06:15.
About Sizewell
Sizewell is an English fishing hamlet in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. It belongs to the civil parish of Leiston and lies on the North Sea coast just north of the larger holiday village of Thorpeness, between the coastal towns of Aldeburgh and Southwold.
Sizewell is 2 miles (3.2 km) east of the town of Leiston and belongs within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB. It is the site of two nuclear power stations, one of them still active. There have been tentative plans for a third station to be built at the site.
Sizewell B is visible from the beach with its distinctive white dome. The focus for photographers though tends to be the two water cooling towers out at sea. These structures resemble oil rigs and various possibilities exist to photography them in isolation, with the sea and beach as foreground, or further back with the beach grasses.
The Shoot
When we arrived, it was dark but we got assembled and made our way to the beach. We were fortunate as the morning light broke through to spot a very promising sunrise emerging through the clouds – below is one of my first shots.
While the guys moved around the beach, I stayed put to see what I could do from this spot.
The sunrise may not have been the most epic ever, but it was surprisingly good.
It was time to try some long exposures, so out came the ND filter and I first tried some shots within the 30 seconds range.
I decided to go for a longer exposure to see if I could capture movement in the clouds and a more dramatic sky. I needed to add a graduated filter to avoid blowing out the sky.
And with this shot, that was about my lot.
I put a longer lens and got a zoomed in shot of the birds on top of one of the towers.
I could see some of the guys had wandered up to where some boats sat on the beach, so I packed up and met up with them.
We were looking at potential shots of the old huts and discussed a few other choices but for this visit, it was a wrap.
Coffee and chat back where our cars were parked, and we made our way home.
The usual Ronald treat beckoned en route home.
Onwards and upwards…