Two other photographers and I decided on a summer evening shoot at Snettisham.
When I state Snettisham, I am referring to Snettisham Reserve which is a RSPB site, well known for its Snettisham Spectacular where thousands of wading birds such a knots and oystercatchers are pushed off the mudflats by the incoming high tide.
We were in anticipation of being able to shoot the cracked mud and water pools as the tide would be out.
About Snettisham Reserve
Snettisham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is located near the west coast of Norfolk, some 5 miles (8.0 km) south of the seaside resort of Hunstanton, 9 miles (14 km) north of the town of King’s Lynn and 45 miles (72 km) northwest of the city of Norwich.
The village’s name means ‘Snaet’s/Sneti’s homestead/village’.
Snettisham RSPB reserve is a nature reserve in the care of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, situated near Snettisham in the county of Norfolk, England, north of King’s Lynn, and close to Sandringham. It faces The Wash, a large estuary. In autumn and winter, the big tides of the Wash pushes up hundreds of thousands of wading birds onto the Norfolk coast. The nature reserve’s bird lagoons provide a safe habitat for them.
The Shoot
We arrived at 18:20 and walked the twenty or so minutes from the RSPB car park along the paths to the reserve.
When we reached the end of the path to see the coastline out in front of us, we could see the tide was out such that you couldn’t really see the sea clearly.
We made our way down to the mud to find it hard enough to walk on. Only the parts near to water pools were soft and slippery.
I had a wander around and got a little obsessed with this shape which reminded me of an octopus.
I think if I revisit this image, I may edit it again as it has come out too textured and a little grainy for my liking.
Earlier, I had done some shots with the tripod tilted down eliminating the sky as it was a bit of a nothing when we first arrived.
I needed to shift and start looking for other shapes.
This next one caught my eye and reminded me of the dance scenes in the film The Mask.
I then spent quite a while attempting some ICM shots, which was addictive.
I convinced myself that these images were bangers, and I kept repeatedly doing zoom burst shots.
I’m in two minds, perhaps they’re alright. I like many of those ICM shots, but they’re not going to win an award.
We were all enjoying the evening as it was very calm, mild and relaxing.
As the evening was drawing to a close, I found one more potentially interesting shape.
I was intrigued by this collection of water pools and together they displaying a face.
I moved around to photograph this straight on, raised my tripod as high as I could and my lens as wide as it could go.
Despite having my ultra-wide 14-30mm lens on the tripod, and at the 14mm end, I really wanted an even wider shot.
I suppose with hindsight, I could’ve potentially taken a few shots and stitched them together to achieve a pano. However, this capture is enough to illustrate obviously what it represents. I am tempted to return and have another try though.
With the light falling fast, it was time to call a wrap.
One of my fellow photographers took a picture of two of us in action.
We packed up and made our way back along the path to the car park, chatting about our evening while waving away the mosquitoes that clearly fancied an evening snack at our expense.
We all really enjoyed exploring the water pools, shapes and anything else that caught our eye, and felt this place had so many photographic opportunities.
Coffees back at the car and we made our way home.
Most definitely a place to revisit again in future.
Onwards and upwards…