Great Yarmouth at Night

I'd only ever been through Great Yarmouth on a boat, heading between the Northern and Southern Broads, so it was a novel experience to walk along the promenade after dark.

The sea-front was cold and windswept; and, apart from a handful of tripod wielding photographers, it was pretty well deserted.  Looking at the advertisements for past and future "attractions" (the likes of Roy "Chubby" Brown, Jim Davidson, Cannon & Ball and The Chuckle Brothers) told me everything I needed to know about Yarmouth's standing in the celebrity stakes...

The area in front of the Britannia Pier had obviously been recently renovated, and - when I first saw it - was bathed in a rather beautiful violet light.  I quickly set my tripod up, but by the time I'd done so the light had turned orange.  It took me a little while to twig that the vertical lamp-post objects were rather like latter-day lava lamps, and were changing colour on a regular basis.  Given the length of the exposures that night (10s to 30s) there was absolutely no chance of capturing just a single hue.  Luckily, good old Silver Efex Pro came to the rescue!

The final two pictures are of the same scene: the first was shot in colour and then converted to monochrome; the second is Infra Red, with the colour "corrected" as best I can.  Flare was a huge problem with the IR camera, so if I try this again I'll probably end up using a prime lens rather than a zoom.

Sun, Sand and Surf...

...with a bit of gratuitous sex and violence thrown in.  Well, it is Christmas after all!

More of our trip to see the seals at Horsey.  As well as the unbearably cute pups (see previous post) there were other things going on too.  Such as cooling off from the hot (ish) December sun by taking a dip in the North Sea.  OK, so there's a cute pup in the first picture, but I couldn't resist.

Once the pups are born it's time for the adults to mate again.  This lead to some cantankerous exchanges between all possible gender combinations.

Not all exchanges were acrimonious, however, and the females in particular seemed to have a playful side to their nature.  In general, the golden rule seemed to be: when in doubt, roll over...

I included yet another cute pup in that last picture, but I think I might have got away with it...

The youngsters didn't get it all their own way, however.  As well as the possibility of a terminal squashing (beneath half a ton of ill-coordinated blubber during a fight), they also had to sit around while mummy and daddy got down to some serious family planning.

I'd like to say that the earth moved but, frankly, it didn't.  In fact, nothing very much moved for well over half an hour, so there wasn't much chance of motion blur.  Afterwards - you guessed it - the general rule seemed to be: roll over!

It isn't all sweetness and light in seal-land, though, as not all the pups survive.  The most obvious casualty was being tucked into by a gull: not a pleasant sight, but a good example of nature red in beak and flipper.  According to the wardens this year there has been a greater than 90% survival rate of the pups, which is excellent.

After the gruesome bit, I ought to finish with a couple of gratuitous pups.  One was obviously a quick learner because, once its portrait had been taken, it rolled over...

Bye for now!

Terminal Cuteness at Horsey

Went to see the Grey Seals at Horsey today.  They are such beautiful creatures, and the beach had a bumper crop of new-born pups to look at.  Talk about terminally cute - a bit like a labrador with flippers...

The interaction between the various animals - particularly the cows and their pups - was just amazing.  It's very difficult not to be anthropomorphic when faced with such behaviour.

Wherever there's wildlife, examples of Homo photographicus can always be found; Horsey is no exception...

Mummy - please can I have a seal?

Abandon Hope...

I've been very busy over the last week, so apologies for the lack of new entries.  I'd also entered the following set into a Projected "Portfolio" Competition under the title of "The Darker Side of West Kirby:  Abandon Hope..." and wanted to wait until after the event itself before posting them.

Needless to say, the judge didn't like them!

They've all been very heavily processed to bring out the gloomy and rather desolate aspect of a seaside town out of season.  Not everyone's cup of tea, I know, but I still think they're quite powerful.  Especially the last one, which originally reminded me of the Star Wars credits when I first saw it, but which has now been transformed into something far more sinister.  Needless to say, the judge missed the solitary individual who had clearly ignored the warning aimed at all ye who enter here...

[For the technically minded, these are all single images processed in HDR Efex Pro to enhance the sky and add "grit" to the proceedings.]

New Brighton

After the PAGB Championships, we headed to New Brighton to photograph the lighthouse as the sun went down.  I've tried processing the pictures in various ways, but I'm not sure which I prefer yet.

It isn't often I get the opportunity to take pictures as the sun goes down, so I'd forgotten how magical it was photographing in twilight.  The following pictures range from 30 seconds to 5 minute exposures.

 

The only downside of our trip to New Brighton was that the Fish & Chip shop was closed by the time we got there.  Tedious people...

Connah's Quay

The PAGB National Print Championships took part in the Deeside College.  Actually they took place in a building which looked (and felt) like an aircraft hangar, and had the same kind of charm.  It was an indoor running track with automatic lights (not ideal when projecting!) and - apparently - absolutely no heating.

There were five of us from Cambridge Camera Club including me.  The picture below shows Ann, Miles, Mike and Sue going from left to right.

The entries in the championships were projected onto a big screen so that the assembled multitudes (around 300 people) could admire the work - some of which was absolutely stunning.

Cambridge ended the day in fourth position, which is an astonishing achievement for an "ordinary" club.  Below is a picture of a highly chuffed Sue collecting a Silver Medal from the PAGB President, Peter Cheetham.

The good news is that we get automatic entry to Connah's Quay next year too.  Better start packing the thermal undies now...