Capture: Isles

Isles

Introduction to Captures

As part of my site here I've opted to include some background information about how I shot the images which feature on my Instagram profile. This can be found on my Instagram Portfolio page on this website. You'll find a short story of how I shot the image or some additional meaning of the photo itself.

But much like the reason for making this whole site in the first place, Instagram is very constrained in how images can be presented. The very meaning of Instagram has changed significantly since it's creation, therefore I wanted my own website to be my creative outlet for my best work. The Instagram summaries which form part of this website are a small amount of background, whereas I writing posts such as these allows me to go into more detail about the image itself. Additionally I wanted to have the possibility to include all the images on the site in such summaries, so I've decided to create a series of blog posts called Captures, which are detailed stories behind some images. These will be long-form descriptions of what went on in my head when I took the image, along with other candidate images from the same shoot.

Capture Story

Isles was taken on a day of very mediocre weather on the north coast of Devon, at Westward Ho!, a small seaside town. Despite what the image would have you believe, it was taken in the 'height of summer' 2023 during August after a full day of walking and taking photos in another seaside town, Appledore, which is further around of headland on the other end of the Northam Burrows. With August bringing long days and often beautiful sunsets across the view out towards the sea from Westward Ho!, it felt like an opportunity to go down and shoot the sunset; the weather up to this point had been a pleasant mixture of cloud and sunshine, teeing up what was likely to be an exciting mixture of textures as the light draws to a close.

Kitted out with full landscape gear we made our way to the most south-western end of the beach at Westward Ho!, where sand gives way to larger rocks interspersed with pools of water brimming with seaweed; the area is a hotbed of activity for local enthusiasts to go rock pooling, and has long been an area I've wanted to photograph. The beach at Northam and Westward Ho! is a wonderful open expanse of sand and sky but I've often struggled to make it look interesting in photographs. Foreground plays a large part in my landscape work, and without forcing the viewer to look at individual grains of sand, it's hard to provide foreground on a perfectly flat beach bereft of interesting features at low level.

Making our way further into the rocks was far more slippery than I'd imagined, and it quickly became clear that the tide had turned as was coming back in. The blue skies to the northwest started to become swallowed by the murky skies of the south-westerly wind blowing in. The temperature was dropping, and I knew time was short.

The rocks provided a fascinating landscape from which to shoot, providing no end of composition options. Looking further south I was sorely tempted by a composition centred on Nassau Court, which overlooks the rocks where I was set up. The juxtaposition of the stranded rocks on the right hand side of the image with the man-made domination of the left side is great in this composition and makes me want to shoot this at a different time of day and tide condition.

A potential shot of Nassau Court, Westward Ho!

The view further north was much brighter, the blue sky still dominating before the cooler, blustery air came through. The deep blue of this sky is very appealing, particularly the feeling of the clouds taking over from the left hand side of the composition, but at foreground and subject level this was never really an option. I've probably mentioned it a hundred times to every person I know, but I'm still not keen on blue-sky photography; it never feels as awe-inspiring and beautiful in a photograph as it does in person.

Northwest-facing weather conditions

I decided that the stranded rocks were clearly the best subject, and set about finding a composition which highlighted them in a way which would still provide a foreground interest. Spoilt for choice amongst the rocks, I was desperate to add a foreground subject which didn't detract from the stranded rocks yet was able to show the movement of the water. I briefly considered a composition with a large rock on the left side of the image, position the camera very low and close to the water, with the aim of using seaweed for texture and the rock as some framing and leading lines towards the stranded rocks.

For me this composition nearly works and in more favourable light may have been the keeper, but the rock on the left side is simply too dark and detracts from both the sky and the stranded rocks. The water passing over the sand at this point is also very uninspiring, a murky dark brown colour with minimal movement.

Alternative composition of stranded rocks

Instead of the image above, I clambered over some more rocks to reach a fairly flat location which had interesting breaks and channels in the rocks. The tide at this point was just lapping at the front of these rocks, beginning to cast some water into the channels.

I knew that the 20mm prime lens would bring enough of these rocks into the foreground and that with some graduated filters the sky could be brought out with lots of texture and interest. Ultimately I decided to forego the blue skies on the right to focus on what was quite unseasonable weather. The contrast of the rocks against the late-day light reflecting off the water is great, and with some careful timing, just enough movement could be brought into the foreground.

In the edit I knew this contrast was key to making the composition work, forcing the viewer to look at the stranded rocks naturally without the need for excessive leading lines. However, due to the lighting it became a challenge to distinguish between the hues of the sky and the sea. Some very light colour grading took care of this easily in Lightroom, and with some minor tweaks, Isles was complete.

Isles was a really rewarding image to capture, since it was the product of an intentional photoshoot, rather than an opportunist's shot like so many of my favourite images of mine are. Proof that we should always try to get the image we want - and in the event of a failure, at least you made it out.

Isles shoot setup