Sands of Time
It was a grey Easter weekend, we had gone to the coast to get a little peace, take a few photos and chill. Last Easter we went to the same beach and it was sweltering with bright blue skies, this year it was wet, windy and oh so grey.
We stopped and looked at the dismal sight before us, was it even worth getting the cameras out? Not one to be outdone by mere trifles such as the weather we continued undaunted. I decided as landscapes would be pretty poor I would go for abstracts and close up shots and see what would come.
The beach in question was Dungeness in Kent, for those who are not aware, Dungeness is officially a desert, the only one on the UK mainland although it seemed pretty wet to me.
Dungeness is also a pebble beach not sand, but the low light gave me a chance to try a technique I have been itching to for a while; I selected my highest aperture to get a slow shutter speed and panned along the horizon. An ND would have helped as I had a shutter speed around 1/15 so panning was pretty rapid but it seems to have worked OK.
All in I think I succeeded in getting around 6 workable shots from the day; better than I had hoped so the motto is don’t give up.
A Brief Moment in Time 
That photo is amazing. Love the different tones.
~S
Thanks, it was a little experimental so I’m pleased with the result
I loved it on 500px and I love it here.
Thanks Edith, it made a grey day a little brighter (as did your comment)
Really like how this turned out Chris! I’ve been wanting to try this for some time but keep forgetting!
Thanks Curt, the weather was pretty bad so I thought why not. Had a pig of a time with rain spots though
That’s a brilliant shot – you obviously got the right mix of pan speed and shutter. What makes this so good is that bright area where the surf meets the sand.
more luck than judgement I think, but it worked so all good really
Love it! I find that when the weather is not what we expect it to be, our creativity kicks in…you have just proved that with this wonderful photograph.
Thanks Karen. It was too long a drive to give up at the first hurdle. When plan A went out of the window plan B was brought into effect. I had planned to spend the day shooting landscapes but decided to focus on abstracts instead.
Reblogged this on Oxford School of Photography.
Really digging this image Chris. Well thought out and executed. Your creativity comes shining through
Thanks Len, it’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a while now and the poor weather over the weekend made it possible.
Cool effect, Chris. I never knew Dungeness beach could be so attractive!
thanks Mark. It was a grey, dismal day, the mist / cloud was obscuring the power station so I did not hold out much hope of getting any decent shots
How unique! I never would have thought of this, Chris, what a great idea. Perfect execution, too, I might add! Great work here, my friend!!
Thanks Toad, appreciate the comment. It was a little experiment really
Lovely shot. Never realized that there was a desert in England.
It says so on Wikipedia so it must be true!!! But yes, Dungeness is an official desert, not the sand and camel type but based on water fall etc. in a similar way to the Antartic (I think)
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Thanks for featuring the post and the great comment
wow man, this is awesome!
Thanks, appreciated
Love this photo. Since I first read the post, it’s been rolling around in my mind. Great imagination catalyst. 🙂
Thanks Jennifer. In truth it’s a technique I saw someone else try and had a go when the chance arose
This looks fantastic, wonderful abstract(?). Whatever it is, it looks awesome, nice work.
Thanks Adam, appreciated
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