Sunset Searchers

Ludham,Norfolk is a village lucky enough to have the broads running through it,so it makes for some great photo opportunities.Ive been trying to find new places for my photography and after speaking to a couple of friends they told me about this place.They had the honour (or misfortune) to come with me.Id promised them a grand sunset that night as id been checking the weather forecast the previous night but as i now know,the weather people don't have a bloody clue whats going on and now sense that they update there forecast by sticking there head out the window and putting down what its like at that moment in time! Needless to say i endured a barrage of jokes during the day about the state of the weather as it was dull and cloudy for the best part of it.Be warned tho,the roads around Ludham are crap,especially the one leading to St Benets Abbey which looks like it hadn't been seen too since the early ages of man.On to the Abbey itself,a nice building had it not been surrounded by 2 large metal fences and resembled more of a building site,complete with portaloo which looked like someone had spontaneous combusted in there! Still,the surrounding area was nice and the sun was trying to break through the wall of cloud before it.Trying to a climb a barb wire fence with a tripod and full equipment is like mission impossible which i found out as i managed to get one foot on the top of the fence then found my leg had developed a mind of its own when it decided to swivel side to side with a move that even Elvis would of been proud of.Unscathed i got over tho to the disappointment of my other 2 mates.Our next stop was just down the road at How Hill which id visited a couple of times before.By this time the sun was setting and finally we got the colour in the sky we had been searching for.The other main problem with dusk and being next to a waterway is that it was crawling (literally) with fly's and mosquitoes who looked at us as an all you can eat invitation when i looked at my arms later on that night.The night ended in an ill tempered swan blocking the path,but our friend Matt seemed undeterred and at one point i thought he may well wrestle this beast back into the water from where it came.It was a good night but really tested our skills to capture what we did with an indifferent weather not helping.A thank you to Simon and Matt who came along with me,i think their only disappointment was not seeing me fall flat on my face trying to get over that fence!  

Pier Pressure!

If i was to describe my photographic style then 'spontaneous' would hit the nail right on the head and the pictures here were very firmly from that category.Id been thinking about a sunset id seen 2 nights prior to this night and that was enough,the seed had been planted! I checked the weather forecast and my eyes lit up as the sun was due a rare appearance and right at sunset.After unsuccessfully trying to convince my photographic partner in crime Simon Watson to stage an emergency of catastrophic proportions which would mean him having to leave his tasks he was doing,oh and convince his wife that he also needed his camera and all his equipment for a few hours without it sounding suspicious,i ended up funny enough, going on my own.The time i was down at Cromer that evening past in a blur of an orange and pink haze but to go from having an uneventful evening planned to what i captured here all within a 2 hour time slot made it the right choice by far.My friend Simon had vowed to giving me the silent treatment on facebook if i captured a good night of pictures that he would of missed out on...............All is quiet on the western front!        

'Wet Foot,Squidgy Shoe!'

Blakeney Point,Norfolk is one of those places that will always stick in my mind,but i haven't always had luck with mother nature there.The first time i visited was for one of my birthdays,armed with my new camera and i was bathed in blue skies and sunshine but everytime since ive been greeted with dull grey,flat skies.I swear they have a giant grey curtain there that they drop down when they know i'm coming to take pictures and then when i leave the curtain is raised to reveal the blue sky again! Its like i had a blue sky pass for the first trip,like a new customer perk but now that's expired.Even in drab conditions tho,its still takes a hold of you.The boats moored up there give the keen photographer plenty of focal points and you can see for miles over flat expanses of water and marshland.If you do stray from the normal paths tho,you do find yourself playing a favorite game i like to call 'Wet foot,Squidgy shoe!' and most of the time you lose,having the rest of your walk with your shoes playing a fart sounding orchestra with every step.Seating is limited too but i managed to find a plastic drum to perch on while i ate my lunch and in the extreme circumstance of a flash flood where i was,at least i would of had a float aid! Blakeney point is a well known area of Norfolk and rightly so,as it offers alot to see.My only advice is,make the most of your blue sky pass! 

Fly Me To The Beach!

The weather around this time was so unpredictable that one of my best sunrises very nearly didn't come to fruitition.Id set the alarm at that ungodly hour to get up for this sunrise but was greeted with what seemed like gale force winds outside my window.I sat for a few minutes wondering if it was just best to go back to sleep with my bed beckoning me to return but i decided that if i was up then i might aswell drag myself down to Cromer beach.To be honest i think i could have attached myself to a kite and flown down there with the wind as it was.I arrived down at Cromer but as i opened the door i was greeted with a light breeze which i can then only assume that a vortex had been planted over my house.Needless to say this was one of the best sunrises ive experienced so far so the moral of the story is,if you don't take a risk sometimes then you may miss out on something very special.I felt quite honored as when i returned home and laid down for an hour,the weather had changed to dull and rainy when i got up and didn't change for the rest of the day.It seemed like nature had reserved me a time slot that morning and i made the most of it!