caerfai
A grey evening at Caerfai Bay. We’ve had a lot of big waves hitting the coast recently but I’ve not managed to go get any pics as yet. I popped down there this afternoon, just for a walk really but thought I’d take the tripod down just for daily practice. Below are the results. Now my lens makes a grindy sandy sound thanks to a big one that came through. I felt that I could have made it onto Kookslams if anyone had been watching.
If ever someone asks me how they can improve their photography I usually stress the importance of practice. Like any skill it helps to practice it and with photography, like in sport, practice helps you increase your range of skills and hone those that you already possess. It’s also useful to go and use those skills when conditions aren’t that great. It’s an exercise to try and make the most of rubbish conditions by finding a shot and experimenting when processing back at home, just as playing sport in the rain is better than sitting at home on the sofa bemoaning the conditions. This evening, after a promising afternoon, the cloud slowly rolled in, there were no waves and it began to rain. It was still, there was no wind, no swell and nobody about at Caerfai. Uninspiring to say the least but the stillness of the evening and the last fading sliver of colour in the sky made me decide to walk down to the beach and see what shots were there. From a technical perspective there was no need for an ND filter as being in the low light means longer shutter speeds are possible with a low ISO and an aperture of 8 or 9ish. I find fiddling with filters with cold hands can be annoying so I like it when low light means you just need a tripod. Here’s a few; nothing special but an enjoyable half hour stood on the beach in the rain in early January.
