You know that feeling you get that just washes over you; that feeling of love and joy when you find a beautiful new location that has everything; well I found one this week. It’s actually somewhere that I’ve known about for years yet dismissed as I honestly thought that there was nothing there, and then a couple of weeks ago, I saw a picture at a craft fair that a photographer had taken, and it showed a lighthouse on the beach, and I wanted to go instantly as I love lighthouses.
You know that feeling of love, when there’s a real connection between you and the place you’ve just discovered, and even though there are other people there, you feel like you’re the only one that’s discovered this beautiful place that has so much and just really does it for you.
I’ve come across about three places like this, where my breath has just been taken away by what I see and feel. One is Capri in Italy, when I walked down a road that’s not often used by tourists. I walked down a road and got an unusual view of the Faraglioni rocks, as the limestone rocks rise out of the sea, and I instantly fell in love. The other is a beautiful little village not far from me that I’m going to be using for my Healing with Photography courses.
That too, the first time that I came across it there was an instant connection and it just took my breath away. Not only that, like this location that I found this week, it has everything that can take you through the seasons with lots of interest and locations within the village.
Even when the pub manager said to me, this village reminds me of Midsomer Murders, the television series, and I was frantically looking over my shoulder for the murderer and a rugged good-looking policeman to appear, it still didn’t stop me loving the place; as it turned out that she was referring to the charm of the place, not that there are frequent murders wiping out the village population like on the TV series.
And now here, now that I have discovered this beautiful coastal resort. I’ve been wishing to find somewhere locally where I can just go for a lovely long walk along the beach and see blue sea rather than brown estuary water, which is the nearest bit of water to me. When I got to this place there were sand dunes complete with a bird sanctuary and walks all the way through the dunes. Then there was the lighthouse that I knew I was going to find, though with the sand dunes there it gave even more character to the beach. To my right you could see down the estuary ducking in behind the beach and then north of it, the coastline of Britain snaking it’s way up with the landmarks of the buildings clearly visible.
There are three wind farms in the water at different places to give interest as you look out to sea, and then this was the real heart stopping moment; as I walked out towards the sea to get a view back to the lighthouse with the dunes behind, there was the moment when I truly fell in love with the place.
Further down the coast of Wales to my left are islands and the island of Anglesey was standing there as clear as day. The coastline could be followed all the way along through the other towns, though not so much that you could pick everything out individually; it still had it’s mystery. Behind the islands the imposing mountain range took my eye as they quietly sat there protecting the shoreline towns with their colossus stature.
I love finding new fabulous new locations as I get to see that it can be useful in all the different seasons and in all different weathers; it will keep on giving. The beach was three toned, it was lovely flat hard where the wind has whipped across and flattened it, and it was very windy when I was there. Then there’s the nice ribbed beach effect giving texture to the pictures with a strip of pebbles and then pools of water with all manner of sealife in them and then finally soft golden sand, the latter of which I re-discovered is useless for making sandcastles with. I was in my element and with the bucket and spade that I had bought, sat down and made sandcastles and had a wonderful time.
It was a day off which became fun photography so I didn’t get upset because I needed to have a different lens with me to capture the buildings and reflections properly on the far coastline, nor did I grumble that the view towards the islands on the beautiful sunny day was spaced out and hazy as I was looking into the sun. This for me is one of the joys of a new location, working out when is the best time to be in each area for the best light. I had a whale of a time!
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Living in the beautiful rural county of Yorkshire it was perhaps natural for Ruth to have an affinity with the countryside and its wildlife. Creativity is Ruth’s driving force finding an outlet in television & radio she worked for many years as producer for BBC & ITV.
However a love of photography and for being surrounded by nature called her to go back to her photography training and bring pleasure and joy to people through her connection with our planet.
Staying in the moment when taking her images allows her to experience the natural magnificence unfolding before her eyes. It is this moment of mediation, of gratitude, that she evocatively conveys through her images.
I really like the composition of the lighthouse and the seashore and the sky. The passion of the place shows up in the image. Nice job.
Joyce M