Persistence Paying Off - Photography Week 49 (2015)

Persistence paid off in week 49 and I managed to capture my target shot of St Michael's Mount.

During the previous week I had made three separate trips to the coastal path around Perranuthnoe looking for the right vantage point to capture the Castle in full sunlight - see my previous post from week 48.

At this time of year the sun rises and sets behind the Mount when looking from the beach at Marazion. This provides some side lighting at both ends of the day but it is slight and the Mount becomes near to silhouette in many shots.

Moving around the bay alters the angles considerably and following the coastal path from Perranuthnoe I stopped at Trenow Cove just after dawn. It took a while for the sun to appear over a bank of cloud on the horizon but eventually I got some direct light on St Michael's Mount and it is very impressive view which I would highly recommend.

This is my shot of the day and one I would be happy to describe as my best image of St Michael's Mount to date:

 

I think a number of elements come together nicely in this image: direct light on the castle, dynamic movement, foreground interest, and mood (albeit from a rather flat sky). The letter box or panoramic format was conceived in post processing in order to improve the compositional impact.

These are a selection of other images taken on the day. Whilst these have most of the elements listed above they don't quite have the impact of my favoured shot of the day.

Looking ahead, I have made a mental note to try and revisit St Michael's Mount in late Spring or Summer. By then the sun's angle will have changed to rise and set in front of the castle if looking from the beach at Marazion - this should open up a whole new set of compositional possibilities!