Best of the Rest - Photography Week 2 (2016)

These are a selection of  images taken during photography week 2 (2016):

Trebah Gardens

During photography week one I visited Trebah Gardens and the entrance fee allowed a return visit within one week. On this occasion I chose better weather to capture the very scenic view through the valley from the pond and bridge to the house:

I also took an opportunity to look at the garden's private beach and learned that it had been used for military purposes during World War 2 to launch the assault on Omaha Beach as part of the D-Day landings. All that remains today is a concrete jetty and it is a hard to imagine how it might have looked at the time. Later, however, I found this webpage which includes a photograph of U.S. ships being loaded from the beach. My image looks broadly in the same direction and provides a passable now and then:

Whilst on the beach at Trebah Gardens I took these abstract images of the rock formations:

Lastly, there is a amphitheatre in the gardens and I took these images of the stonework:

Dollar Cove, Gunwalloe

The trip to Dollar Cove near Gunwalloe was also a revisit from photography week 1. Returning to venues is important in landscape photography as it helps build a picture of the location, the compositions and the best conditions. On this occasion I was hampered by the tide and weather but managed a few shots before sunset. These few images provided a template for some better images taken and posted during photography week 12:

Photo Art

I have mentioned in previous posts how I use photo art as part of a loose 365 project. This particular image of reflections in Falmouth harbour is a multi-exposure blended in Adobe Photoshop:

Falmouth

Between Castle Sands and Gyllyngvase Beach in Falmouth is a stretch of rocky coastline. The patterns and colours in the mud and siltstone have provided a few interesting abstract shots but on this occasion I decided to make use of the light for some landscapes including a hastily composed rainbow reflection:

Finally, these are two shots at the end of separate days capturing the interestingly shaped MPI Enterprise sheltering in Falmouth Bay:

Nansidwell - Photography Week 2 (2016)

Nansidwell (Bream Cove on the map) is situated in Falmouth Bay between Maenporth and Mawnan Smith in Cornwall. It is a small rocky cove with some sand and shingle which is accessed by a pleasant woodland walk from the road.

From a photographic point of view, the cove faces broadly eastwards and into the morning light. At the other end of the day the beach is cast in shadow quite early as the sun dips behind the coastal cliffs.  To one side of the beach is a flat shelf of rock which can be accessed when the tide allows. On top of the shelf are a number of rock pools and course grass areas:

During my time at Nansidwell I was fortunate to have an interesting shaped ship in the Bay which I used as a background focal point form most of my compositions. I believe the ship to be a construction maintenance vessel called the MPI Enterprise from the Netherlands (found on shipspotting.com) - as I have said in previous posts, photography is often the spark for a range of random enquiry and information!

Also fortunate, after some heavy showers, was the appearance of a rainbow. I particularly like the big sky shot over Falmouth Bay with the rainbow appearing over St Anthony's Head lighthouse at St Mawes:

When photographing rock formations it is helpful to have any natural lines pointing into the picture. This tends to produce an enhanced compositional impact often referred to as lead-in lines or perspective. I tried to use this effect in a number of compositions particularly towards the end of the day as the tide was coming in: