Northumberland, Bamburgh Castle

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This shot from my trip to Northumberland is from the beach just north of Bamburgh Castle. I have tried to keep it simple, with the concrete blocks in the front pointing in the direction of the castle on the horizon, and leaving a bit of breathing space on the left hand side of the frame. The concrete cubes in the foreground are anti-tank defenses from the early stages of 2nd world war when German troops seemed unstoppable and the threat of an invasion of the British Isles was overhanging. 

​Bamburgh Castle and 2nd world war tank defences

Northumberland, Embleton Bay sunrise

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Sunrise on Embleton Bay, looking towards Dunstanburgh Castle. I have tried to make use various elements on the beach to lead the viewer into the image. I could perhaps have moved back a bit to give the stump a little breathing space. But all in all, I am pleased considering that I am on the steep end of the learning curve.

Sunrise ​Embleton Bay, looking towards Dunstanburgh Castle

Northumberland, Embleton bay

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One of the things I wanted to work on during the workshop was composition. Moving beyond the rule of thirds, how to use lines and shapes to create an image from the broader view. There is a huge difference between having the image in front of you as opposed to being out there. Out there you have the whole horizon before you, and you have to decide where to point the camera, and what to include, what to exclude - what you want to draw the viewers attention to.

​Embleton Bay looking towards Dunstanburgh Castle

Northumberland

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As I mentioned in my previous post, I was out of town last week.  To improve my skills as a photographer I decided to go on a One2One workshop with the british photographer Steve Gosling. He was one of the instructors on the PhaseOne Iceland PODAS last year, and I got good advice from him during that workshop.

Steve specializes in producing contemporary landscape images, a type of photography which is different from my usual modus operandi. I tend to concentrate on details and smaller parts rather than the broader view; landscape photography tends to baffle me and my landscape images often reflect this.

Occasionally I manage to produce a landscape image that looks half decent. But I wanted to learn more and be able to make an image and say "I wanted that there", which does not happen often with my landscape photographies, rather than "hey, that looks cool". So I decided that I needed some help and turned to Steve Gosling for guidance.

Embleton Bay north of Dunstanburgh Castle, just before sunrise.