Rolling waves and dancing ballerinas

Slow shutter - somewhat impressionistic

Every now and then I try to do something a little bit different and this is one of those times. There were some lovely rolling waves and no birds, so I had a play to see what I could do with the waves using the big lens. I was looking for that moment when the wave curls over on itself and splashes back down.

Slowish shutter - loving the roll of the way and the splash

 The image blow is one of the smaller waves but I liked the way the water and froth gave the impression of little dancing ballerinas along the top edge of the wave as it reached it's peak. Then there is the visible power of the rolling wave in the next image appealed because of the smooth lines in the curves, followed by the final image looking into the vortex of the wave.  It was an interesting 30 minutes spent trying something different.

Dainty ballerinas dancing along the edge of the wave

Demonstrating the power behind the wave

Looking into the vortex of the wave

Castle Point

Neither my husband or I have been out to Castle Point before. It has always been on the 'to do' list but we just have never gotten round to going. Today it was overcast and dull in Wellington and a friend needed a ride home to the Wairarapa so we made a day of it and finally headed out to Castle Point where the weather was great!

I was thinking it is a beach there should be birds, but no - barely any when we arrived and after being there some time I only saw a few. I managed to photograph them from a distance to identify them but nothing worth sharing. Other than a couple of gulls, I saw a couple of gannets and one white fronted term.

I was way more drawn to the rock formations. Way back when I was at school I studied Geography in third form and thoroughly enjoyed it. Castle Point with all its interesting rock formations bought a lot of that back to me. I loved the lines and shapes and tried to show them in the images I made.

Being as the main focus of the beach is the light house I thought I should have at least one image with a lighthouse in it, so here it is - the obligatory Castle Point light house picture.

Looking around...

When I head out to photograph something specific (like the terns) I am very focused on my subject and often to the point of not seeing anything else that is around. I am trying now to get in the habit of looking around the area to see what else is about before I leave.

When I was out at Makara Beach, as I decided to leave on both days, the oyster catchers flew in on mass. Both times I wasn't ready for them and as they move so fast I missed most of the opportunities put before me. I did manage to get a few shots but had I been prepared and expecting them I would have managed many more.

As we were driving away from the beach we passed one of the trees that the shags nest in and then found a second with two shags sitting right by the side of the road. There was no where to park near them so it was a bit of a hike back from where I eventually parked the car. I think it was worth the trek because I manage to get up real close to the shags.

A second day at Makara

After finding the terns on Saturday I was keen to have a second shot at them, but the weather report on Sunday predicted rain and I had pretty much resigned myself to staying home for the day. Well the rain lasted all of ten minutes and then the sun came out so I bundled up my gear and we headed back to Makara Beach.

It was definitely threatening to rain when we got there but the terns were there so I really didn't care that much if it rained or not. At least not until it got too heavy to keep the lens free of raindrops. In between arriving and the rain coming down heavy I managed to photograph the terns from a slightly different angle and with a  more cloudy and stormy sky behind them.

There were people going past them from time to time at which point they all take to the air before settling back down in formation in a new position on the beach. They didn't quite go where I wanted them to this time but there's always another day.

 

Terns at Makara

We arrived out at Makara to wind and low cloud and not much else, but within minutes of parking the car we noticed a flock of terns taking flight as some people walked past them. After sitting out in the wind for a few minutes we decided it would be just as easy to do it from the car and much warmer! So I moved the car to another car park within lens reach of the birds.

The terns like to huddle close together and all face in the direction of the wind, which for me was a minor annoyance. I couldn't get shots from the front of them so had to make do with side shots, or from the rear of the flock. For the most part it was just a matter of waiting for a bird to turn in the right direction.

The terns were moving about so fast that to capture the full flock in flight I had to be very quick, and totally ready when it happened. There was an old lady on walking on the beach with her cell phone camera trying to take snaps of the terns too and she didn't think twice about going right up close to them to make them fly - something I was not comfortable with at all.

Day's Bay, Eastbourne

After the sunset.

Today's images are starting at the end. Yesterday evening we went round to Day's Bay in Eastbourne to capture another sunset. Once the sun had gone and the sky grew dark I got to play with long exposures to smooth out the water. I really enjoyed the contrast between the wharf and the water, and the muted soft colours of the hills in the background.  The long exposure has given this image light where there was none and I like it a lot!

The sun starting to drop behind the hills.

The sun was just going down when I finished setting up my camera and chair. This was the only opportunity I had to get the colours reflected on the water itself. The brightness of the sun made the image darker than it actually was and rather than correct it I decided I liked it this way.

Gulls soaking up the last of the sun.

I am a fan of silhouettes and when I saw the gulls lined up on the wharf I couldn't resist a shot or three. They were soaking up the last of the sunshine. As the sun went down behind the hills the sky found its golden glow. I love this time of night and was very happy with the image below.

Sunset at Day's Bay, Eastbourne