Photographing the Northumberland Coastline at Low Hauxley in horrible conditions
It was lashing down this morning. It has been for the last week. But, I’d been stagnant for far too long and I needed to get out.
I headed up to Low Hauxley, just south of Amble on the Northumberland coast in an attempt to get some minimalist shots of the rock formations that point out into the sea there.
There was plenty of free parking on the road parallel to the beach – nobody else was daft enough to be there on a day like today – and I wandered along the short path through the dunes to see what I could see.
I started off with these 3 long exposures of the incoming tide submerging the rocks. The results were ok-ish and got me in the mood, but the lack of anything interesting happening in the sky made me start looking for other things.
I started to walk north up the coast, and noticed found some interesting patterns in the erosion on the rocks. 3 in particular caught my eye: an encircled ‘scream’-like face, some colourful pebbles lying on the textures, and a pile of rocks that had washed-up into a small hollow.
These shots are all focus-stacked at f/11 to get everything sharp. I kind of like them!
I was so busy looking at the ground that I didn’t noticed it had stopped raining. I pulled down my hood, and saw a little bit of texture in the sky. A bit of lights started to creep through too!
I played around with a few compositions with Coquet Island in the background. The rocks were quite chaotic, and it was difficult to get a balanced shot. The one below is the best of that bunch of shots. I’m kind of happy with it, but it needs a bit more drama in the sky. That big red boulder on the left also attracts quite a lot of attention.
All in all, it was a good day out. I got some ok images. The ground shots are my favourites. The location has potential, especially at sunrise as all of the leading lines point to the east. I’ll be back!
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