Andy Gawthrope Photography

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  • Porthgwarra

    Porthgwarra

    Christmas Day 2019 and the weather finally turned nice for a while. The wind dropped and the cloud and sea spray disappeared – it was a joy to be out at first light with the camera. 🙂

    Leaving the truck in the little car park behind the tea shop the sky was still dark but with a few stars twinkling overhead I knew it was at least partly clear. So, with a growing sense of anticipation I stumbled up the narrow track to the top of the cliffs.

    A few days before I had walked along this stretch of cliff identifying possible locations, checking sunrise and sunset angles and thought this spot may be good. I recall being concerned about the land being too complicated and spoiling the simplicity I sought. But I also thought that the darker land at sunrise would help mask any complexity. Of course that needed the right light!

    As the sun got closer to the horizon the sky became visible and I could see what looked like a massive triangular space ship hanging in the sky! At that time it was still just grey cloud but as the sun got closer to the horizon it lit it’s underside in beautiful orange/pink/red light which was also reflected down onto the land and ocean. It was fabulous 🙂

    Porthgwarra sunrise. No. 2
    Porthgwarra sunrise. No. 2

    My earlier visit had also identified a potential location just off to the right. By the time I moved position most of the dramatic lighting had faded but over the distant horizon there was still plenty of colour and that cloud, although somewhat dispersed, still had a great shape. If anything I thought it now looked more like a Phoenix flying headlong towards the burning sun! Ah what the mind sees in the clouds 🙂

    Not long after making the above photograph a pod of eight or nine dolphins swam around the rocky point doing a spot of morning fishing I guess. All in, it was a fabulous start to Christmas day 🙂

    I must admit that the plan when setting out that morning was to walk slightly further around the coast but with a dark sky I couldn’t be sure which location best suited the conditions. I chose to stop at the location that required least walking and wait until I could see the sky. When the sun did provide sufficient lighting I recognised the potential I stayed put. Of course that means I’ve another location awaiting a subsequent trip ;-); something I’d like to address in the not too distant future. Perhaps the weather will be equally gracious. We shall see 🙂

    Andy

    All images are Copyright Andy Gawthrope Photography

    Porthgwarra sunrise No. 1
    Porthgwarra sunrise. No. 1
    Porthgwarra sunrise. No. 2
    Porthgwarra sunrise. No. 2
  • Porthgwarra

    Porthgwarra

    Continuing the recent post about my Christmas in Cornwall I thought I’d post a couple of black & white photographs from a tiny cove just to the South of Lands End called Porthgwarra.

    Porthgwarra has a great little shop which does amazing tea and cake in the summer but, sadly, it’s closed over the winter months. Quite understandable as Cornwall is beautifully quiet in mid-winter with none of the maddening tourists!

    The photograph above was taken on a windy afternoon with heavy, grey clouds skimming across the sky and waves being blown against the shore by the strong wind. I took several images at ISO 400 trying to catch a lull in the wind; fortunately one was sharp 🙂 It’s one of those photographs that works well large as there is huge detail in the lichen, the moss and foreground rocks.

    The second photograph is a little different. To my mind it’s a sunrise machine; some long forgotten machine left behind by aliens to control the sun! Well, ok, perhaps not but that’s what I was thinking as I stood there waiting for the sun to rise from behind those two great protruberences!

    Porthgwarra sunrise
    Porthgwarra sunrise

    Whilst exploring the area the preceding afternoon I noted the great shape and immediately thought it could work as a black and white. After a quick check of PhotoPills and The Photographers Ephemeris (TPE) – I can’t decide which I prefer – I knew the sun would rise at just the right position on the horizon too. The following morning I got lucky as the sun rose through a bank of cloud whilst illuminating the more broken clouds above. I have a colour edit of the same image with great colours in the sky, but I prefer the simplicity of the black and white.

    Andy