It's another early start. The sun is still two hours away from starting its return to our island yet it feels good. I could have done with the sleep but, I was more than happy going out for a shoot in Dorset again.
Having given up drinking last year I don't have the urge to sleep in and go out for the sunsets after nursing a hangover again, those days are gone and now I am out before light and excited.
The plan was simple, simple, minimalistic, yet dramatic.
I watch a lot You Tube videos from different photographers which often inspire me to try different shots.
Thomas Heaton and Fototripper are two that give me inspiration for this.
The recent Thomas Heaton video gave me a lot of ideas for the minimal side of things.
I wanted big landscapes today and although Dorset is not exactly known for its Mountainous landscapes, it does have drama.
The first location today was Swanage. The walk down to Peveril Point is always a little risky, slippery as hell, I smashed a Fuji X-T1 a few weeks after buying it, luckily it was just about okay,
After a very cautious but successful walk to the point I climbed over the fallen rocks to the first location but, it was too low, I headed back up the cliff, by this point the gaggle of photographers that were on a Mark Bauer workshop had left and had left me with the remains of the light, to be fair, I was happy with what they left as they were hoping for an epic Golden Hour but they never got it so I think I won.
After a few shots, I knew I had a shot in the bag so headed back to the car to decided my next location.
Corfe Castle was just down the road and with the fast-moving low clouds I thought I would give this ago.
The last time I was walking up here it was a 5:30 misty, morning hike to the top, this time was a bright and slightly windy effort and I'd forgotten how unfit I had become!
The shot I had in my head was working, I don't take a lot of shots in portrait but this made sense. Just keep the main subject at the bottom and use the fast-moving clouds as a dramatic backdrop, I think it worked.
The last stop was a drive down to Old Harry Rocks.
I knew what I wanted as I have shot this before but, was never in the right frame of mind to shoot it how I wanted, this time I was.
It is a tourist hotspot. People everywhere trying to get as close to the edge as they could, selfie shots and people reading out Wikipedia facts to their partners about Old Harry.
I found the ledge I wanted and stood there for a few minutes until the tourists left, I guess I am a tourist myself but I class this as local. How far do you have to travel from home to be a tourist???
Anyway, the shot was on. it worked, and even though the light was not perfect I still feel it worked well.