The Story Behind The Image #5
This is one of my favourite landscape pictures. Not just because I think it is a strong image, but because it carries personal memories as well. It is taken on Murkle Beach. Approximately half way between Thurso and Castletown on the North Coast 500. You can see Dunnet Head in the distance, The UK’s most Northerly Point. On the high resolution image you can actually pick out the Orkney Isles as well. This is the absolute North of Scotland. But it is aalso my childhood playground. I was brought up a stones throw from this beach and spent a huge amount of time on it.
I used to play on the beach as a child, swimming in the sea, making sandcastles and burying expensive training shoes (ask me about that one). As I got older, used to trek across these rocks regularly. As the years went by, I spent more and more time on the beach down there. I used to go running in the evenings down there, I’d go out walking after dark, and I had a Yamaha ATV trike for a while, which I’d bomb along the beach on.
As I got into my later teens, I spent many an hour just sitting on the rocks, contemplating life. Some pretty dark and difficult times, but they mean I will always have a close connection with this spot. So, despite being a photographer for almost twenty years, I had never really photographed the place. I headed down and spent some time doing long exposures. There was fairly average light on this day, far from perfect, but I knew I could get some moody black and white images. The sky wouldn’t lend itself to colour, but I also tried to make the foreground more prominent, to detract attention from the sky. As it happened, the long exposure improved the sky, as the cloud movement added some drama. It also felt appropriate that it was dark and moody, as it reflected a few memories I had from times in the past when I had been there. I am generally a ‘dark and moody’ kinda guy. Artistically and personally :)
So, technical shite, this was shot at the wide end of the 16-35mm lens again, to emphasise the dramatic effect to the foreground and rocks. The water was splashing around, which meant the detail on the rocks picked up beautifully in the light.
Exposure details again: ISO 200, 30 seconds at f7.1
There is another image where the water is more prominent in the foreground, and the blur of the splashing waves is very good, but this one is stronger for me as I love the fact you can see Dunnet Head and the focus is on the wet rocks rather than the water.
