Dorset Day 1 - Corfe Castle & Durdle Door

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Last week I paid another visit to the beautiful coast of Dorset, around the Swanage area, as it had been a while since I'd been there last, which meant it high was time I got a few more pictures from this very scenic region. My first day was spent almost exclusively at Durdle Door and Corfe Castle, or Durdle Dorf Castle as I like to say when referring to them together.

My initial stop was sunrise at Corfe Castle, where I ascended West Hill, to get a view of the sun rising from behind the ruins. Unfortunately the sky wasn’t looking like it was going to play ball, there were hardly any clouds, apart from a thick plume along the horizon where the sun was supposed to make an appearance. So I was not best pleased I can tell you, but as I’d made the effort to get part way up the hill, I wasn’t about to turn back without giving the dawn the benefit of the doubt, and allowing it to make amends for such a tardy display.

Dorset Day 2 - Kimmeridge Bay & Durdle Door

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After leaving the golden view at Corfe Castle, I was soon parked up above the windswept shores at Kimmeridge Bay. The clouds by now had started to gather, like a gang of wayward youths on the lookout for mischief, but there were still a few rays of light making their way through the growing mob, sparkling off the rippling ocean below and highlighting sections of the rocky shore.

I was certainly pleased to see a bit of sunlight still around, but I was over the moon to see that the tide was out. At high tide Kimmeridge is, despite its rich geological pedigree, a bit dull, but at low tide things liven up considerably.

With the tide is out, the Kimmeridge ledges are exposed, these long fingers of limestone rock, which were formed many millions of years ago, when the Jurassic sea was a lot deeper than it is now, stretch out into the sea and provide a nice bit of interest to any photo. They also contain a fair number of fossils, signifying the explosion of life that the Jurassic period unleashed, which is never a bad thing.

Dorset Day 3 – Thick fog inside and out

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Woke up after another fitful night’s sleep, feeling as though the contents of my head were wallowing in a mucilaginous swamp, while my limbs were groaning in protest over some grievous offence they obviously felt very strongly about. Not sure if it was because of the immoderate exercise I’d subjected them to, or just because I was feeling a bit peaky. Either way I was feeling about as lively as this old fella.

Took the short drive down to the seafront to get some shots in the misty conditions, cue more long exposure images of beach groins and minimalist compositions. If I hadn’t got at least one decent shot of this style from the past few days, it was time to step away from the camera and take up something a bit less creatively taxing.

A few viewpoints looking along this beach groin into the misty conditions beyond.

Dorset Day 2 – No so magical mist and timeworn relics

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After another sleep of the undead, as in, not a moments rest, I floundered to the window to see what the weather was doing, and got a face full of fog staring back at me. This was an opportunity not to be missed.

Clothes were attired, hairs were combed and tea was drunk all in double time, for if the fog were to break, letting the sun’s rays pour through, then it was the perfect time to be at Corfe Castle, that most impressive of ruins, situated not 20 minutes up the road.

After gunning the motor, safely and responsibly, along the little roads to the village of Corfe Castle, we parked up at the base of East Hill and began the steep climb to the top. As I trudged up the rough steps, hewn into the hillside, I couldn’t help but entertain visions of bagging myself a Landscape Photographer of the Year winning image. As per example one and example two.

In fact I did more than entertain them, I served the finest champagne, dished up a six course banquet and was just about to let loose the DJ. Then we reached the top, and were presented with this decidedly party poopering view.

The castle is definitely out there somewhere

Dorset day 1 - Long exposures and questionable fitness

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Rising at 5.30 am after a very fitful night’s sleep, thanks to the unpleasant effects of a bug I was suffering from, and stumbling into the bathroom to cough my guts up under the cold, florescent ambience, I was still trying to convince myself that driving down to Swanage the previous evening was preferable to staying home and, more importantly, leaving my comfortable bed behind.

But good thing or not, I was here, so it was time to make the best of it and strike out through the morning darkness to Swanage seafront, to see what variety of sunrise nature had decided to bestow upon me.

As it happens, she was obviously not in a generous mood, as the display was somewhat lacking in vibrancy. The sky was completely clear, apart from a big old ribbon of murky cloud settled along the horizon, doing its best to make the day’s entrance as subdued as it could.

A couple of shots of the beach groins as the sun rises behind clouds, giving off a soft ambient light.

Dorset Day 1 - Shameful behaviour under grey skies

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Last week I took a quick sojourn down to Dorset, I hadn’t been there for quite a while so I was looking forward to getting some, hopefully, decent coastal shots. I was meeting my occasional photo chum, Sarah, down there for a couple of days of photography, before I returned home and she began one of her workshops. I drove down Wednesday evening without incident, save for an unfortunate happening in a car park in Poole.

I had stopped to answer the call of nature, well it was more of an uproar than a call, I had seriously misjudged my coffee intake vs journey time to a wild extent, so my concept of driving through in one go was tragically misguided. Anyway, after I’d made use of the facilities I was walking back towards the car, and noticed a big ol’ 4x4 (the type for chauffeuring sprogs about rather than off-roading) reversing out of its space not far away.

I walked behind it to get to my car, and as I was unlocking the door I noticed that it was getting closer and closer. Thinking that it was about to stop any moment, I got in, but as I was about to turn on the ignition it suddenly dawned on me that it was not about to stop at any moment at all, on the contrary, it was going to carry on at will.