Cornwall January 2024
Hello and welcome to my blog page
This is my second blog and is all about my recent trip to Cornwall in January 2024 to photograph storm Isha
It is many years (over 30!) since I last visited Cornwall and omg was it worth it
Mid-week and I had some work jobs postponed so with the possibility of three days free at the weekend I decided to take a last-minute photo trip – but where to go?
My first thought was the wonderful North Norfolk coast but having been there recently I was looking for somewhere new:
Dorset? Oooh yes never say no to a trip to Dorset
Dartmoor? Definitely always good there with loads of variety
Northumberland? Yes, on the bucket list
Cornwall? As I have said it is many years since I last visited, so on a whim and with the possibility of photographing storm Isha, the decision was made.
Camera bag packed and with a full tank of diesel I set off for a 6-hour drive west
My first location was Tintagel Castle arriving just before lunch on the Saturday
Oh dear, was this a good decision? It was raining, windy and overcast - great conditions for a photographer but not so much for the tourists all sheltering in their cars giving the crazy photographer getting ready a strange look
Anyway, off I went to the castle but it was closed due to the weather!
However, I was able to walk around and took some shots of the famous bridge and seascapes
It was too windy for the tripod so it was handhold – high iso and shutter speed to try and reduce the camera shake and aperture F6 – F9 - image stabilization is a wonderful thing when fingers are crossed
After the looong steeeep climb back to the car park I found the only shop open – a bakery serving Cornish pasties and coffee – what more could I want for
Leaving Tintagel it was off to Fistral beach (last time I was here it was for a surfing trip when I was a young lad)
Fistral was beautiful – lots of waves and spray and nice and quiet, but by now it was beyond blue hour and time to find the hotel
Sunday dawned the same - overcast, rainy and very windy – excellent – so off to Penzance to start with some shots of the harbour
After Penzance it was a short drive around to Porthcurno famous for the British termination of early submarine telegraph cables – the first of which landed in 1870
Wow what a fantastic beach – beautiful sand and yes – more huge crashing waves – Cornwall was really delivering on the wave front
After a short climb back up a sandy track to the car it was off to Sennen Cove – no bakeries open here so no lunch but a lovely walk along the front to the harbour and breakwater where I managed to get some great shots of the breaking waves
On the way back to the hotel I stopped off at Gwithian beach on the north coast – what a great beach and storm Isha was starting to approach the coast so it was getting very windy but also amazing for photography
Monday was to be my last day in Cornwall for a while so I made my first st p at Porthleven following a tip off from a fellow photographer (thanks Bob) – storm Isha had landed overnight and unfortunately, I missed most of her, but only just, and today was to be a full-on wind and wave day
Porthleven was bustling and the harbour was in full flow with large waves crashing over the sea wall – luckily the boats in the harbour were nicely protected
Onwards to Lizard Point and my final destination on this trip
Oh wow – how fantastic was Lizard Point – I parked at the top of the hill and walked down the short steep road to the Point and saw the most amazing site – HUGE waves rolling in from the Atlantic and crashing on to the rocks and cliffs all around me
The wind was 40mph with gusts over 55mph according to my wind indicator and I spent the rest of the afternoon capturing some of my best photos of the trip
Thanks to Wavecrest café for providing pasties and coffee – which were very welcome and somewhere dry to clean the cameras and lenses
Cornwall was an amazing trip – sometimes these last-minute inspired trips work out and this time it certainly did
This won’t be my last trip to Cornwall – I am looking forward to hopefully returning in the spring / early summer to photograph the sea thrift at Bedruthan Steps and it will be high in my list of places to go when the next storm arrives
My next blog will be about my recent trip to Venice in February on a planned workshop – it was an awesome trip with lots of rain
More images are available on my website in the seascapes and new images sections - please scroll through and let me know which ones you like
Many thanks for reading this blog and please like and follow my Facebook page 👍🙂
January 2024
My First blog
Hello and welcome to my blog page
This is my first attempt at a blog so fingers crossed and here goes
I am a landscape / seascape and wildlife photographer from the South of England.
I shoot with Canon cameras and lenses and i will do a ‘what’s in my bag’ blog in the future
I am hoping to upload a blog after my trips away shooting images throughout England and abroad along with some images and if any of the images are worth it then I will upload to these to my portfolio pages
This is just a short introduction and my first blog trip will be about my recent trip to Cornwall to photograph storm Isha – it was quite a trip
Many thanks for reading this blog and please like and follow my Facebook pages 👍🙂
