I’m still persevering with trying to get that single image that I want of the coastguard cottages. I drove out there a couple of days ago hoping the weather conditions would cooperate. They didn’t, in fact a massive thunder cloud blew in and I got rather soggy. I got some good pictures nevertheless:
Coastguard cottages and Short Cliff from the beach
Short cliff and the sea defences (me and my camera were getting wet when I made this image)
Rain on the lens, oh dear!
Today I had to go and collect a parcel from the Citylink depot in Hailsham. I was irritated because the route to Hailsham takes me straight past Cuckmere Haven – but the weather looked to be dull and grey and not suitable for photography at all. Thankfully on the way back with my parcel the clouds suddenly cleared and the weather became much more suitable for photography. This time I decided to walk along the path that runs directly along the western side of the River Cuckmere so that I’d have the sun behind me in most of the shots. This is a path that I haven’t walked before – it’s amazing to say that on my 12th visit to Cuckmere Haven with my camera there’s still a path I haven’t walked down – each time I go there I’m presented with new things to photograph. I don’t think I’ll ever tire of this beautiful landscape. It’s changing all the time – and that’s before the flood defences are breached.
For a minute I thought I was going to get my opportunity to drive up to Hill Barn and get my beautiful single image that I’ve been wanting for ages, but the weather still wasn’t cooperative and by the time the sun was low enough in the sky it’d gone behind a cloud – I got 3 hours of good light max.
I also realised I hadn’t done any close-up photos of plants for a while and the plants are certainly out in full-force at Cuckmere Haven at the moment – there were beautiful subtle shades of green everywhere from a diverse array of plants – many of which were in bloom. I photographed a few of them with my 28-90mm – I’d forgotten to bring the telephoto with me. To be honest I’m starting to regret buying my Canon 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS – the image stabilisation doesn’t make any appreciable difference, the 250mm focal length is a little too short for most wildlife stuff and it doesn’t have a macro switch so it won’t focus on anything closer than a meter. I’m starting to wish I’d just replaced the 300mm Tamron lens that I left in Kwik-fit – it didn’t have image stabilisation, but it did have a macro switch which allowed you to focus on stuff a lot closer and that extra 50mm of focal length makes quite a difference.
Anyway, here’s some of the photos:
Plants
Flowering teasel
Haven Brow and riverbank
Knapweed
Bee
Thistle
