On The Rocks - a photo on Flickriver

On The Rocks

            It was the first weekend of Lockdown 2 in England. Saturday's unrelenting grey sky had dented my recent surge of enthusiasm for dodgy conditions. Instead I found myself glued to the big square box of light in the corner of the room and the two Scandinavian detective dramas currently competing for my attention. Gradually the day slipped away with the outside world ignored as the coffee ran out and was replaced by a bottle of Exmoor Stag. At one point I checked to see whether the four day saga that was the aftermath of the US election had produced a result. Finally it had. Another moment found me seeking the latest football scores and watching the closing moments of an FA cup first round fixture, before my better half took control of the remote and switched on Strictly Come Dancing. Bill Bailey is doing surprisingly well I must say.

On Sunday I resolved to improve my attitude. The weather looked slightly more promising and I decided that now was time to head for the south coast. Generally speaking I ignore the south of Cornwall in summer because of where the sun sets, but once the colder months arrive it begins to hold its own and open up my options. I'm so one dimensional. 

I'd already decided on Rinsey. It's a great location, too remote for most people, and the path down to the beach is only a path in name. "The ordeal down to the beach" would be a better description, with the wet slippery rocks at the end of the journey ready to catch the careless visitor unawares. At low tide it's a joy to be on the beach once you've managed to get to it in one piece. Of course you have to return to the top safely later on and before the tide catches you, but that's just peripheral details - something to concern yourself with later. I'd only been down to it once before; a couple of years earlier and had spent a wonderful couple of hours completely lost in my own little world with not a soul in sight around me.

On the way I'd driven through mist in still conditions past trees bedecked in orange foliage. I wondered whether I had picked the wrong day with such obviously perfect conditions for woodland photography. I even stopped at the entrance to Penrose Woods in Helston, where exists an enormous free car park. There wasn't a single free space to be had - even if I could have parked there were far too many people for me to find the quiet space I wanted. The trouble is I struggle with trees and need a full day of staring at them in confusion before I see anything. I'll save that for this weekend and pray there's still some colour left on the branches. And I'll pick a lesser known woodland while I'm at it.

So I carried on to Rinsey as planned. Even here the small car park, usually with no more than half a dozen vehicles in it was almost full. Where do all these people come from? Is it because they can't get into Primark during lockdown? The beach was also occupied by several families, an angler, a surfer and no less than five cold water swimmers. It wasn't exactly Benidorm in August, but the place was ticking over sufficiently well to justify the good people from Callestick Farm investing in a crane to lower an ice cream van down to the beach from the clifftops above us. I'd have bought one anyway. 

Still, if you wait patiently the masses may eventually leave you to enjoy the space alone. Ok, Dave and Lee were there too, although we all gave each other huge amounts of room. Not due to lockdown, but because that's how we always work. In between the regular downpours of rain we each found our compositions and immersed ourselves into the seascape in front of us. This isn't the usual epic scene I so often seek out, but I do enjoy these small moments of incoming sea wrapping itself around the rocks on the shore. There may be more of them to come.

Taken in: UK / England / Germoe / Germoe (show map)

Taken on: November 8, 2020

Tags:

Rinsey

rocks

Sea

seascape

sea shore

waves

Water

water_shots

water_captures

Cornwall

Coast

British Coast

cornish coast

english channel

Atlantic

ocean

Beach

Tide

low tide

sand

wet sand

sky

rushing water

Kernowfornia

Kernow

England

Great Britain

Britain « less

Sets appears in: • Rinsey • Sea scapes and sunsets

Groups appears in: • Sea and sand • Cornwall Flickr Users more » • Flickr Social Club • Photography Week • Amateur Photographer Magazine • Flickr Social « less

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, f/14.0, 1.6 sec, 46mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
Lens:	EF24-70mm f/2.8L USM
Aperture:	f/14.0
Exposure Time:	1.6
Focal Length:	46mm
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop 22.0 (Windows)
Show full info

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