pottering around Ramsgate in the sun...

Ramsgate is a place I seldom explore. I’m always drawn to Margate when I choose to go out with my camera…partly because I used to work there so at least know the town, partly because, well, it’s Margate and it has that whole Margate vibe thing going on.

I’ve been a couple of times in the past few years, but always on overcast days and never on a day where the light was the kind of light you hope for. On this occasion, however, the forecast was a crisp, cold day with blue skies and sunshine. For once, the forecast didn’t disappoint.

Ramsgate doesn’t quite have the artsy appeal of Margate, but it also doesn’t have the feeling of over-extended gentrification. There are signs here and there, of course, but it quite to the extent of other places alone the east Kent coast, and certainly doesn’t appear to be signs of the sheer excess and over-reach that other parts of East Kent aspire to (hello Folkestone). In fact, it more closely resembles the kind of east Kent coastal town that I knew all too well from my youth.

Anyway, this particular visit had exceptional light flooding the side streets, casting bold shadows and bringing interesting reflections. On exploring it did beg the question why I don’t visit more often. Like Deal there are plenty of streets that run perpendicular to the promenade, resulting in glorious golden light illuminating shop fronts and passers-by. I should really make more of this, especially this time of year when the golden hour coincides with people milling around the streets. Maybe I should explore it more, it certainly makes a change from the Margate>Deal>Folkestone options I normally choose when conditions look promising.

Anyway, I took a few shots during my trip. Could do with a few more sunny days given how dull this winter has been…

When the fog descends...

…head to Deal. Or Margate. Or Folkestone. Or…well, anywhere.

Fog is that magical element that we all (I think?) hope for at this time of year. You scour the weather apps, desperate for a sign, anything, that suggests maybe there will be some fog on the way. You build your hopes up when Clear Outside suggests 10 for fog, only to remember all those times before when it was just cloudy. Or you check the Met Office, excited to see a VP for visibility. Could this be the moment? Or will it be another VP that turns out to be E?

Most of the time, you’re hesitant because that forecast for fog hits the morning and, let’s face it, even in the winter, that morning rise can be a bit of a chore when all you have is a hint of hope that maybe you’ll wake to find that you can barely see beyond your doorstep. But every now and then, the forecast is in the evening and when that happens…bingo! No early rising, no dragging yourself out of bed on a cold morning, it’s just a late afternoon drive somewhere, and a leisurely stroll around before getting home in time for tea. Fog in the afternoon/evening is the dream, so often much more elusive than in the morning.

It just so happens that this last weekend, fog was forecast in the evening. So I decided to grab my stuff and head to Deal and hope for the best. Imagine my disappointment as I got ever closer, only to find there was not even the slightest hint of fog. Was I in for disappointment? Perhaps. Oh well, I got out of the house at least…

Found a suitable parking space, parked up, grabbed my coat, my camera bag, my beanie…wait, what’s that? That street lamp seems to be picking up some mist rolling in. Don’t tell me it’s actually going to happen? The very moment I park up, now the fog is going to roll in? This never happens. I’m nearly always in for disappointment. Well, we’re in. Let’s go!

And so into town, down the sidestreets, onto the promenade…the pier is…well, it’s there because I can see the lights. But that’s all I can see. Other than two figures sitting on the wall looking out to sea. Maybe a walk on the pier would be good with the lights…I feel an urge to channel my inner blade runner fandom. Just need the right subject, a person or couple that I can make the subject, with enough distance to other people to make it appear like they are on their own. A couple going for an eery walk down the pier in the evening, with the pier lights shining bright. That will do the job.

Back into town. Fog, cold, condensation…there have got to be some shots to be had here. The ice cream parlour. That usually works. Almost empty, but for a couple sitting at a table, reading a paper. Great. Sometimes you just get lucky. Sometimes the opportunities just scream out at you. Sure, sometimes the shot can be obvious, perhaps there’s more unique shots to be had if you just spend a bit of time thinking about it, but what if the moment goes? What if you lose any shot at all? All the thoughts that buzz around your head before you press down on the shutter. There will be plenty of times to mess around and experiment. Sometimes it’s just about getting the shot, no matter how obvious it feels in hindsight.

A potter back through town, hands in pockets, longing for the warmth of the car. And then it’s done. Got lucky. Got shots. Got cold. Got home. Until next time, evening fog. Whenever that may be…

Fringe and Ginge, Canterbury

Fringe+Ginge is one of my favourite cafes in the city. Well, in truth, it’s pretty much the only cafe I go to in the city…because I don’t really drink coffee so I’m really not down with the whole coffee culture thing. A good cup of tea is all the caffeine hit I need. But it’s not just the tea and chilled vibe (famously, no laptops and stressed people trying to work!) that draws me in, the windows also do it for me…especially at this time of year when it’s cold outside and nice and cosy inside.

In truth, I started taking pictures of the cafe long before I started going in and spending my money. After a while, I felt a bit guilty just using it as a photo location and figured I should actually go in and spend some money there too. And I’m glad I did, Alfie and Olivia (the owners) have made this an essential place to stop off and grab a tea, a pastry or a toasted sandwich. And both have been really cool about me taking photos in and around the cafe, which is also a big plus.

And for a small spot, there’s plenty of photo opportunities, again, especially at this time of year with the condensation on the large windows at the front and side of the building. I was even thinking recently that you could even make a really niche zine out of the interior and exterior of the cafe, but that’s probably a challenge too far for me at the moment. Something to consider in the future though maybe.

Anyway, I thought I’d pull together a number of recent photos taken inside and outside the cafe. It’s amazing what you can get in one, small location if the conditions are right and you are patient (which isn’t always the case with me).

Winter came...

After a hot summer and a pretty mild autumn, it came as quite a shock when winter hit last week. Of course, we didn’t get snow in this part of the country, but we did have freezing conditions, fog and some good hard frost across the county. Fortunately for me, this cold snap hit on a week where I had a weekday off work - huzzah! A rarity for the conditions to suit my diary, so of course I grasped the opportunity with both hands.

Between Thursday and Sunday I managed to squeeze in four locations and a couple of evening street photography walks too. All in all, a pretty great week. And it all started, where else, but in Fairfield.

Fairfield

Now, I’ve not been to Fairfield since that epic day earlier in the year that had me giddy as a school child. It’s one of those locations that is easily overdone, and so I like to space out my visits (helped somewhat by the long drive to get there from our neck of the woods). Taking the opportunity of a weekday off, I checked the weather forecast, got excited about the potential for thick frost, packed my camera bag and prepared myself for an epic trip.

After a swift detour to pick up Aga McPherson (the famous girl in a yellow jacket), we headed down to Fairfield, wrapped up warm and eager to capture the wintery scene we had pictured in our minds the night before. And we weren’t disappointed. Sheep roamed the fields, the water was frozen, the grass thick with frost…you couldn’t ask for better conditions (well, I guess you could ask for fog…but then, you know, there’s always something isn’t there?). I tried to get a few different compositions, some worked, some didn’t. But then there’s no point driving all that way only to get the exact same composition as before, right?

Of course, the photo above isn’t really a new composition, but there are a few in the gallery below. Just in case you doubted me!

Fairfield was great, it was freezing cold (as you’d expect in a relatively remote location this time of year), but it was fantastic. Sheep roamed around the church (which resulted in some very careful tripod placement!), and we were the only two photographers to enjoy the scene as the moon went down, the sun came up and the light caught the frozen grass. All in all, well worth the trip. And a brief nap awaited me on my return home before setting out into Canterbury and onwards to Folkestone for some street photography. Then it was all about planning for the weekend and considering where would be best to make the most of the freezing conditions.

Hothfield Common

On Saturday I had planned to go to Wye. But the roads were all closed, it looked like a horrorshow to get to the top of the Downs, and so I changed my plans and instead headed towards Hothfield Common. It’s only relatively recently I’ve “discovered” Hothfield. I had never been before last year, but there’s something about the place that’s quite captivating. Whether it’s the Highland Cows, the Konik ponies, the heather or just the unusual nature of the landscape, there’s something about it that makes you feel you are not in Kent at all, that you’ve been transported to another place altogether (at least until the dog walkers arrive and you hear the familiar East Kent accent).

Anyway, I’d not yet been in the winter time, and I’d had a few shots in mind if there was ever the opportunity to go in ice cold condtions. And…well, I wasn’t disappointed.

This was pretty much the compostion I had in mind. I’ve been returning to this tree a few times ever since my first trip to Hothfield, and been fascinated by the potential given it was surrounded by ferns and heather. As always, I had hoped for something slightly different. I felt like a bit of fog in the background would have helped simplify the scene, and it would have been nice for none of the branches to overlap with the background (I could get no lower than this) but nonetheless, I was pleased with this shot. I felt like it really captured the conditions that morning. And, fortunately for me, it was a scene that I had pretty much to myself.

Seasalter and Whitstable

Finally, Sunday saw a trip to Seasalter and Whitstable. The conditions once more were epic, with the added bonus of some fog (finally!) thrown into the mix. Although this time the problem was too much the other way…perhaps a little too much fog! Yes, I’m never satisfied. Seasalter was particularly pleasing though. The long grasses were frozen solid, the water in front of the beach huts was a sheet of ice, robins danced in amongst the grasses around me…you couldn’t really ask for more.

Not quite satisfied with my lot, I decided to head down the road to Whitstable and see what was on offer there. I’ve been wanting to capture a foggy view of the harbour for some time, and this seemed a good opportunity. And so it turned out. Thick fog enveloped the harbour. To the extent that, once more, you wished it was just a little less thick. But, again, one could hardly complain. These conditions don’t come along very often and expecting perfection is asking a bit too much. You just have to seize the opportunity and get what you can get.

And so that was a pretty hectic week. Freezing cold, but wonderful epic conditions the likes of which we rarely get the opportunity to shoot. And even now, a week later, it’s not quite done yet. Milder conditions are not forecast to hit for another 24-48hrs, so there might still be some time left to grab some epic wintery conditions before we head into Christmas. Fingers crossed there’s more to come, and maybe some snow at some point…just not around Christmas itself (we’re flying to Spain). If it can just time itself as well as the conditions did this time, I’ll be happy.

Dungeness and Rye

A couple of weeks back I took myself off to Dungeness and Rye with my camera gear for a birthday meander around the “only desert in the UK” (spoiler: this is disputed!) and then onto one of my favourite summer destinations. Well, the family were working or at school/nursery so I figured a little jaunt with my camera gear was in order.

I’ve been to Dungeness a couple of times over the years. The first time as part of a small trip that myself and a couple of friends had to organise for ourselves as part of our BTEC course (a fun trip that involved riding on the back of a stranger’s pickup truck on the way to Dungeness power station…). The second time was more recently, following a trip to the local nature reserve with the family. On the second occasion, I had packed my camera gear and intended to take a few shots of the scenery on the beach. I managed to fire a few off, but I was conscious my wife and kids were in the car patiently waiting for me to finish so we could head home. As a result, I wasn’t overly happy with the results so resolved to head back at some point and do a “proper photography trip”.

I’m sure by now you’ve heard or read many stories about Dungeness being a weird place with a strange and unique feel. It’s become almost a cliché about the landscape. However, no matter how cynical you are (trust me, I am very cynical), this sense of strangeness really does ring true when you visit. There is no denying it has a weird feel about it. Perhaps this was helped by my visit being during school term so I was virtually the only person on the beach. The lack of people and the eerie apocalyptic landscape came together to form a strange, other-worldly feel to the place. Well, it was either that or the nuclear power station…

A familiar sight at Dungeness...

A familiar sight at Dungeness...

I’d packed a few lenses with me, but mainly resolved to mainly rely on my recently purchased Sigma 10-20mm ultra wide angle lens. I’ve been quite happy with the results of this lens over the past few months, although I have found the auto-focus a little bit iffy at times – to the extent that I have almost permanently switched to manual focus. With Dungeness’ wide-open expanse filled with interesting objects, wide-angle seemed to be the best option to capture that sense of space punctured by decay and abandonment.

dungeness boat.jpg

I think many of the photos I took on the trip are pretty standard Dungeness scenes. There weren’t any new or alternative takes on the landscape, however my main aim on this occasion was simply to compose some good shots and capture the scene as it is. Yes, this has been done many times before by many enthusiastic photographers across Kent, but I was really unhappy with the shots from my last trip so I wanted to “do it properly” this time around.

dungeness boat 2.jpg

I was fortunate in that, as I mentioned above, there were few people around and I managed to get some shots of scenery without people in shot so it really helped to emphasise that apocalyptic landscape. I was also lucky in that although it was a hot and sunny day, the sky was broken up with cloud which really helped add texture and interest to the images. Clear blue skies, or flat grey skies really wouldn’t have helped. The sky needed some drama too to help with the composition.

Dungeness boat 3.jpg

I did have one minor annoyance on the trip to Dungeness. Whilst wandering around between scenes, I heard some movement in the shingle off in the distance. I looked, and a ridiculously large hare suddenly appeared and sat up, surveying the landscape. I had my wide-angle lens attached so reached to get the zoom lens from my bag. No sooner had I put my hands on it, than the hare decided it was time to explore. The moment had passed. I can see now why people take a “spare” camera (although I don’t see any sign of me adding a second camera any time soon).

After a couple of hours in Dungeness, I made my way to picturesque Rye. I’ve been going to Rye for some time now for short day trips. I’m not a collector of antiques (or tat to be honest) but Rye has so many little shops selling all kinds of interesting items, you easily get sucked into checking your wallet and seeing if you could maybe buy that weird item sitting on the glass cabinet. Then there are the cobbled streets lined with Tudor-framed buildings, Rye is the very definition of a charming little town.

rye castle.jpg

And so off I pottered, wandering the streets, taking a few shots. Typically, as it’s Rye, there were plenty of people meandering around the little art and craft shops around the main centre. Unfortunately, one of the main streets of interest (Mermaid Street) was also spoilt by scaffolding around one of the beautiful old buildings that line the street. It’s hard to be too grumpy, the buildings aren’t merely there to look nice in photos after all, but it was a little bit disappointing that I wasn’t quite able to get the shots I wanted. Nonetheless, I got a few shots I was quite happy with before pottering off home.

Rye town gate.jpg

I really enjoyed and valued the time alone to wander around with my camera and think a bit more about the shots I was taking. I still feel like I crammed in a bit too much (Dungeness alone would have been fine), but I felt that the time alone was valuable in terms of thinking about composition a bit more. One thing I am increasingly conscious of is that now I have a wide-angle lens, there is a tendency to shoot all landscapes using it to capture the full scene. What I need to think more about is capturing specific parts of the scenery to make for more unique takes on the landscape. After all, anyone can capture a whole scene, picking particular elements of interest is far more subjective and, potentially, far more unique.