Due South - a photo on Flickriver

Due South

            If you know Cornwall, you're probably aware that it's very much a county of two coasts.  I live close to the north coast where the wild Atlantic Ocean rages almost ceaselessly against the land throughout the autumn and winter with furious storms, which often arrive in sequence just before spring finally arrives.  Even during the summer the sea near us is ever energetic, bringing surfers to the huge sandy beaches in their droves.  It's a fantastic area to photograph, packed with mood and drama throughout the seasons.  I feel very fortunate to have all of this on my doorstep, and this love of photography means that winter is no longer something to be dreaded, because it's often the season that brings the best pictures.  As long as you wear enough clothes and bring food and coffee it brings some of the really memorable outings.

I've been living "up north" for a few years now and I absolutely love it.  But for most of my life I lived right next to the south coast in Falmouth. In the town where I grew up and raised my children I could just about see the sea from my bedroom window, and a very different ocean it is there too.  More English Channel than Atlantic Ocean the coast on the south side of the county is much more gentle almost everywhere, with sloping shingle beaches and rocky coves.  The angry waves of the north are replaced by benign ripples and the visitors who arrive with bodyboards will find locals looking at them quizzically as we wonder why they haven't gone to Perranporth or Newquay.  Strange that these coastal cousins, so close in distance can be so different in nature.

So perhaps no surprise then that I rarely share an image from our serene south coast.  When I've tried to photograph Falmouth, it seems that I barely know the place I still regard as my home town.  I've never once taken a picture there that I looked at later and felt that tell tale rush over.  The results always look a bit like postcards at best.  For such a lovely town I figure there must be images in it somewhere to raise my pulse, but I haven't found them yet and in truth I haven't tried very hard either.  Maybe I'm just lazy and I know the north will give me what I want every time.

But a couple of months ago I did find a spot with some promise, courtesy of the recently arrived telephoto lens I'm still struggling to master.  The genteel Trelissick Estate, a National Trust gem of tranquility sits along the banks of the River Fal between Falmouth and Truro.  In December I'd noticed a promising composition there that I'll have to return to at a later date because it wasn't playing during this visit.  As I sighed in frustration at a scene that I'm certain has promise for another time, I noticed this alternative, which was available from almost exactly the same spot.  It was the way in which the sunlight was painting the treetops at the back of the scene that really caught my attention, coupled with the petrol blue tones of the river.  And what really made me happy was the one tiny white speck of a gull providing a narrative and scale to the scene in front of me.  Amazing how a few minuscule white pixels can affect the way one feels about an image and the memories that are taken away afterwards.  

So there it is.  Proof that if I bothered to look towards the south a bit more often I might see something that catches my eye.  It's two weeks since I last even touched my cameras as life has been full of other stuff recently.  Not bad stuff, but just stuff that is keeping me away from photography.  I'm even two weeks behind with Nigel Danson - normally I watch his Sunday morning YouTube uploads the minute he releases them.  Life is like that sometimes as you well know.  Still, a trip elsewhere is closed to hand now, so I might finally have some new stories to share soon.

Have a great weekend everyone.  I'll catch up properly soon!

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

Taken on: April 10, 2021

Tags:

Trelissick

River Fal

Fal

trees

tree

treescape

woodland

woods

Water

telephoto

Sigma 100-400

Cornwall

cornish coast

Coast

British Coast

England

Great Britain

gull

nature

National Trust « less

Sets appears in: • Trees

Groups appears in: • Amateurs • Amateur Landscape more » • Cornwall Flickr Users • Flickr Social Club • Photography Week • Flickr Social « less

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, f/8.0, 1/25 sec, 400mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
Lens:	100-400mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM \| Contemporary 017
Aperture:	f/8.0
Exposure Time:	0.04 sec (1/25)
Focal Length:	400mm
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 Lightroom Classic 10.2 (Windows)
Show full info

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