location guide Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Stewart Mckeown Photography

Mar 19

by stew in location guide 0 comments tags: herne bay, kent, north kent coast

Herne Bay Location Guide

Herne Bay is a seaside town on the North Kent coast which has a lot to offer the photographer and all within a tight area. In this guide I have compiled my favourite views in and around Herne Bay to shoot, I live nearby so it has become a go-to spot for me when the light is right. This is in no way exhaustive as I have a few more angles on my to-do list also! Herne Bay Pier Herne Bay used to have the second longest pier in the country before storms collapsed the central section in 1978, leaving the pier head isolated out to sea. This only makes the view of the pier leading towards the detached head in the distance all the more interesting and unique in my opinion though. The pier can be shot well from either side depending on the direction of the light. For example, during the Summer it can be effective to shoot the setting sun in between the pillars of the pier; just be careful of standing too long in the mud. That stuff is treacherous! Pier Head The detached pier head can make for an ideal subject in its own right. […]

Dec 08

by stew in location guide 0 comments tags: botany bay, broadstairs, kent, kent coast

Botany Bay, Broadstairs

For this blog I’ll go through some of my best shots from Botany Bay on the Kent coast. Botany Bay is one of seven sandy beaches in the town of Broadstairs on the Isle of Thanet. It is an especially good sunrise location and one which I have regularly visited over the years and continue to. One of the reasons I like this location so much is its potential for an uncluttered, minimalist shot. With this example above, I was able to strip the scene back completely to include just the elements I wanted of sea, cliffs and sky. It was a very high tide that morning so by going in a few feet I was able to fill my foreground with water. An exposure time of 15 seconds has made the water smooth and reflected the colour in the sky. I positioned the cliffs to the right hand side and tried to make an interesting shape out of them. Now, it gets a little trickier with the final element of the sky. Between the months of March – October, the sun will rise out to the left of the cliffs from this view. If the […]

Aug 30

by stew in location guide 0 comments tags: herne bay, kent, location guide, north kent coast, photography, reculver

Reculver Location Guide

Welcome to my photography location guide for Reculver on the North Kent coast. Located a few miles away from Herne Bay, Reculver is a very small village consisting of a pub, a new coffee shop and a few hundred holiday caravans. For us photographers though the iconic twin towers of the medieval church built on the site of an early Roman fort will be the main purpose for a visit. I live in nearby Canterbury and have thousands of images taken here; it must be my most visited location. The Reculver Towers dominate the skyline for miles and so naturally they will also dominate this guide although they are other things to shoot here as you’ll see. I have split this guide into 3 sections; front of the towers, behind the towers and the other things to shoot. Front The front face of the towers can be best photographed from down on the beach. Walk westerly along the sea wall from the car park and you’ll find the small slope down onto the beach in front of the sandstone cliffs. Access is available to this section under the cliffs even at high tide but to get out […]