Kent Coast and Landscape Photography
Dec 31
by stew in field report, Uncategorized 0 comments tags: 2022, kent, landscape, photography

2022 Roundup

A look back over my photography in 2022. These are not necessarily my best images but they do help to tell the story of the year… January/February The year started with a trip to Fairfield Church on Romney Marsh. There is nowhere better to go when it is frosty and despite my many visits here over the years there are still shots I have yet to capture. This panoramic was one that I can now cross of my list. The bridge that links Kent with the Isle of Sheppey, known as the Sheppey Crossing, is a site of another location that I like to visit especially in the winter. The combination of frost and fog can make the commanding concrete structures of Kingsferry Bridge and the Sheppey Crossing look evocative and mysterious. I’ve written a blogpost that delves more into this area here Alas, the south-eastern English winter is not one comprised of interesting weather events one after another! There are many dull and dreary days to contend with where the will to venture out is low. On these days it pays to match the subject to the conditions. The decaying sea defences on the Sussex coast nr Winchelsea, for […]
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Jul 25
by stew in field report, location guide, Uncategorized 0 comments tags: kent, landscape, location, north kent coast, photography, whitstable

Whitstable, West Beach

A taste of the sort of photos available at this beautiful location on North Kent coast at Whitstable, West Beach. To the west of Whitstable’s harbour is a long shingle beach known as West Beach which is as good a spot as anywhere on the North Kent coast for photography. Popular with the crowds during the day, this north westerly facing location comes into it’s own especially during a summer sunset when most people will be out of the way chilling on the beach with a beer from the Old Neptune pub. There are many subjects to shoot here but my favourite are the wildflowers that grow in the shingle and sprout out in between the various boats and kayaks left on the beach. To the far end of the beach are a row of colourful wooden beach huts. Some of these have an extravagant paint job, like this hut below which I framed in the centre of my panoramic. Near these huts is an old jetty that requires a very well-timed visit to capture the tide at the desired height. Add planning around sunset into the mix and you’ve got a recipe for a lot of failed trips..! Thanks […]
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Jul 24
by stew in field report, Uncategorized 0 comments tags: deal, dover, kent, landscape, photography, ripple mill, windmill

Spring Colour at Ripple Mill, Kent

A selection of images taken in April 2022 of the yellow rapeseed fields that surround Ripple Mill; a Grade II listed smock mill in Ringwould, Kent. When a friend and fellow landscape photographer alerted me that the fields that surround the windmill were full of rapeseed this year I was more than keen to plan a visit. Ripple Mill is a location I have often passed as it is situated next to a busy road and although I had shot it from afar, I think I was always waiting for a colourful crop to accompany the scene. The night before I made my first visit I looked at the local OS map and I was pleased to find the windmill was encompassed by public footpaths. This would make it a lot easier and more relaxing to find a suitable viewpoint in the morning without worrying if the farmer would spot me. To be honest though, in all the years I have been out photographing the countryside I can only think of a couple of occasions when I have been confronted by the landowner but still, I’d rather not have to bother with them at all. This first morning turned out […]
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Jan 01
by stew in Canterbury, field report, Uncategorized 0 comments tags: canterbury, christmas lights, decorations, faversham, kent, marina, photography, ramsgate, xmas

Christmas lights!

A selection of photographs from this years Christmas decorations from Canterbury, Faversham and Ramsgate Marina. As I have been supplying images for calendars recently I thought it would be a good idea to shoot some festive images for next years designs. These images were all taken in December 2019 during the blue hour which would show the lights off at their best. Canterbury I live in Canterbury so you would have thought I’d get these images easily. However, the crowds of shoppers at this time of the year made shooting in Mercery Lane near impossible so that one required an early Sunday start! Faversham I was due to go into The Refinery to restock my greeting cards anyway so it made sense to shoot some Christmas lights here too. I was lucky that there was a light shower just before shooting which reflected the lights nicely on the town centre streets. Ramsgate The illuminations at Ramsgate Marina in aid of the RNLI have been going for years but I had never made it over to see them. If I get sunsets like this every time I’ll go every year..! Thanks and I hope you have enjoyed seeing my 2019 Christmas […]
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Jan 01
by stew in field report 0 comments tags: aonb, fog, kent, kent downs, landscape, mist, photography, summerhouse hill

Behind the shot: A Kent Downs Cloud Inversion

Behind the scenes look at a photograph I took at the beginning of December 2019 on the Kent Downs. As I write this on New Year’s Eve, there has not been much winterly weather so far here in Kent with the only real spell of cold weather occurring at the start of the month. This brief 3-day spell did produce some fantastic mist and frost though which I am always keen to make use of in my landscape photography. I have been shooting this area of the Kent Downs nr Folkestone quite a bit over the past couple of years and I had a list of the views I wanted to capture in the forecasted cold snap. The first shot I got on that initial cold morning was this panoramic from Farthing Common. I could see the landscape was covered in a frost as I passed in the car and with sunrise only a few minutes away I decided to grab this rather than risk missing out around the corner. The next morning had very similar conditions. Low winds and low temperatures overnight is usually a good indicator for mist but again it did not occur on the Downs. Perhaps […]
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Apr 13
by stew in field report 0 comments tags: kent, kent downs, photography, snow, winter

Snow Day 2018

Welcome! In this blog I’ll be going over what I did during the recent snow spell on the Kent Downs.     According to my Lightroom catalogue, there hadn’t been a sustained period of snow in Kent that I could get out to photograph since 2013. Shortly afterwards I remember writing a list of all the places I should visit next time to fully make use of the fluffy white stuff. Good planning, except that 5 years later when the list could finally be utilised, we got so much snow that the locations were inaccessible anyway! So, on the morning of the 27th February I wasn’t left with much choice where to visit. I decided to go to the nearby Chartham Downs as I knew the area well and I was fairly sure I could get there safely. On arrival the layby I usually park in looked like a disaster waiting to happen so I had to park at the end of the road and make the walk through the fields to get to the spot I had in mind.   It was a bit of a slog as you can see from the video       On route through the […]
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Oct 18
by stew in field report 0 comments tags: blog, blue hour, dusk, kent, kent coast, margate, photography, reflections, twilight

Margate Seafront: In pursuit of perfect reflections

  I thought I’d share with you my pursuit of the above shot taken on Margate seafront at dusk. Those familiar with the area will know there is a small bathing pool on the beach that you can walk along at all but the highest tides which is where I (eventually) got these reflections. It did take me a few dedicated trips though to find it myself, as in the past I have tended to neglect Margate for the nearby beaches in Broadstairs which I am slowly correcting.     When I did finally explore one evening I found my way to the pool just a bit too late and with the wind slightly too strong for mirror-like reflections but the game was on. Over the next weeks and months I kept an eye on the forecast waiting for an evening with very low wind. With the location being quite exposed on the coast, these conditions didn’t occur that often and even when they were forecast to, the slightest side wind would make things ‘interesting’..!     I was quite happy with these results but I would need to go back again for the panoramic view of the seafront. Shooting […]
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Jan 26
by stew in field report 0 comments tags: bamburgh, budle bay, castle, field trip, holy island, landscape, lighthouse, lindisfarne, north-east, northumberland, photography, scottish borders, st abbs

North-East Photography Trip Report

  I’ve just returned from the best part of a week away in Bamburgh, Northumberland. This is my second Winter photo trip after escaping to the epic West Cornwall coast last year. I like going away at this time of year as there are less people about so you’ll often have the place to yourself, accomodation is much cheaper and the coast can be wild and stormy; my favourite.   Day 1 I arrived shortly after dusk and checked into the Victoria Hotel in Bamburgh. I set out to quickly gather my bearings and look around the village which consisted of a couple hotels and shops. The castle dominates the view, in its size and the fact it was the only thing lit up at night. The rest of the village was in pitch blackness which is not quite what I’m used to in Kent. I began to walk along The Wynding but I was unprepared to exploring in the dark so I turned back although the sound of the coast was impressive and wet my appetite for the following morning.   Day 2 One shot I was keen to get while on this trip was of Bamburgh Castle reflected in the […]
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Nov 24
by stew in field report 0 comments tags: coast, dover, field report, kent, landscape, long exposure, photography, seascape, st. margaret's bay, white cliffs

St. Margaret’s Bay Field Report

St. Margaret’s Bay Field Report The other week I made two trips down to St. Margaret’s Bay nr Dover at sunrise. It’s a place I’ve been to many times before and in the past I’ve come back with some nice images. I wanted to visit again as at this time of year the sun rises directly out to the middle of the sea and with a high tide forecast I thought I could get some good shots of the incoming waves at sunrise. Of course that didn’t quite work out did it…! The tide turned out to be so high and rough that I couldn’t get down onto the beach far enough to reach the nice round pebbles this bay has. I persisted probably a bit too long before admitting defeat and moving on. By now the sun was coming up and casting nice golden light onto the far cliffs so I quickly shifted to a tried and tested shot to make use of the light.     Although its a view I’ve shot before I’m glad I did as the rough waves have really add something different. As it happens a few minutes after this the clouds rolled in and the […]
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