location guide Archives - Stewart Mckeown Photography

Dec 17

by stew in location guide 0 comments tags: isle of sheppey, kent, kingsferry bridge, landscape, north kent, photography, sheppey crossing, swale

Kingsferry and Sheppey Crossing: A Tale of Two Bridges

There are two bridges built within close proximity that cross The Swale and link the Isle of Sheppey with mainland Kent. The Kingsferry bridge is the older of the two. It was built in the 1950’s and is a combined road and railway bridge with an interesting vertical-lift design for maritime traffic. This was superseded in 2006 by the Sheppey Crossing which is a has four lanes and reaches over 100+ feet in the air over the estuary. This location has become a firm favourite of mine over the past few years. Access along either side of The Swale is good which enables lots of different views of both bridges plus the surrounding low lying marshes are prone to mist and fog which make the bold bridge structures more enigmatic. Here a few of my efforts over the past few years:

Aug 09

by stew in field report, location guide, Uncategorized 0 comments tags: artwork, coast, kent, margate, statue, thanet

‘Another Time’ on Margate

Photographs from a few visits to the Anthony Gormley sculpture titled ‘Another Time‘ in Margate These are the first times I’ve photographed the Gormley sculpture on the Thanet coast despite it being here since 2017..! I’m not sure why. You do need the right tides to see it but perhaps it’s more because I’m somewhat of a contrarian/dick at times and when it was first installed I saw all the IG posts and probably didn’t want to be seen to jump on the bandwagon. Anyway, with the news that it is to now stay until at least 2030 there is no danger of that so I felt it was ‘About Time‘ I paid a visit or two… Having full knowledge of the tides is vital to getting the best results at the coast. My first attempt to capture the sculpture was a disaster as he was already completely submerged when I arrived so I slunk off around the corner to shoot in the harbour instead. Luckily on my next visit, I timed the tides much better, arriving at low tide so I could get a better understanding of the location and assess the best viewpoints. The first thing I noticed […]

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 […]

Mar 27

by stew in field report, location guide, Uncategorized 0 comments tags: flowers, kent, macro, orchids

Kent Wild Orchids

I’d like to share some of my photographs of Kent Wild Orchids from the past few summers. Whilst I am more of a ‘landscape’ photographer, seeking out and learning about these marvellous rare flowers turned out to be a great way to explore the county and fill those long summer days before a sunset shoot. The first orchids I came across were in a small reserve in Denge Woods named Bonsai Bank. I had been to the woods before to shoot bluebells in the spring but after doing some more research online I found out about this chalk scrubland well known for its Lady Orchids. There are hundreds of Lady Orchids here and all quite easily visible from the footpaths in the reserve. The difficult part is setting up the tripod and committing to a subject without worrying there is something better around the corner! On my first few trips looking for orchids the only suitable lens I had with me was my 70-200 f4 zoom. This telephoto lens is perfectly capable of getting some nice ‘record’ type shots but I soon added a Samyang 135mm f2 lens which offered the chance to get very different sort of images. It […]

Feb 09

by stew in field report, location guide, Uncategorized 0 comments tags: church, fairfield, field report, romney marsh

Fairfield Church

Fairfield church, also known as St. Thomas à Beckett church is an iconic isolated building on Romney Marsh in Kent. Little remains of the village it was first built to serve in the 13th century, Fairfield along with many other villages on the marshes vanished as the population fell, notably due to malaria which was prevalent in the area into the 1800s. The medieval church now sits alone in among the fields of grazing sheep, intersect with various watercourses and drainage ditches. These waterways offer fantastic opportunities to frame and reflect the church in all directions and are evidence of the practices in use to keep the sea from reclaiming the marshes. I have compiled some of my favourite shots of the church in the different seasons and times of the day. As you will see, there are many ways to shoot this iconic structure..! I’d better stop there although I have a few more..! As you can see, I’ve shot here a little bit over the years and yet it is still appealing to me due to the variety of angles available which all change depending on the time of day and when in the year you visit. Thanks […]

Aug 31

by stew in location guide, Uncategorized 0 comments tags: creek, exhibition, faversham, oare

Faversham – The start of a new project

I had my first solo exhibition earlier this year at Garage Coffee Canterbury. The show lasted for about a month and it was a great way to get my work and myself out in the public a bit with the chance it could lead to sales and other opportunities. And it did. After the exhibition finished I was contacted by the owners of a new venture in Faversham who had some fresh walls for me to fill. In April I moved my Kent Landscapes and Seascapes exhibition over to ‘The Refinery‘ in Faversham’s West Street and since then I have been focussed on producing new local Faversham landscapes to display. I had a few good images local to Faversham anyway but I would need to get out exploring again if I were to fulfil my aim of filling the space with purely local shots. Over the next few weeks, I visited previously known and unknown locations looking for photographic potential. I’ve come to discover that Faversham is blessed with marshes, creeks, historic buildings and charming town streets which offer a lot to the photographer. There are a few locations that I think will come into their own in Winter but […]

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 […]