Well the start of 2014 has certainly brought some 'interesting' weather with it so far.Theres been torrential rain,high winds and flooding across the whole of Britain.I had a week off recently which i had all planned for numerous trips out with my camera but for the whole duration of my break the weather was abysmal and ironically the weather turned good when i returned back on my first day to work! I felt like i was getting cabin fever just itching to get out and then a break in the weather appeared so i grabbed it with both hands.Mundesley,Norfolk has always been a favourite spot of mine and it had been a while since going down properly to the beach so that was my sunrise destination.There was a slight hiccup before i'd even got down onto the beach with the original place i park up having been fenced off due to sea damage done a few weeks prior.Still,after a quick change of parking area i was soon down upon the sand.As you can see from some of the pictures above,there was construction machinery parked on the beach as its an ongoing repair to the sea defences but this was to my benefit as its not normally something seen on the beach so the opportunities for interesting focal points was great.There was still plenty of evidence of the destruction from the tidal surge from a few weeks ago but morally i felt it wasn't right to take pictures of this,at the end of the day,its people's lives that have been affected by this and felt it would be in bad taste.Even with the damage present tho,the sunrise brought with it such beauty and just goes to show that the force of nature can be devastating at times but can also leave you awe-struck and amazed too.
Well for 2014 i decided to set myself some goals,inside and outside of photography.One main one tho was to try my hand at portrait work.Now by my own admission id never been a big fan of this area..For those of you who read my blogs,your know i tend to go out of my way to make sure people are removed from my pictures and seem to take an unnatural pleasure in doing so.My other put off with portraits is that your subject has to be guided into how you want them to pose and i have to say that i'm a particular shy person and taking that commanding lead quite frankly makes me feel uneasy.Still tho,pushing yourself to try different areas i feel really helps you grow as a photographer.I had it in my mind that if i was to undertake this project then id want to combine portrait with the landscape as i feel it gives you so much scope for interesting pictures and if you didn't already know,i kinda like my landscapes! I was very lucky with my model for the day.Shelly is a friend of mine and has a really fun and caring attitude and so easy to get on with.Not to mention she hadn't modeled before so we were kinda both in the same boat.The day itself was very overcast and dull but with the clothes Shelly wore and a few 'colourful' props really worked out well i feel.I think its important to have a rapor with your model too as we bounced ideas off each other and in fairness,Shelly was a real natural at it.It was certainly a great start to my portrait project of 2014 and has inspired me for the next ones.
