I’ll Get There One Day

I have over 400 pins in my custom Google Map but most of them I have never visited. Some of them are in far-flung locations like Iceland and the Faroe Islands, while some of them are just up the road. One such location is Burnham-on-Sea but despite its close proximity to home I've never really photographed it before. I did go a few years ago to check out the location to see if it had potential, but I've never made it back.

From that initial visit I knew the type of conditions I wanted to shoot my image in. Sunrise, high (outgoing) tide, and broken cloud. The trouble with setting yourself specific conditions like that is that they rarely all come together at the same time. When you have limited opportunities to be out with the camera like me, then having very specific conditions really does limit you. So for well over a year I never actually made it back to Burnham-on-Sea.

Fortunately for me fellow photographer Andi Campbell-Jones is a bit of an expert on shooting the lighthouse at Burnham-on-Sea, so when he asked me if I wanted to join him one evening I couldn't say no. If it was going to be good enough for Andi, it would be good enough for me!

It was good to finally get out with Andi to do a spot of landscape photography. I'd got to know Andi through my use of Kase Filters and even though we'd managed to meet each other in person a couple of times we'd never quite managed to get out with our cameras. This is despite both of us living in the same town!

I Made It!

Arriving at Burnham-on-Sea the conditions were looking very favourable, particularly the tide height. I always knew a high tide would work best, but as Andi informed me it needed to be of a certain height before it would surround the feet of the lighthouse. This was very useful information for future shoots so as soon as I got home I added it as a note (along with some other handy hints) in the pin for Burnham-on-Sea location in my custom Google Map.

Burnham-on-Sea Lighthouse #1, Somerset - Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 14-30 mm at 30 mm, f/13, 106 seconds at ISO 64, Kase Filters K8 filter holder, CPL and 10 stop ND. — **Burnham-on-Sea Lighthouse #1, Somerset** - Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 14-30 mm at 30 mm, f/13, 106 seconds at ISO 64, Kase Filters K8 filter holder, CPL and 10 stop ND.

With the tide now around the legs of the lighthouse I soon got to work on getting some compositions. This wasn't proving as easy as I first thought it might be. Andi's knowledge of the location was apparent as he seemed to know exactly what he was doing (which was later proved in the images he published. I think the main challenge for me was finding a balanced composition. There was some wonderfully heavy cloud in the sky which when shot at wine angles looked very impressive. However, shooting at the wide angles also revealed the much clearer patch of sky to the left. For me, this left the image feeling a little unbalanced, and this light patch was reflected in the water as well.

Burnham-on-Sea Lighthouse #2, Somerset - Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 14-30 mm at 14 mm, f/13, 13 seconds at ISO 64, Kase Filters K8 filter holder, CPL and 6 stop ND. — **Burnham-on-Sea Lighthouse #2, Somerset** - Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 14-30 mm at 14 mm, f/13, 13 seconds at ISO 64, Kase Filters K8 filter holder, CPL and 6 stop ND.

One of the other challenges I had was exposure time. The lighthouse and beach is a scene that suits a long exposure. By smoothing out the sea the scene takes on a different tone reducing the distractions of the waves allowing the viewer to focus on other elements such as the lighthouse itself. I struggled to find an exposure duration that would flatten the water but not add to much blur to the clouds. I don't mind blurring the clouds, but if I do I want to make sure it looks intentional and not as a by-product of another decision I've made. I could have gone with a really long exposure but with the fading light and a lack in confidence of a single composition I didn't want to commit 4 minutes of my limited time.

Burnham-on-Sea Lighthouse #3, Somerset - Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 24-70 mm at 24 mm, f/11, 2 seconds at ISO 64, Kase Filters K8 filter holder and CPL — **Burnham-on-Sea Lighthouse #3, Somerset** - Nikon Z7, Nikkor Z 24-70 mm at 24 mm, f/11, 2 seconds at ISO 64, Kase Filters K8 filter holder and CPL

While I did get some pleasing images from the shoot, my inexperience of the location was clear. This doesn't trouble me. After all, this is all part of the photographic experience. Going to new locations, trying out new things and learning. I gained a lot of knowledge of this location both from Andi and from actually shooting it! One thing is for sure I will be returning and armed with some local knowledge of my own now I'm sure it won't be long before I'm back.