That First Photograph of Dawlish Warren

I can’t remember exactly how I was inspired to visit the beach at Dawlish Warren for the first time. It could have been a black and white image of the beach huts that I saw in one of my LPOTY books or I simply saw an image of the beach somewhere, realised how close it was to home, and decided I’d like to photograph it

Whatever way I was inspired, I made my first trip to photograph Dawlish Warren ten years ago to the day, the 29th August 2011. This is the image I took.

1st Dawlish Warren Sunrise (2011), Devon, South West Coast Path - Nikon D80, Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 at 18mm, f/18, 13 seconds at ISO 100. — **1st Dawlish Warren Sunrise (2011), Devon, South West Coast Path** - Nikon D80, Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 at 18mm, f/18, 13 seconds at ISO 100.

While I do hope my compositional skills and camera technique have improved since taking this image, the photograph does represent the start of a love affair I have with photographing Dawlish Warren. It’s difficult for me to remember what it is I saw that morning that made me keep coming back over the next 10 years. Perhaps it was the stunning sunrise, or the simple joy or being on the coast. If it had been a grey and overcast morning, would I have written the location off? Who knows and to be honest it doesn’t really matter. It was a special morning, and I did keep going back.

My 10 Favourite Photographs of Dawlish Warren

Over the next ten 10 years I continued to return to Dawlish Warren to photograph the beach at sunrise. Not all visits have been fruitful but some of them have been spectacular.

It’s not just epic sunrises that keep me going back. There are other reasons. Firstly, it’s close to home. With a 20-minute drive, it’s one of the closest photography locations I have access to. It’s also a constantly changing environment. Every visit is unique. Being a tidal location, the tide is constantly rising and falling, resetting, and changing the beach. The final reason is that the coast is one of the best places to witness sunrise. With no hills or mountains to block the sun, as soon as it starts to rise you can get the benefit of the light. That is assuming it’s not overcast. Not that it being overcast is a problem as I’ve captured some perfectly good images on cloudy days.

Below are ten of my favourite Dawlish Warren photographs that I’ve captured over the decade. These have been captured during my many adventures there which have been well documented both here on the blog and my YouTube channel. If you want to know more about all those adventures, then why not sign up to get my free landscape photography locations map. There you’ll find links to all my published adventures (of which there are at least 18).

My Most Recent Collection of Dawlish Warren Photographs

A decade on from that first visit to Dawlish Warren I continue to return to this wonderful location. Here is a collection of photographs from Dawlish Warren that I took on a recent visit. It’s not often that I’ll publish six images from one shoot, but it was one of those mornings where the conditions were just right for creating photographs.

I hope you have enjoyed this look at Dawlish Warren. Let me know in the comments if you’ve photographed Dawlish Warren or if you have a similar location that you photographed over the years.