In Camera...Clear Winter Sunset

Last weekend, before the current "Beast from the East" storms, we enjoyed a few clear but cold winter days with a sky of unbroken blue. On the Sunday the horizon was clear and sharp and the setting sun at Crosby beach sank cleanly below the horizon, undisturbed by the clouds that usually gather over the distant horizon.

The Stena-Mersey sails past the Iron Men on Crosby beach

The sun sinks cleanly into the sea.

Waiting for a possible green flash after sunset, which sadly did not appear on this occasion.

In Camera...Winter Light

Yesterday was dark and grey with strong gusting winds and wintery showers. Snow fell in many parts of the country and was forecast for the North West, but the forecast snow did not materialise in Crosby and by around 15.30 the sky was clearing from the north west. The cloud was breaking and revealing patches of blue and I decided to head down to the beach to see if there was any chance of a dramatic sunset.

Down on a cold and deserted Crosby beach, the sand surface near the promenade was very smooth and polished looking, a result of the strong cold winds blowing in from the Irish Sea.

The Clwydian hills to the West lay blanketed with snow under a thick bank of dark grey cloud over Wales but the sky above was streaked with orange tinted cirrus clouds glowing from the last light of the sun, reflecting light into the tidal gullies of water left on the beach by the receding tide.

A truly bleak, but somehow beautiful, raw winter evening where there were only the solid silhouettes of the iron men to share with me the appreciation of nature in this wonderful glowing light at the end of a stormy day.

In Camera...Perfect Winter Day

Coronation Park, Crosby. Early morning mist over frost covered fields lends atmosphere to this shot of the rays of light from the rising sun

Last Saturday was a rare perfect winter day for atmospheric photography. The temperature did not rise much above freezing point all day but the absence of wind made it feel warmer. A light mist hovered across the cold ground all day and there was a radiant golden glow of light just after sunrise on this very cold and frosty morning as the sun slowly pierced the fog, it's light forming rays of light and shadow spreading through the hazy air.

Coronation Park, Crosby, just after sunrise

Beech Trees, Alexandra Park, Crosby

Beech Trees, Alexandra Park, Crosby

 The two images above show how shooting into the light can make such a difference to the picture. They are the same trees in both pictures.

Frost covered ground, Alexandra Park, Crosby

In the afternoon the back lanes near Little Crosby are full of low lying mist across the still frosty fields and the sun is setting as I drive through. The whole day is very reminiscent of Christmas with smoke rising through the still cold air, the roofs and ground white with frost and that lovely soft pink glow from a winter sunset which depend to a warm orange afterglow as the earth rotates into darkness.

Late afternoon in the fields near Little Crosby

The afterglow on a fine winter evening across the fields near Little Crosby

Down on Crosby beach, a bank of fog lies out to sea, the sky above filled with the afterglow of sunset. The iron men fade into the distance.

The Mile Marker on Crosby Beach looms out of the fog on this cold winter day

In Camera...Clear Winter Days

The last few days have been more like winter should be, cold, clear crisp air and blue skies and low, strong winter sunshine have brought some colour back to the landscape. The image above shows the dunes at Formby on the Sefton coast with some flooding in the foreground, a remnant of the heavy, continuous rains of the the last couple of months, reflecting the blues of the sky.

Later the same day at Crosby beach the sun sinks into a band of cloud spreading from the west, casting a curtain of warm golden colours across the cold winter scene, the seabirds in constant motion against over the cold waters; their raucous calls the only sound in the clear air.

Stark winter beauty

The stark winter beauty of a tree devoid of leaves showing the fine tracery 

of the branches. The soft misty day helps emphasise the outline of the branches.

Photographed near Newgrange, Ireland.

In Camera ... Tropical sunset on a cold winter day

The sun appears to slide behind snow covered Welsh hills as the earth rotates eastward into darkness, the western sky ablaze, almost tropical in intensity on this bitterly cold evening. The gap between earth and sky aflame with the afterglow, the underside of the clouds tinted deepest amber by the light from our nearest star.

Driving through Little Crosby on a very cold and frosty Saturday afternoon, the winter sky was a clear deep blue with the sun, now low in the west hidden by a band of magenta, pink and mauve cloud edged with gold that lay in a strip above the snow covered Welsh hills. I reckoned that the sunset in ten minutes time at 16.00 would be one worth capturing and drove down to the Hall Road car park. As luck would have it the tide was just receding, leaving the sand sparkling and moist, reflecting the reddish gold light from the sun which had now emerged below the band of cloud and was intensifying in colour every minute. 

For some reason the seabirds were disturbed and agitated, flying around an area of water close to the beach, their raucous calls sharp and clear in the freezing air, feathered outlines silhouetted against the strong low light. The sun appeared to slide behind the white Welsh hills as the earth rotated eastward into darkness, the western sky ablaze, almost tropical in intensity on this bitterly cold evening. The gap between earth and sky aflame with the afterglow, the underside of the clouds tinted deepest amber by the light of the now hidden star.