Seacliff

After visiting Gosford Estate earlier in the day we took a drive along to Seacliff Beach, a private beach near North Berwick. Apparently, I had been here before when I was little but I have no memory of it. It's a very nice secluded place and good for a quiet stroll. 

I loved the wispy clouds and the patterns on the sand. I seem to like taking pictures of Bass Rock but it's not my fault, it's visible from so many places! Unfortunately, it wasn't focused very well but I like it nonetheless. 

The lighthouse is way too small in the frame for this composition but it was the water on the sand mimicking the clouds that caught my eye.

After a walk on the beach we set out to find Seacliff House. From the beach it isn't immediately clear where it is, as it isn't very visible. The following pictures are some of the things that we saw during our search for the house.

After a bit searching we managed to find it. Here is a little history about the house taken from www.scotland.org.uk:

Seacliff House was built in 1750 by Robert Colt. It was later bought by George Sligo who in 1841 employed the Scottish architect David Bryce to build a new house in a typically Victorian baronial style around the core of the older house. However, in 1907 it was gutted by fire. The exterior survives almost complete with gables, turrets and bartizans. The outbuildings were later purchased by the Royal Navy who established a top-secret research base there during World War I. The station, known as HMS Scottish Seacliff, was mainly used for navigation training and U-Boat defence.

These days the house has been reclaimed by nature and the exterior is covered in ivy.

The light was fading fast and we had to leave before they closed access to the area (it's a private beach and area) so I didn't manage to take as many pictures as I would have liked. However, it was still well worth the visit. There's just something about places like this that fascinate me. Once owned by people, now owned by nothing but nature. Gives me a sort of post-apocalyptic feeling.

All images taken with my Contax G2 and Portra 400 except for the last three which were taken with my Mamiya 7ii and Fuji 400H. Developed and scanned by the amazing Canadian Film Lab.

Aberlady Bay

This next series of images are from when my Mum and I went for an afternoon walk along Aberlady Bay. In 1952 it became the UK's first Local Nature Reserve. All images were taken with my Contax G2 and Kodak Ektar 100 except for the last two which were taken with my Konica Pop and Fujicolor C200.

Loved the way the shadows fell on the bridge.

Beautiful view on what was a beautiful day. I feel this one really shows how great a film stock Ektar is, such great colours.

Been trying my hand at shooting some minimal stuff here and there. I feel like my eye for seeing those kind of compositions out in the world is improving.

A lone swan.

Another minimal landscape. I love shots like this.

To finish off this set of pictures from Aberlady Bay I'm going to post a couple from a quick test roll I shot on my Konica Pop. The Konica Pop is about as "point and shoot" as they come with fixed focus and exposure. The pictures it produces tend to have a lovely soft, lo-fi look to them.

3 Pals, 2 Rolls of Film and 1 Cat

Back in March I went to visit Adam and Emily to see their new cat Peco. I thought it would be a good idea to test some faster speed films handheld in dim light so I brought along my Contax T2 loaded with Delta 3200 and my Contax G2 with Cinestill 800T (pushed to 1600). At the time I didn't realise Delta 3200's true speed was 1000 so I shot it at box speed but despite that fact, I think they turned out really well. Sure, they are grainy but I think it's a pleasant grain. The pictures are mostly snapshots so don't expect my best work, but with that being said, I think I managed to get some really nice ones of Peco and his humans.

As you may have noticed the Cinestill shots have some purple spots/blotches in them which is something that can happen, apparently. Despite that though, I thought it did a lovely job and produced a unique look, especially with the shots of Adam and Emily in the bathroom.