Capturing a sense of place

Shingle Street on the Suffolk Coast is one of my favourite photography locations. It is one of those places that gets under your skin and persuades you to return time and time again.

As its name suggests it is a ‘street’ of houses on the edge of the beach, the remains of a village that was partially destroyed in the war. Despite its residential status it is a place with a wild heart and is protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. In winter it can feel desolate with vast expanses of undulating shingle but in summer the beach greens up and is covered in flowers. Red valerian, white sea kale, yellow horned poppies, blue vipers bugloss and sea pea and yellow mullions.

From a photographic perspective Shingle Street is a bit of an iconic location. Photographers come here to capture the sweeping curves of shingle around an isolated lagoon and the ever changing seascape all backed by an assortment of pre war buildings. It is an aspect I too have explored. But just recently I have been drawn to the floral landscape and in particular the yellow mullion that flower throughout July.

To get the best from the location I visited at sunrise on a perfectly still but moody morning. The lagoon looked like glass with amazing reflections and I was tempted to divert from my original idea but after some thought I turned my back on the water and headed for the flowers.

I wanted to capture the sunrise but the composition didn’t quite work so waited for the sun to rise a little and then excluded it from the shot. I still retained the colour in the sky but I got the light reflecting from the white buildings and through the grasses on the beach which I really liked.

Moving a bit further down the beach I experimented with composition trying different viewpoints - some at head height and some low down. I particularly liked the lower viewpoint as it made the plants feel more dominant and other worldly.

I finished off at the far end of the beach looking along the ‘street’ and this turned out to be one of my favourite images from the morning.