Dover Beach

This shot was taken on the beach below the famous 'White Cliffs of

Dover'. The beach is a strange place, consisting of large, black

cobbles and occasional lumps of chalk. Both the black cobbles and

the white chalk come from the cliff which is continually eroding

away and falling. The black cobbles on the beach make a series of

grinding roars as they are rolled about by the waves that break on

the shoreline. The water has a strange milky look from the

dissolving chalk. Matthew Arnold evoked the sound of the pebbles

roar as a metaphor of loss and sadness in his poem 'Dover Beach'.

 

The brown object in the cliff face is a WW II gun emplacement now

quietly rusting away.

 

All comments welcome!

Good shot. At first the ladder bothered me (not anymore, it's not too dominant), then the rusty brown something intrigued me - good thing you explained that, I would have asked otherwise. Nice work. Thanks for sharing, Gunnar

Compositionally, I like your triangles radiating around the vanishing point. Interesting. I'm less sure about the "lump of chalk". It rather detracts from my enjoyment of these triangles. Another interesting feature of the triangles is that each is colored differently...

First of all ... the small black stones look fabulous against the white lump of chalk. I also love that you put the chalk so close to the camera, giving it an interesting perspective. And the SKY is great. How do you DO that??? ;-) This one's a winner, Colin!

Thanks Gunnar, the ladder certainly bothered me as I had to climb down it then up again and it had to be 30 feet high or at least felt it.

 

David, after all the trouble I went to to put the foreground lumps of chalk in and then you don't like them! :-) I admit I would prefer them to be seen as separate lumps rather than the apparent single line . I liked the triangles too.

 

Lou Ann thanks - glad you like the lumps of chalk as I went to some effort to get them in the shot! To get skies like this you need a) terrible weather b) a wide angle lens c) (not essential) an ND grad filter.

That's it, Colin, I'm definitely getting an ND grad filter. Your skies are too cool, as I've said before, and this is another example. Love the perspective here and the textures. Are you using a hard ND or a soft one and what maker? Cokin, Lee, Singhray?

Colin, thanks for sharing this image and explaining your work. Beautiful composition and presentation of this famous beach. The sky,the sea, the peebles,the chalk, the cliff, and your presentation-all add to visual delight.

Wow! It looks fantastic with those black pebbles and the white cliffs. I like your composition with the triangles and all lines meeting in the center. The white lump in the foreground makes a nice break with it's rounded shape. The ladder is perhaps not adding, but isn't disturbing either. I like the brown thing sticking out. Again I see a scene from a science fiction story. That's an aliens summer house :)

 

(I was not allowed to rate the way I wanted. I'm all confused and unhappy about this new rating system. Anyway, in my eyes this photo is aestethically excellent.)

Colin, this is great, I love the history and the image is wonderful, nicely composed. Thats a mean looking sky though. Cheers, Sondra

Colin! I liked it right away. In the beginning I was not ready for the big lump,but as longer I looked,it grew on me. I see it surrealistic, like a Dali,also the ladder and gun history fits with it. Specially because everything else looks so still and sharp, the black cobbles are attractive, so is the sea and the sky. The composition with the triangle shapes, the different colors.I think it is a fascinating artistic photograph. And thanks for the history.

Very beautiful composition. I like the excellent perspective and the light

Thanks Ken , Amal, Camilla, Sondra, Aleandra and Adolpho! I appreciate your comeents.

 

Ken the filter is a 0.6 soft edge ND grad by a small UK specialist filter company called SRB. I plan to get a wider variety at some time.

 

Camilla, please don't concern yourself at all about ratings. Your comments are much more valuable. The site administrators have changed the rules to prevent people exchanging 7's so if I rate a shot of yours with a 7 you will not be able to rate one of mine with a 7 for two weeks. It is frustrating at times but if it helps discourage 'mate-rating' then I don't mind.

An alien's summer house! Nice idea :-)

 

Alexandra, Dali is right - the place is surrea;ist in feeling with the black beach and white cliffs. (But I do not have his moustache!)

 

 

 

 

Ha, I know what you went through on that ladder, remember the shot I took of Emley Moor? :D

 

Love the dark pebbles, I never would've imagined that they were natural, I was about to ask if they were 'imported' before I read the full details on the shot.

 

As a lad I used to be fascinated by old military bunkers and emplacements, spurn point is another site thats riddled with them.

 

Regarding your skies Colin, it was your use of ND grads that prompted me to purchase some, they are just brilliant, save so much fiddling with bracketed exposures and PS malarky.

 

Finally, I really like how this shot is neatly disected by all the lines converging just off centre, it's a very nice radial composition. Great stuff yet again Colin. You really get about, are you sure you weren't nautical in a previous life?

Interesting composition, and textures.well seen. Pnina

Thanks Ben. Thanks Pnina!

 

The ladder was quite an experience particularly as I was carrying a bag of camera gear. The whole cliff is riddled with gun emplacements, bunkers and tunnels and the path down to the beach I guess was the access for the emplacement.

 

I am not nautical in the sense of being any sort of mariner but I have always had a fascination for ships and the sea.

 

The black pebbles come from strata in the chalk. At intervals the chalk sequence is broken by a layer of hard black cobbles that unlike the chalk do not just dissolve away. So they end up forming a beach below the cliffs. Weird colour scheme!

 

Glad you are enjoying using ND grads!

 

 

Hello Colin, I like the convergence of lines in this shot. The sky is, as mentioned earlier, great. It's full of menace.

 

It's very good to see you back in action. I hope your new computer is keeping you busy.

 

I have been too busy trying to sell my filters to have thought about using them on the 20D. Perhaps I should start playing with them.

 

Best wishes. Peter

I like the diagonal composition & the placement of the rock directing us to the see.

Who put the ladder there Colin? not you....?I was in a hurry before,so now I will go deeper into it. Interesting is the difference of the rough cliff, the smooth water and the roundness of the pebbles and the white round part on them. their color has some similarity to the dark clouds what gives a unity to the composition.The diagonal line of composition has as well an imaginative one done by the dark clouds direction.very nice composition ,Colin. Pnina

Those white stones are obviously the remains of german landing craft. They were turned to stone by that witch coven that was suppost to be protecting Britian from invasion...

 

As others have said, great contrasting areas of texture and colour, and the dark clouds in the corner really hold the balance. I don't mind the line of rocks(as opposed to them being seperate), seems to work with the smaller peebles.

Haven't been there for long, Colin, so doubly enjoying this picture. You, nature and the weather made an excellent job here. I like the chalk in front and the four different colors of this landscape.Arrrgh, the dumb rating rule!

to see through your eyes a world i doubt i will ever go see myself is one of my great little pleasures, this one included. thanks for getting it and working it up and posting for people like me to enjoy.

At first sight (and especially the thumbnail), I thought, Colin this was nothing special and maybe on the contrary. But I went on to see the larger version. And then it all at once popped much more interesting...

 

For me, there are 2 triangle pairs of similarity. The first pair being the pebblish ground with the white chalk boulders (I'd also prefer them to be separated, but I guess you're not tall enough :-) and the sky with the clouds being a mirror objects. The second pair of wedges is the water and the cliff. Those two might not be that interesting, but they are necessary as they connect and finish all the other elements here.

 

And getting back to my original impression, the texture of pebbles is very fine and needs either large monitor or better a large print. Then it could be very interesting...

 

Jiri

When I come to your place I'm always inspired. Maybe someday I will be able to take pictures of your caliber. Love all the textures in this image and the lighting on the cliff also created some nice shadows. Great detail in those lovely pepples. I saw a beach with those same pebbles on the eastern tip of the Gaspe peninsula in Quebec. Thanks for sharing the technical details as well. I'm taking notes :-)

great composite, the image is very dramatic, the place looks surreal and hostile...

Very well done!!!

cheers jana

great shot...wow!!!