Sabbatical Day 1: Old Hunstanton Beach

(if you’re hear to learn about Old Hunstanton Beach scroll down to the next section – while this blog details my visit I also realise people arrive to find a location guide)

Edit: Please note I was wrong about the wreck of the Sheraton, it is located much closer to the cliffs and no submerged except at low tide, instead it is covered only at mid-high – high tide as the tide reaches the cliffs.

I must admit that with all that is going on in the world I have mixed feelings about taking a sabbatical purely for the joy of getting away with my camera. With the cost of living rising, fuel and petrol prices remaining at high levels and the government hell-bent on tanking the pound and increasing inflation there’s a lot of pressure on people. Not to mention wars and floods across the world. And here’s me – heading off for a month off work driving to Norfolk to take photos…

My sabbatical came about due to working at my company for 8.5 years – we are granted the ability to head out for a month after 5 years service – and so I chose October, for its colours, the migration of birds and a season of change. I decided to take up photography as full time as I could during the time and make the most of one of my hobbies – which work provides scant time for.

Norfolk was chosen for this first week firstly due to my familiarity with it, we’ve spent a few family holidays on the North Norfolk coast. While I wondered about heading abroad I decided familiarity would help me relax in the busy time leading up to the trip rather than worrying about researching locations. Secondly, the mixture of bird life and landscapes was a pleasing mix – especially as a midlander stuck miles from the coast – I dream of long, milky exposures and wooden sea defences.

My journey from Nottingham was meant to take me past Heckington Windmill but a closure of the A17 by Sleaford meant a 45 min diversion back the way I came and a frustrated Chris arrived at his caravan wondering if this was going to be his trip…

I’m staying in a static caravan this week at Heacham and so after quickly dropping off my bits I drove to Old Hunstanton in order to tackle sunset. While my apps – I use Clear Out and Skyfire – didn’t show much hope of a decent sunset at least it would be clear.

Old Hunstanton

Car Park frustration proved the first obstacle as I followed signs to the Cliff Carpark and under the 2m height barrier. I couldn’t get my car registered with the app this particular car park has chosen to use – why so many apps! If visiting after 4pm and before 9am next morning parking is just £2 and accepts cash.

With no cash I was feeling very frustrated before I headed out the car park and found a nice street to park on – the joys of visiting out of season.

The tide was furthest out at 5.30pm with sunset forecast for 6.30pm. I headed down the slope from the cliff car park and found a large beach covered in sand ripples with a long winding “stream” pushing through the sand and out to sea. For future posts, I’ll need to include a few scene-setting shots. If you’re reading this hoping to visit Old Hunstanton Beach then here are some bits you should know:

• the cliffs are one of the main features with a deep red and white colouration
• the modern-ish lighthouse atop the cliffs was covered in scaffolding for my visit in October 2022
• the walk from the car park is a little steep but immediately opens out onto the beach and cliffs
• a walk of about 10 minutes brings you to boulders with a wooden hull of a boat visible at the lowest tides just as the boulders start
• at high tide beware the sea comes right to the cliffs so be careful and use common sense

I arrived as the tide was at its lowest and tried a few shots with reflections in the wet, rippled beach looking back at the cliffs but with the strong blue sky and light, the results didn’t grab me.

Soon I was at the boulders, and among flocks of knots, and struggled to find a sunset composition. With so many boulders and pools, it was hard to find the angles and initially I settled for single and small groups of boulders near the rising tide rather than the busier ones further back. Fortunately, the sky delivered to a degree – the following shots show what I managed (these are HDR images blended in Lightroom to help manage the exposures at sunset).

I then decided to try further back but the chaos of the rocks and pools left all compositions slightly awkward before I found a nice leading line in a pool flowing out to sea and a handy razor clam (that I didn’t even need to move) provided some foreground interest.

After the sunset the golden hour light afforded more possibility with the cliffs and reflections and the ripples provided some nice leading lines with the sparse rocks providing foreground interest. A moon provided some interest but the first shot works better without the distraction and so I cloned it out.

Finally, light fading, I turned to some intentional camera movement and played the camera along the ripples before moving it to the beach – creating what I think are some nice effects (but ICM won’t be to everyone’s tastes).

Tomorrow, Monday, will see me visit Happisburgh first light and then return to try and find bearded tits in the reeds before the wind picks up later in the week.

Thanks for reading. Chris