Crosby Beach, Sefton, Liverpool

No to what?

Tags:   Crosby Beach Antony Gormley Another Place statues infrastructure minimalism night shoot high key long exposure LE Andy Rouse AndyRousePhotography Canon 5DMkIII EF70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM

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Crosby Beach, Sefton, Liverpool

A place of great solitude when the conditions are not the best. It does give one time to think and I couldn’t get the lyrics to Eleanor Rigby out of my head hence the title.

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Crosby Beach, Sefton, Liverpool

Not quite me but our resident prop and all-round good egg – Geoff.

One of the very few occasions that a photoshoot was very nearly called off but for Mike who had already made the journey there. So glad we didn’t back out.

Here’s the controversial bit…
What’s the difference between a photographer and the rest… the weather!
We were the only four people on the beach in these conditions, apart from a couple of dog walkers. No smartphone selfie-takers here. And that’s the difference, it takes a certain dedication… and madness to make the effort and persevere in such conditions. What appears as bland and dull takes more imagination to produce an image out of nothing. I’ll guarantee you will see four different takes on this location even thought we were all stood in close proximity to each other.

Tags:   Crosby Beach Antony Gormley Another Place statues Seaforth Docks cranes night shoot blue hour raining dusk reflections light trails lone exposure LE Andy Rouse AndyRousePhotography Canon 5DMkIII EF70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM

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Somewhere in Manchester

The climax to the Brad and Barb annual pilgrimage to the UK Lakes and Dales grand tour terminating in Manchester. Many had joined along the way but only the hardy and dedicated saw it through to the end.

As is predictable and normal with any British Bank Holiday weekend, things didn’t get off to a good start. The plan was for the advance scouting party of Mark, Geoff, Shelly, Mike and myself to shoot at Crosby Beach and the Antony Gormley statues – Another Place (Friday night). The weather was lousy and the traffic even worse for those traveling to meet up. Shelly had made it to basecamp (The Rouse House) with Mark and Geoff crawling up the M6. Mike had already made it to Crosby when M&G arrived at basecamp and thoughts of aborting the mission did come to mind, but the honour of the STS (Who Dares Shoots) was at stake and no man shall be left behind enemy lines so we set off.

More of the Crosby shoot in a later posting…

If I’ve learnt anything from shooting with other togs and members of the STS when the conditions are far from perfect is this… take the bloody camera out of the bag and shoot something, which leads me to my first upload. We pre-booked the car park for the early bird rate providing we entered before 8:00am. Conditions carried over from the night before with flat grey skies and light, but constant drizzle… you know the stuff that wets you through!
Needless to say, I hadn’t taken my camera out of the comfort of its nice warm snuggly waterproof slingshot bag. We hadn’t gone more than 50 yards from the car park when I sensed we were a man down so turned around to find Mark way back merrily shooting away like he was using an AK-47 assault rifle.

Bugger me I thought… what’s he spotted already that I’ve missed so out came the camera and the first shot was fired off! This is actually the second image as I didn’t check my setting and the first was a little fuzzy (amateur I hear you all cry!) And so, the benchmark was set for an enjoyable day’s shooting with friends and the weather can go do one!!!

Tags:   Brad and Barb Grand Tour Manchester Flickr meetup STS Who Dares Shoots NCP Car Park Salford New Bailey Loverose Way street photography architecture Andy Rouse AndyRousePhotography Canon 5DMkIII EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM

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Stonehenge, Amesbury, Wiltshire

I was going to clone out the masses on the right-hand side, but then the title wouldn’t work. And yes, I know it’s a classic movie misquote along with “Play it again, Sam”.

Tags:   Stonehenge stones Neolithic prehistoric ancestors monument wonders of the world World Heritage Site 1986 Amesbury Wiltshire black & white B&W dark moody long exposure LE misquotes Field of Dreams Casablanca Andy Rouse AndyRousePhotography Canon 5DMkIII EF17-40mm f/4L USM

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