Blog

Caribbean Sailing Photography
Bequia Youth Sailors



Two new portfolio's added:

Bequia Youth Sailors : Young Island Regatta
Bequia Youth Sailors : Weekly training

I have launched a new series of gallery portfolios to cover the Bequia Youth Sailors program.

The program offers young schoolchildren on Bequia the opportunity to learn to sail. Although its a small island, there are many people here who have never sailed, or learnt to sail, so this is a unique program. It also give the youngsters experience of many life skills too, e.g. teamwork, racing, competition & preparation.

The program has been so successful it has received the attention of Sir Frederick Ballantyne, the Governor General of St Vincent & the Grenadines, who loves the opportunities for the children, to get them 'off the streets' and give them a worthwhile purpose. He would like to see the program extended onto St Vincent.

Mr Ballantyne is looking to the program to deliver some serious athletes to the next Olympic Games, in the Laser class of sailing boat.

The galleries will be extended as required to incorporate new images and news from the program and while their own website is upgraded.

Caribbean Photography
Surging waves at Lower Bay, Bequia



Another from yesterdays shoot down at Lower Bay, with the waves really surging up the beach, almost reaching the decking for the bar and definitely washing the legs of the sun loungers.

A beautiful spot and if you're thinking of coming to the Caribbean, this is one of those must-see spots in the Southern Caribbean. The Grenadines are definitely the unexplored and unspoilt part of the region.

Caribbean Photography
A day at the beach



It was a glorious day yesterday, sunny, blue skies, white fluffy clouds and after a frustrating day or two, I decided it was to be a day at the beach: a day for relaxing, so I headed down to Lower Bay on Bequia, which is one of the most beautiful beaches the country has to offer.

Its long expanse of golden sand, a sandy-bottomed bay provides the turquoise backdrop and while its still 'out of season', there are few people around so you get the place to yourself. Well almost.

It didn't take too long for the relaxing day to be interrupted by the waves crashing in and surging up the beach, forming some great scenes that I fancied capturing, so I headed off and setup the camera. I went back to the same driftwood log/tree trunk that I found last week during a passing storm, but the weather was so much better today.

Once setup I played around with filters to get the effect I was after - water streaking down the beach around the log.

It was a hot day, and after it all, I got some great images, but also got sunburnt badly. The moral for today: remember to keep applying the suntan lotion!

Another from the sunrise shoot over Spring Bay last week.



This one in vertical format to bring in the lines of the palm trees and their curving trunks and the fans of leaves spreading out to form the canopy.

Caribbean photography
Sunset across the harbour, Bequia



A quick golden sunset last night. There was little cloud and I was chatting to the guys from the Bequia Youth Sailors program as the sun was getting closer to the horizon, so I got out the telephoto lens and focused on one of their locally made, Bequia specific boats, the Double Ender.

Ominously called 'Worries' I decided to cover up the -ve name and go for gold with the sun showing brightly throwing the boats into deep shadow.

Caribbean Photography
Sunrise over the fishing gear



A bright and early start out here in the Caribbean compared to sunrise in the UK currently, but with so much interest, its worth it.

The cloud formations here recently have been little of no cloud for sunrise, and that which is ere is very low lying, so I was hoping for something a bit different this morning. I was heading out when I saw a small band of cloud against the horizon, so was hoping for some additional colour as the sun hit the cloud.

Using a telephoto instead of a wide angle lens, I found this small fishing boat lying up on the beach, with its fishing gear hanging out to dry between a couple of palms, along with a make shift hammock. Idyllic. Well worth the early start.

Panorama Across Bequia, St Vincent & the Grenadines



High up on one of the hills overlooking the bay, I was being shown a brand new house that's being built.

Due to the lack of flat ground here, many of the house are built directly on hills-sides and the access is normally a road going straight up the hillside. These roads can be very steep and sometimes whilst the house is being built at the top, there is little or no turning circle, so sometimes you have to reverse back down too!

The house is up to its second level and will be stunning when complete, but what caught my eye was the fantastic view from the site.

It shows the entire bay of Bequia, from the ferry port on the left hands side, around the Belmont Walkway, a small 'boardwalk' along the bay side, then into Princess Margaret Beach (also called Tony Gibbons beach) and onto Lower Bay beach, before running into the tree covered hillside of the island which runs all the way out to the right hand side, which is in fact the Western-most point of Bequia, West Cay.

The bay is full of the yachts which come and go on almost a daily basis, along with some of the smaller cruise ships, ferries and other boats and craft. Its a busy harbour.

At night, the scene changes again, but that's another shot to come.

Caribbean Photography: Sunset across the yachts



I was out trying to capture the sunset, and the scene was developing nicely, with some clouds breaking up around the horizon, a golden glow developing and a few boats coming and going.

Just I setup the camera and tripod, waiting for the 'perfect' moment, the heavens opened it started to pour...... allbeit only for 15 minutes, but it was the 15 minutes over sunset. I managed to get off a couple of frames before I ran undercover.

Caribbean Photography
The Long Walk



As a past sailing visitor to the island of Bequia, I have often sailed down past the end if island, a place called West Cay, so on this visit, I wanted to walk down there and see the view from the end of the land.

I understood that there was a pathway that led most, if not all the way down to West Point, but that it went through the private resort of Moonhole, so after checking with the security team there I set off with another intrepid explorer.

We had been told that it was a 15-20 minute walk down to the end but as we strolled along the pathway out into the forested and overgrown areas of the western side if then island, that this was not going to be an easy or short walk.

There is a pathway, of sorts, almost to the end, but it was put in probably 40 years ago and although maintained since, much of it is now overgrown, or turned to rubble, so the walk took us the best part of an hour and we both wished we had come better prepared with walking boots and a few gallons of water to replace that lost.

Finally we made it out to the rocky outcrop on the Western tip of the island, overlooking the first of 2 cays, Big Cay, where we could watch the yachts and boats pass closeby and even one of the local women had made the trip to fish for her dinner.

A great walk, but one that needs more preparation.

Caribbean Photography
Chillin out on the islands



A small series of image that reflect the concept of 'Chillin Out'.

On Bequia there are a few private resorts, but everywhere, the beaches are public, and every now and then you find little gems like these.

The beaches around the island are sandy, so the shallow water just of the many beaches is a glorious turquoise colour, perfect for swimming, relaxing and just simply chillin. add a hammock or swing and you're well set.

Caribbean Photography
Sunset across Admiralty Bay, Bequia



As we are closer to the Equator here than in the UK, the sun moves across the sky quicker. This results in the setting sun and the resulting 'sweep' of colour moving across the sky much more quickly here.

I went out last night to check out sunset, only to see a very mediocre scene as the sun went down behind a thick bank of low lying cloud on the horizon. A bit disappointing.

I went back to my sundowner Rum Punch, chatting with friends and looked out of the window to see a glorious sky developing towards the Eastern skies. Knowing the speed the sky changes here, I ran back to car, got my gear and setup on the bay's shoreline, with the Friendship Rose, a locally built traditional classic sailing yacht in the foreground.

The colours were amazing and as usual it didnt last long. With the ever decreasing light levels and the breeze moving all of the yachts and their rigging, it made a challenging 5 minutes.

The lesson: Always look the other way & wait to see what develops after the sun sets!

Caribbean Islands
Lower Bay, Bequia - passing storms



It was a grey afternoon here on Bequia and the storm clouds were gathering, lying low across the island hills and from up on high you can watch the storms heading our way across the seas.

One of the most beautiful beaches on the island, Lower Bay, was being hit by storm surges, causing the waves to run right up the beach causing all sunbathers and swimmers to leave and go home. Perfect! I had the beach to myself.

The fallen tree immediately caught my eye and using this as a lead in waited for the surges to run up and encompass me.

A lone yachtsman was waiting out the passing storm until he too took off for a run down the islands, leaving me with the entire bay, beach and seafront to myself. Once the rain came, I packed up the camera and dived in for a swim. Even on a grey cloudy day the bay was wonderful.

Bequia Youth Sailors
Young Island regatta to raise awareness





The Bequia Youth Sailors spent the day yesterday hold an informal regatta at the stunning exclusive resort, Young Island, St Vincent to help raise the awareness of their project, supported by local businesses and the Governor General, Sir Frederick Ballantyne.

The charity was setup and is supported by local Bequia businessman, Andy Mitchell who along with a number of others on the island are bringing sailing within reach of the local school children.

The children are started in the Optimists, which are an Internationally Acclaimed Class of small sailing boat. Bequia Youth Sailors have taken part in a number of regional regattas, with excellent results. The young people then move up to the local Bequia boats, the Double-enders, which are inherently unstable, as they have no keel and very large sail areas, which makes them more challenging to sail.





The regatta at Young Island was held to raise the awareness of the charity and its work and highlight the need for further funds to keep the projects expanding.

Simon, the base manager at Sunsail St Vincent and one of the major supporters of the project was there to see his support in action as the local Optimists boats proudly show the Sunsail logo on their sails.

Mr Ballantyne lent his political influence and support to the day to encourage the local press to attend and cover this great local project.

Dorset Landscape Photography
Sunrise over Lyme Regis



I was planning on getting up this morning to see the mists lying across the valleys around West Dorset & Somerset, but as I drove through, there was very little, so always with a Plan B, I headed off to Lyme Regis; a place I haven't been to for sunrise for a long time, so it was due for a revisit.

As i arrived, I wanted to capture the sunrise over the boats in the harbour, so I setup and started capturing the scene. The clouds were OK at this point, about 45 mins before sunrise, but as time went by, the clouds started to glow and turn a fabulous dusky pink, through to orange and golden as the sun rose.

Seeing this change in the clouds, I ran down the Cobb to capture the iconic pier in all its glory, against this amazing sky..... only to meet a couple of other Togs there already, happily capturing the moment too. Good morning to Peter and Bri.... who came up with some cracking shots of the sunrise too.

It was one of those sunrises that made you glad to be alive, glad that you got out of bed at silly-o'clock (although not too bad this time of year) and glad to welcome in the dawn of a new day. It was stunning!

The clouds really took on the colour of sunrise, with the rising into cloud, the area around the sun was glowing a warm, golden colour, whilst the clouds higher in the skies were a warm dusky pinky blue colour. During the sunrise too, an area of the sky went almost red, which was amazing to see .... so amazing I stood and watch and forgot to press the shutter for a couple of minutes!

A wonderful morning. Hope you enjoyed it too, but here's a reminder for those who stayed in bed.

Island Life
Moving to the Caribbean



About 5 years ago I was working as a Yacht Skipper and operating a Charter Yacht in the Caribbean. Suffice to say that I loved it.

It was great fun living aboard the yacht and sailing the islands, taking people out on charter and showing them the stunning locations that are around in the Grenadines, many of which can only be accessed by boat.

Over the past few years, since returning to the UK I have missed the islands and have always felt drawn to go back there and spend more time amongst the friendly locals, sipping the rum punch and exploring the area.

So, in a few weeks I shall be returning to the Caribbean, to St Vincent & and the Grenadines, to the small island of Bequia (pronounced Beck-way), where I am looking forward to taking lots of photographs of the island, the region and the stunning scenery.

The shot above is one from my very early days of photography, which shows the yacht we lived on and the stunning location of the Tobago Cays, but it also sums up my time in the Caribbean.... relaxed, beautiful locations, great fun and a great life.

Over the coming months I will be putting together some photographic trips to the region, to offer more people the opportunity to experience what is one of the most beautiful places on earth, to have a great holiday and to return home with some amazing shots of this wonderful location.

Dorset Landscape Photography
Misty Sunrise across West Dorset



Another from yesterdays spectacular sunrise, taken from on top of Quarr Hill, overlooking the trees of Colmers Hill and the fog bound valleys surrounding Bridport.

A few minutes before sunrise the few clouds that were in the skies over West Dorset started to glow with a range of colours from dusky pink, through gold and orange. A glorious moment.

When you see a scene like this, you really notice how quickly the sun moves and with it, the lighting changes on the clouds. It took just a minute or two for the light to move on, and for the clouds to loose their wonderful pre-dawn colour palette.

Dorset Landscape Photography
Mists return to Dorset



Its been a while since there was a misty morning forecast here, but this week we got two!

The forecast this morning was for fog, but I decided it was worth a look. A cold'ish night after a warm day, with clear skies, was a good omen. The fog seemed quite thick as I headed off to the local Dorset landmark of Colmers Hill, climbing up Quarr Hill to get a good viewpoint.

As I arrived on the top of Quarr Hill, I came out of the fog and the view that greeted me was one that will stay with me. The trees of Colmers were just poking out of the fog! I had arrived well before sunrise, and the lovely pre-dawn golden glow coming up on the horizon with dark blue skies above made for a wondrous view.

The morning continued in that vein with a glorious sunrise, the mists swirling across the valleys of the Marshwood Vale with a few clouds thrown in for good measure to capture the morning glow of dusky pinks. Wow, what a great start to the day. A true inspiration.

Dorset Landscape Photography
A study of electricity

Or to be more precise, electricity pylons.



This week saw the return of mists to the West Dorset valleys, the first for quite some time. It was forecast to be good around Bridport, so I had planned to head off to Colmers Hill, one of the great local landmarks, but on the morning there was little in way of mist at all. Very disappointing, but instead I headed off to the area around Coneys Castle, Lamberts Castle & Fishponds Bottom ..... always gets a laugh.

The mist was lying off in the distance, in the middle of the Marshwood Vale, so I decided it was going to be a morning of 'Pylons in the Mist' .... one of my pet subjects.

The landscape, some would say, has been spoilt by these pylons but I like to use them and show the landscape can still be beautiful even with them running across the valley floor.

It was a lovely morning and one that set me up for the following day ... see my later blog post. There is something very satisfying about getting up so early and seeing what so many others dont, the glorious start to a new day!

Dorset Landscape Photography
The Albion Exhibition



I was excited to hear that some of my images are being shown in a local exhibition in Lyme Regis as part of the Shed Photography's Annual Show, the Albion Exhibition.

As I went to the launch of the exhibition at the Malthouse, Lyme Regis, I was even more excited to see that they had used one of my images as the main image for all of the PR, Marketing and promotional materials surrounding the show: Morning Mists Across Colmers Hill. The image was also used by the local newspaper for their 'View2' guide.

The image had previously been included in the Landscape Photography of the Year Exhibition 2011 and was included in both the exhibition and the Yearbook.

The Albion Exhibition runs until September 3rd and is being held at the Malthouse, Town Mill, Lyme Regis. For full details of the exhibition, please follow this link:
http://www.theshedgallery.com/events/2012/08/17/albion-malthouse-lyme-regis/7/

Dorset Landscape Photography
Sunbeams over Eggardon Hill



A mixed after noon this week as the clouds and rain spread across West Dorset.

The clouds were lying quite low across the West Dorset hills so I headed up to the edges of Eggardon Hill to see how the light was looking. As I arrived, the clouds were breaking up allowing the sun to stream through in great sunbeams across the landscape.

I managed to capture a few shots before the clouds broke completely and the sunbeams disappeared.

Shooting into the sun was challenging, so I blended 2-3 images together to ensure the sun was not burnt out.