Recent shoots

On Thursday I had a very eventful day of shooting at Perran Sands, Crantock and Porthtowan. Here's a few of the images from the shoots. I also recently went to the printers to get some proof pages of my book done so that I can check the quality and colours etc. They came out great and I'm SO excited for when I can get the final product printed! Not long now, eeeeek!

I thought this mini scrub tree created an interesting focal point for a landscape shot.

I went down to Porthtowan and came across these diggers taking sand from whats left of the very small dune site there. Such a shame that the habitat that the small town is named after is now practically gone.

An educational board at Perran Sands - image for the chapter 6 pages that talk about the importance of educating people about the dune habitat.

Wild Thyme on the fixed dunes at Perran Sands - smells beautiful.

An image showing the clever adaptation in Marram grass to reduce water loss and make the most of the surrounding conditions.

Sea Spurge at Crantock - interesting effect using the fisheye to show the species in its environment.

My image for the importance of dunes for tourism and recreation.

Wild Thyme again, but in its environment.

More of the diggers at Porthtowan - and below.

An adventure of a shoot...

Last Saturday I went to visit my friend Amie who has just moved to St Ives, I took her with me to Gwithian to do a little shoot. When I got there I was SO excited to see that since my last visit they had moved some horses onto the dunes to graze as a conservation method. Spying a couple of sty's where the electric fencing was covered I figured, hey it must be ok to walk through the area where they are then! Armed with a fisheye lens off I went with Amie to get really close to the white horse that was nearest to the fencing. She was very placid and I was happily snapping until suddenly I hear Amie shout from behind... 'Kay they're running!!!' Three darker ponies suddenly were pegging it over at me from behind the dunes. Panicing we walked as quickly as we could to get out of the area, unfortunately I didn't stop to pick up my bag... DOH!! The next 10 mins or so was spent watching a pony route through my bag, kicking and turfing out my purse, phone and having a nibble on whatever food I'd left lurking in the bottom (when will I ever learn!). Eventually with Amie spotting at the fence I had to sneak in and try and retrieve my belongings without being kicked to death. Turns out the pony was fine and I managed to get all my things back and take a few more photos, although the mean one with the gammy eye was keeping a close eye on me! Lesson learnt - when being chased by horses it's not like in the case of a fire... DO stop and pick up your belongings!!! Anyway here are a few of the shots I did manage to get, hoping to go back, with a longer lens sometime soon!

Tonights work...

Tonight I had a lovely productive night in the kitchen with my housemates, working on my chapter 6 drawings. The last illustrations of the cartoon. Here's the results. I hope you're glad Sid had a happy ending! :)

 

Update

I've been distracted and haven't updated my blog for a while so thought I'd post some images up of the last couple of shoots I went on. The first are from Crantock dunes which are a National Trust owned dunes further round from Holywell Bay. I hadn't been here before and I went looking for evidence of some Christmas Tree planting for stabalising the dunes. I didn't find any unfortunately, but on a lovely sunny day there were already a lot of people using the dunes. I decided this will be a great site to return to in the Easter holidays to get some good images of tourism and recreation on the dunes! I also found some live snails (at last!) and disturbed a nest of spiders, although I didn't get any shots of the spiders it was good to see the wildlife starting to emerge for spring. 

Sunday the 4th March was a day for celebrating St Piran's Day - the patron saint of Cornwall. Traditionally every year on this day a play is acted out on the dunes at Perran Sands and lots of people flock to the dunes donned in their Cornish wear to celebrate the saint and the story of how he created tin. I joined them as it was a great chance to get some shots for the project. It was also a lovely day and it felt great to be joining in with such a community spirited event and I met some lovely people there. 

Enjoy the images!

The dunes at Crantock

Crantock again

Good to see the live snails finally out and about!

They were all over the Marram grass, these ones huddled together I'm going to use for the Chapter  2 title page image.

Perran Sands holiday park

Cornish flags with the new St Pirans cross in the background

The crowds watching one part of the play

I did get a bit distracted by all the dogs donning their Cornish flags and neck scarves!

St Piran discovering tin

The plaque marking where St Piran's oratory lies buried beneath the sand.

The spectators following the actors across the dunes to the next part of the play.

Even the horse-riders came out to celebrate their nationality!

Laying daffodils around the original St Piran's cross. The kid at the front in the full Cornish outfit was part of a family all dressed the same, amazing! You can see some in the background.

Leaving the daffodils

I did also lay my daffodils.

Part of the dunes there are MOD owned - this picture is for my section on military use of the dunes.

People visiting the new cross on the dunes.