Day 254: Solitary Seagull

This week me and my best friend ran away to St Andrews.  It probably wasn't quite the best time to go because the place was full of students, but we had a nice time wandering around and having lunch.  We had a walk along the beach too but this was unfortunately cut short by rain.  This seagull was fishing in the shallow water and I saw him with a wee fish :-D  The photo is a bit dark and grey and gloomy but that reflects the weather!

Day 251: Sinbad The Shag!

I took my sword to the beach for International Talk Like A Pirate Day!  AAAAARRRRRRRRRR!  (yeah, I'm not good at talking Pirate)  And whilst there we (me, my dad and the sword) had a good walk up and down the beach and over the rocks.  This shag was swimming about in the shallows amongst the rocks looking for food.  He wasn't far away at all and then hopped out onto the rocks to dry off.  I got very slowly closer and closer and he just sat there watching me to the point where I was probably about 4 metres from him! :-D  I decided not to try getting any closer as I didn't want to disturb him and after a wee while he decided he was hungry again and hopped back down the rocks into the sea again.  This photo is cropped but only slightly to centre him because it absolutely didn't need it otherwise.  Sinbad was an excellent poser (well he had to have a Piratey name and I decided that for alliterative purposes Sinbad was seafaring enough of a name for a Pirate seabird!).  We also drew in the sand in a
Piratey manner and I'm pretty sure I got a few funny looks wandering around with a plastic sword hanging from the waist adjustment loop thingy on my jacket, but it was good fun anyway!  I also got a far better grasshopper photo than last week's, but Sinbad was far too good to pass up :-)  Happy Talk Like A Pirate Day!

Day 240: Looking Back To Land

Me and my best friend ran away for the day again and guess what?   We ended up at the seaside again!  We seem to be magnetically attracted to it.  Berwick Upon Tweed was the destination and "Town Called Malice" was the theme tune (well who doesn't like singing "oooh ooooh yeeeaaaah!" after every time he says town called malice?!) not that we think Berwick Upon Tweed is Malice-y!  Well except for the slightly sinister, but oh so atmospheric and cool mist that was hanging around.  The waves were brilliant too - lots of big, huge, rolling waves and really good splashing.  The water was splashing up around the lighthouse and I kinda wish we had been over there when it was!  It had calmed down rather and the tide had gone out a bit by the time we walked out, but the wall was still all wet and there were bits of sea weed on it.  We saw a couple of seals too, much to my friend's excitement :-)  I really like this photo and I can't quite tell you why.  In comparison to all the wave photos it really stood out.  The only thing I can think is that it's just so different and atmospheric and it feels good.  I look at it and instead of seeing a dark dreary afternoon I remember the cool air and the thundering waves and the fresh air and the wind and spray from the waves and how invigorating and mysterious and far away it felt.

Day 235: Crashing Waves

My best friend and I ran away again today and, although we ran away to the countryside, we still ended up at the beach on the rocks watching the tide come in and splash on the rocks!  There is something really calming about it - I suppose it might be the rhythm and the fact that you can get so sucked into seeing whether the next wave is bigger or smaller than the last :-)

Day 231: Sploosh!

Me and my best friend ran away to North Berwick today!  We had the most enormous burgers for lunch, stood on the rocks and watched the waves splash, sat on the wall overlooking the beach, ate ice cream and had a wander round the shops.  It was a beautiful day and it was really good fun and I even took a photo of me and my ice cream!
I didn't think of that until after I had licked it though.  We had quite good fun taking photos of each other and the ice cream.  It was a bit of a revelation since I don't try taking photos of myself very often as I don't often like what I see.  I have, however, discovered that if you crop a photo enough you can sometimes see something you don't mind!  I also really like that you can see the beach and the sea in my sunglasses.  The wave photo is a little too dark I think but I absolutely love frozen water shots like that.  We spent so long stood on the rocks watching the waves and commenting on how big/small/medium/disappointing/excellent the waves were and even urged them on sometimes.  Imagine one of those pop star competitions with waves - that's what we were like!  It was a very good day :-D

Day 153: Breaking Waves

It was pretty overcast today and I'm surprised we didn't get rained on actually.  The light didn't make photos easy as everything was pretty grey and dull but I did notice that every now and then the waves got a little stronger and broke over these rocks with a nice splash.  I really liked this one as the wave is in a classic curve - if you asked someone to draw a wave breaking that's probably what they would think of - certainly it's what I think of.  And I love the way it is frozen with all the droplets in the air.  I am not really a fan of long exposure photos of water as they take on a dull, misty, calm air and what I love most about bodies of water is that they feel so immensely powerful.  I cannot understand why you would castrate a waterfall, for example, and turn it into an airy fairy strip of mist where, when you are standing there watching it you can barely hear yourself think for the water thundering over the falls and you can feel the vibration in the rocks you stand on - to me that is the most fantastic thing - an example of the pure raw power of nature.  Waves are the same - I find them so much more fantastically exciting when you can see all the droplets frozen where they have been thrown up in the air.  Looking at this picture I can still hear the noise of the waves as they break and smell the sea air.  However, I have just managed to talk myself into really wanting to go stand next to a waterfall! :-)