Sunset silhouette selfie...

Backblip


The slow wifi here is driving me mad but it's the only thing lacking.  Normally by this stage of a holiday my thoughts are turning to home and I am ready to head back but not this time.  If it wasn't for the fact I am missing Lola so much, I would happily stay here for another month!

Another fab day.  

Alan and crew headed off to The Big Sheep near Bideford and had a great day watching sheep shearing, sheep racing and various other sheep related activities.  Alan got to meet a six week old sheepdog-to-be and feed a little lamb, both of which he loved (see extras.) 

David and I went to Woolacombe and had lunch sitting outside at The Captain's table.  Whitebait for David and squid for me to start, followed by prawn and mussel linguine for David and King prawns in garlic butter and salad for me.  Delicious!

Afterwards we drove to the beach car park and got my Speed Demon out the boot.  I am not brave enough to take it onto the beach but I did take it off road on a rather bumpy grassy area, which David thought was hilarious as I screamed every time I went over a bump!  He forgets I am not used to moving at this speed and I am terrified the darn thing topples over!

We came back to the Barn late afternoon incase Alan returned and wanted into the pool, but he was having a great time with the sheep!

I was keen to photograph another sunset, this time hoping to combine some long exposure water shots, so we headed to Ilfracombe harbour.

When I was there last week photographing the sunset, the sea was like a millpond but this evening there was a breeze so the surface was choppy and there was a good amount of water hitting the rocks just in front of the harbour wall.  Perfect.  David set off for a wander whilst I picked my spot.

Having forgotten to bring my tripod (still so annoyed with myself about that!) I had to rest my camera on the harbour wall, which isn't ideal as the wall is wide and slopes away so even with my camera zoomed in, there's still a section of the wall in most of the shots.  I tried to raise the height of the camera by resting it on a some folded lens cleaning cloths, but don't think it was too successful.  I will find out once I get the chance to edit the photos properly.

By the time I finally managed to get everything set up as best as I could, the sun was quite low and the colours and atmosphere was amazing.  Quite a number of people had gathered to watch and there was a real sense of awe as the sun slipped lower towards the horizon and we all glowed orange, pink and blue.

Just as I started to shoot, a man passed in front of my camera, climbing over the rocks with a little girl in his arms.  He clambered over the rocks towards the water and my heart was in my mouth as I was terrified he would slip!  I could hear his little girl chattering away to him, clearly excited at being carried nearer the sun and the water.  

I adjusted my camera angle to try and get them in shot as I thought they were an interesting addition.  After a few moments he moved over to the higher side of the rock and my camera followed him.  I then repositioned it to the sunset, hoping for that perfect shot.

As the sun dropped beneath the horizon, the man and his little girl, now reunited with his wife and baby son safely on the harbour, were just about to walk past me and on the spur of the moment I called them over.  I think he thought I was going to berate him for having got in the way of my camera but I explained that I had deliberately included them in some of my photos and wondered, assuming any of them turned out ok, if they would like me to send them copies.

Of course we got chatting and I am happy to say they were delighted I had called them over and said they would love any copies of the photos.  Hope there's at least a couple of decent ones!  Their names were Mark and Laura and their little girl was called Marilyn.  I'm afraid I can't remember the little boy's name.  He was such a cutie too.  He blew me lots of kisses and I was honoured as apparently they are vey rationed!  Marilyn was keen to show me her new pink cardigan and tell me her favourite thing to eat in all the world is chocolate.  We have a lot in common :-))  

We were still chatting when David arrived back and introductions were made.  Marilyn was sitting on the harbour wall looking so cute, so I took a photo of her, then her little brother joined her so I took a photo of them both, which then turned into a mini photoshoot with all of them!  They were such a lovely family.  
I gave Mark my phone number and he texted me his email address so I can send the photos on to them.  Will have to wait till I am home as it would take forever to send on this rubbish wifi!  

Sunset over, people drifted off but we hung around as the light was still amazing and I wanted to practice some long exposure shots, not very successfully I have to say but this was mainly due to the issue of the wide harbour wall.  

Having had a fairly substantial lunch, neither of us were particularly hungry but the smell of chippy chips from the chip shop just round the corner from the harbour proved too temping and we decided to have chips, sitting at the harbour, with the sound of the sea in our ears.

David went to get the chips and as I sat in the car waiting, the subjects of my blip arrived and proceeded to climb up onto the harbour wall, creating the most amazing silhouettes.  I couldn't resist getting my camera back out for a couple of sneaky rushed shots of the pair of them, which ironically, after all the planning that went into my sunset shots, I prefer! 

Chips scoffed (turns out we were quite peckish after all :-) we headed back to the Barn, tired and happy.