Kilve Rain Storm

[Lesley Jones]

Oh... the story behind this! I was due to take an FIV+ cat all the way from Kent to a sanctuary in Somerset. I had done it the year before, but made the round trip in one day. This time my lovely husband suggested I stay the night and do some photography. In the end, the cat was "catnapped" by the neighbours of the foster home. As I had paid for a B&B, I went anyway, but left very late because one of our cats was suddenly very poorly. (Purdy has survived for over six years with a brain tumour - last year she came down with pneumonia. We didn't know about the pneumonia at the time, but I asked our local vet to keep her in on antibiotics and a drip).

I arrived at the B&B and it started raining as I left for the beach. It rained on and off until sunset and it was interesting to watch the rain approaching over the water. I had actually been having a picnic at this bench and calling my husband about Purdy, when I suddenly realised what the clouds were doing. I ended the call and picked up the cable release just in time

 

[Kev Pugh]

Superb Lesley what fantastic lighting and atmosphere, really nice..

 

[Pete Askew]

As Kev says, superb. And I bet there was only a small window of opportunity too.

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Gap lighting between the clouds and the sea - and a good storm to boot - wonderful

 

[Brian Moore]

Its a very moody yet lovely image Lesley. (I can imagine your hubby on the other end of the line when you noticed the photo op: "Hello,...Hello,...Are you there?" )

Is it HDR?

 

[Lesley Jones]

No - not HDR Brian. The histogram was fine with one exposure. I probably used the graduated ND filter in Color Efex to put the tones back more as I thought I saw them. The really frustrating thing about the beach was it was just too dangerous to explore. The rocks are shale (?) and contain oil. I literally crawled round for an hour, but I was too scared to move very far. In the end I gave up and waited by the bench until the sun set. The locals were playing cricket just behind me, which seemed rather odd

 

[Alastair Cummins]

Thats my kind of sky, love it

 

[Brian Moore]

The locals were playing cricket just behind me, which seemed rather odd

Englishmen!

Love that light on the horizon, by the way.

(Sorry I asked about the HDR--didn't mean anything by that.)

 

[Ronald Atchley]

Lord Zooey !! You're out doing yourself
Absolutely wonderful.
Ron

 

[Lesley Jones]

Nah - it's the weather. Storm clouds and hail have a habit of following me around. You just watch - I predict storms in the Peak District during the first week of September...

 

[Pete Askew]

Thank goodness I'll be a long way south by then!!