Decided to take a camping weekend on the south downs near Brighton on the East Sussex coast. The plan was to rise early one morning and capture the ruins of the west pier.

West Pier Scout

What inspired the camping trip was the sunflower sunset at Woodingdean the week before. From there could see the chalky downs campsite and thought it would be a good location to explore the area further. The first evening just scouted out Brighton west pier and where I might park for a dawn shoot. There is a carpark directly opposite the west pier.

Cloudy Dawn

Crawled out of my tent early the next morning and took the drive to the regency square carpark. It was a very cloudy morning, would not be getting any of those sunrise vibrant colours to contrast against the silhouette of the west pier ruins.

West Pier Long Exposure

The tide was receding in front of the west pier. The only option was to get a little creative and do a long exposure. Waiting for the right moment was key to the exposure. Waiting for a wave to come up to the tripod and then capture the streaks of white froth receding back into the sea.

With the clouds and low light of dawn and using a small aperture of F16 was getting a long exposure of a couple of seconds without using any ND filters. Having a well defined static shape within a long exposure seascape adds great contrast, a strong focal point and even visual tension between the motion blur of the water and the sharpness of the still subject.

So what was a dull and uneventful dawn at Brighton west pier come away with some seascape photos I like, due to getting creative with long exposures and timing the right moment. Took a walk along the beach pass the Palace pier but not really capture anything on the camera. Brighton is a bit of a party town, still stragglers about, a few down and outs crashed on the beach. Had a cooked breakfast at a seafront restaurant then back to the campsite.

Newmarket Hill

Took a rest in my new tent an MSR Hubba Bubba 2 man. Big improvement over the stealth one man tent I had used on previous camping trips on the south downs at Manorfarm in west Sussex. That afternoon took a hike over Newmarket hill from the campsite.

Some good afternoon sunlight hitting the hills and farmland of the south downs from Newmarket hill. the clouds creating a patchwork of light and shade on the ground below.

No Landscape Photography

That evening scouted the other side of the campsite hoping to get a sunset over the city of Brighton. Realised had scouted this area before when hunting for the famous Brighton poppy fields but ended up doing a sunset from Ditchling beacon. Came away empty handed that evening.

The next morning returned to Woodingdean hoping for a sunflower sunrise. But within the week the sunflowers had all died off and the light just not work here for a sunrise. Came away empty handed again.