Another wash out autumn weekend on the south coast of England.  Rather than a gloomy day over the High Weald decided to visit the town of Eastbourne and walk from there to Beachy Head on the South Downs.

Claremont Hotel Eastbourne Gutted

One of the reasons I chose Eastbourne to start the walk, as the day before on the news, an iconic Victorian seafront hotel went up in flames and is now gutted.

With an early start I might be able to steal a photo of this landmark before potentially it is gone forever.  It paid off as on the walk back from Beachy head there was all work vans in front of the burnt out facade, and lots of people.  I got some compositionally better shots of the Claremont hotel on my mobile, check them out on google photos.

I then attempted to walk along the beach at Eastbourne under the pier towards Beachy Head but was told to go back by the police.

Beachy Head Seascapes

From Eastbourne its a good two mile walk up to Beachy head where desolate views of the lighthouse below await you.  The lighthouse makes an excellent focal point for a seascape photograph from this view point on the cliffs edge.

This was my first return to South Downs in over a year where they begin in Eastbourne and end near Winchester in Hampshire.  It was very windy on top of the cliff edge on Beachy Head, too windy to setup a tripod and needed to be careful.

The south downs around beachy head is very open and bleak, especially on a gloomy wet cloudy day.  On days like this, you are looking to capture drama, form shape.  That strike a chord with emotions like desolation, loneliness etc.

I followed a footpath back to Eastbourne that not walked before close to the cliff edge giving new viewpoints of the lighthouse and beachy head.  It was the high tide peak.  I would like to walk the beach here when the tide is going out all the way to the Birling Gap, like the walk I did from Hastings Rock A Nore to Cliff End.

Whiter white Balance

One noteworthy point about the cliff face photos above is that I had to adjust the white balance in Lightroom post processing due to not being white enough.  This is only possible shooting in RAW which I always do.  This was achieved cooling down the colour temperature just a little to remove the orange tinge.

Some good seascape viewpoints over the coastline and beaches of Eastbourne from the edge of the south downs and beachy head.  In the distance you can just make out Hastings and the High Weald.  I would not mind a place on the top floor of those block of flats.

Getting Out

Its easy on a such a wet and gloomy day to just stay in doors but there are still photographs to be taken and captured under these conditions which is always good practice.  Its always good for your health and you scout out new locations for a return shoot under different even better lighting conditions.  So much better than sitting in doors.