The wet stormy weather continued into March along the coast of East Sussex.  Just as the weather turned nice, the lock-down due to the Corona Virus took hold of the nation so could not get out as much as I would have liked to.  When I did get out during March is was mostly walks along the east Sussex coast and seascape photography.

Scotney Castle, Daffodil Hunt

The first walk of March was prior to the lockdown and chose to visit Scotney Castle on the high weald in East Sussex.  Early March is a great time to capture Daffodils in full bloom.  I had done some research online and Scotney Castle was renowned for its gardens and abundance of Daffodils.  I wanted the Daffodils in the foreground with good background interest being the castle, maybe.

I parked up at the church in Kilnwood and walked through Kilnwood wood. I first captured some shots of Scotney castle from outside the private grounds.

The weather turned nasty again and the price to enter Scotney castle was prohibitively expensive considering not a member of the National Trust. So I not achieve what I set out to do, a classic March landscape photograph with lots of Daffodils, because I am a bit tight!

Camber Sands Sunset

With low tide, decided on a evening seascape shoot with a sunset in the sand dunes of Cambers Sands.  Its nice to visit new locations but visiting the same location at different times of the day, different seasons and weather systems is just as good if not better as you have some experience of the landscape.

It was a beautiful March evening with lots of clouds in the sky adding interest and catching the colour of the golden hour.  Even though having visited Camber Sands recently I had not scouted out a good location within the sand dunes for a sunset over the high weald and Cliff End.

I wanted the sand dunes themselves as foreground interest and mid ground, careful to exclude any footprints in the sand.  Im currently not using any filters in front of the lens, now preferring to blend post processing, either HDR within Lightroom or masking in Photoshop.  I do prefer sunrise but so difficult to get out of bed with dawn occurring before 6AM come March.

Seaford Head, Moonrise

Been meaning to get back to Seaford head since the last time I visited and forgot my camera,  What inspired this walk though was in being featured in Mads Peters Iversens trip to the UK, starting at the iconic cliffs of the seven sisters.

There is a free carpark nearby at South Hill Barn.  You can walk down to Cuckmere haven from there or along the cliffs.  Along the cliffs gives a full frontal view of the Seven Sisters.

Just as I setup the sun set behind some thick clouds.  Again not really scouted the location so was scrambling around trying to find a composition, at least this time.  High tide would be better so as not to get all that scrub in the foreground which adds nothing to the seascape.

Down on the stony beach of Cuckmere Haven, I tried to find a composition that included the moon and the cliffs of the seven sisters.  The weather changed quickly and the moon peaked through the storm and rain clouds briefly and managed to get a composition.   When photographing a setting or rising sun or moon don’t want to long an exposure, ideally under 2 secs else will get motion blur.  Would like to return to Seaford head for a sunrise.

Peasemarsh, High Weald

The weather was still terrible into March, the ground boggy and sodden with constant rainfall.  I missed walking inland and landscape photography over the High Weald.  I decided to invest in better clothing for this weather.  This included Vallerret photography gloves where you could pull the thumb and forefinger back.  Some gortex over-trousers and some Muck walking wellington boots.  This made all the difference, as the saying goes  No such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothing.

This new outdoor clothing was equally good along the coast and for seascape photography.  My main manfrotto tripod needed some repairs too as the clips had split.  I also invested in a new ballhead for the tripod whitch was compatible with a new L Bracket so could quickly change to a vertical orientation.

Pett Level Sunset

Cabin fever end mid March and needed to get out for a good coastal sunset walk during low tide and chose Pett Level.  Down on the beach the sun was behind Cliff End so the cliff face and the high weald were in total shadow.  So walked the opposite direction towards Winchelsea.

I liked the low light of the setting sun catching the rocks and rotting wooden posts so setup my tripod and focus stacked.  Needed to get low and exclude my shadows.  After the sun had set over the High Weald of East Sussex, turned and headed back to Cliff End.

Took a long exposure of the silhouette of cliff end as sunset turned into the blue hour with an orange glow on the horizon.  Its good in these low light situations to snap some compositions first on your mobile phone.  With the big screen of the mobile phone you get a lot clearer picture of what the image will look like and if its worth taking.

March Lockdown

That is it for landscape and seascape photography in east Sussex during March.  Unfortunately in March we are now in a state of lockdown so going to be hard to get out with the camera in the coming weeks and months.  Hoping things return to normality soon.