Another January weekend had arrived blustery weather strong winds and needed to get outdoors with the camera. The plan for the day was to scout out compositions of Newhaven lighthouse looking west from Seaford seafront.

Tide Mills

Started the morning from the abandoned ruined seafront village of Tide Mills. There is free parking just off the A259 and can walk onto Newhaven east beach from here. Tide Mills itself is interesting but compositions are difficult here. The plan was with the strong winds to capture crashing waves against Newhaven lighthouse looking west. Most people visiting Newhaven lighthouse head to the west beach and photograph it from there looking east.

Newhaven East Pier

Walking the stretch of Newhaven east beach gives you access to the east pier which you can walk to the end of. This gets you as close to Newhaven lighthouse as physically possible. With the strong waves can be intimidating but a pier is not a wall or sea defence, the water passes underneath.

At this distance to the subject 400mm was almost overkill. Even with a fast shutter speed of approx 650/1 there is still some motion blur in the water. But like the effect in the above photograph. Timing was required to get it when the light within the lighthouse flashed on. Near high tide gives you maximum impact especially when the winds are strong but not gale force or hurricane. With a highly dynamic scene burst mode is essential. Downside of burst mode is post processing tons of images to filter through to select the best ones.

Spray and Wind

constant spray was a problem on the lens, needed a supply of microfibre cloths to hand. A solution is to use a lens hood the problem with a lens hood is they catch the wind and can become hard to control when handholding. Not much point in carrying a tripod in such conditions left this in the car.

Seaford Marine Parade

The weather forecast for the day was a mixture, with some sun breaking through maybe around 1pm. Plan was to scout out the area and wait for sunset. Had a lot of time to kill. From Newhaven east beach returned to the carpark and then took the short drive to Seaford Marine parade and parked up for free at Buckle car park. There is a handy free open toilet at Buckle carpark on the Seaford seafront.

At this distance to the subject the 400mm lens really comes into its own. I could also shield myself from the elements and remain in the car winding the drivers window down. A bean bag would have helped here to rest against the window. A bean bag for a big lens is now on order.

Let there be Light

From the viewpoints along Seaford marine parade the compositions had a lot going for them, a strong subject and drama with the crashing waves. As predicted by the weather forecast at approximately 1pm the sun broke through the clouds and added light to the composition of Newhaven lighthouse.

The crashing waves caught the sunlight spectacularly. Problem now was the tide was going out, had been for a few hours so the crashing waves would become less dramatic as the day continued.

Seaford Head West

The light was fleeting, one moment there the next gone. Decided to drive up to Seaford head and check out the view from there. This takes you out onto a viewing platform just off Seaford Esplanade.

On the viewing platform does provide some unique compositions of Newhaven lighthouse with the cliffs in the background. This is stretching the limit of the 400mm lens. The 1.4 extender would have helped here giving 580mm an 800mm lens would have been better. A high end camera comes into its own here as low light and a fast shutter speed requires pumping up that ISO without the noise.

Seaford Beach low tide

Back to the Buckles carpark and rested up for a bit, a pack lunch, flask of coffee and a power nap in the car. Refreshed and now low tide, the sun breaking through the clouds took a walk along Seaford beach.

Newhaven lighthouse is not the only subject and composition from this location. Looking east gives you a good frame of the chalk cliffs of Seaford head. The size of the cliff is accentuated with the compression of the 400mm lens and with the low winter January sunlight hitting the cliff face. The dramatic waves in the midground also catching the sunlight compliment the frame added interest throughout.

Sunset Kite Surfing

Carried on along Seaford beach walking west back towards Newhaven lighthouse. If lucky there would be a break in the clouds and would get a dramatic sunset.

Close to the lighthouse off Newhaven east beach were a group of kite surfers. The kite surfers made a good subject with the lighthouse behind. Low tide now and the wind was dying down so no more crashing waves into the sea wall. The sky was changing colour as the sun was setting.

No Memory

Then filled up my memory card! I had left my pack in the car just walking down the beach with my camera. No easy way within the camera to delete batch of old images. So because of this mistake missed some good pictures as for a minute the setting sun shone brightly through the clouds. Another problem with burst mode is filling up your memory card.

Seaford and Newhaven lighthouse make a good location on these blustery overcast mostly wet days, when you need to get out with the camera.

Check out the January 2023 landscape photography gallery

Check out the East Sussex landscape photography gallery