The bank holiday weekend of August was a hot one.  Two weeks previous I had booked up a long weekend in a hotel in Hunstanton.  Hunstanton faces west across the Wash on the North Norfolk coast and one of the best places to catch a sunset.

Photographing East Anglia

The majority of the photo walks I have been on have been taken out of ‘walking’ guides like the AA and Pathfinders.  But these are not geared toward landscape photography.  A week before the trip to North Norfolk I discovered a book on Amazon entitled Photographing East Anglia by Justin Minns.  What an excellent investment this turned out to be.  But would mean early mornings and late evenings for some sunrise and sunset seascape photography all along the north Norfolk coast.

Hunstanton Sunset

Although Hunstanton is great for watching a sunset over the wash, the best seascape photography is to point your camera the other way when the unique red and white chalk cliffs get lit up by the low directional light of the setting sun.

I was heading to the Sheraton wreck for some foreground interest.  But stopped on the way to capture the reflection of the lighthouse in low tide puddles with sand ripples adding leading lines to the reflection and then the lighthouse.

Its not everyday you get to witness something so unique as a shipwreck under an orange and white cliff during sunset.  Only in Norfolk.  A receding high tide would have been better washing away any footprints in the sand.

Brancaster Beach Sunrise

Up early for a sunrise on Brancaster Beach, no breakfast or coffee, would treat myself later.  These trips were much more about landscape photography than going on walks.  As driving to Brancaster there was a fantastic sunrise over the east coast.  I was going to miss the best, should have stopped and snapped some shots of the red dawn.

Beautiful early morning walk along Brancaster beach, it was going to be hot late summers day and later no doubt a lot more people will arrive, but now there was just one or two dog walkers.  I had two more attempts along the north Norfolk eastern coast to catch a sunrise.

Snettisham Beach Sunset

Bank holiday weekend at Hunstanton was a hot one and lots of day trippers about.  During the day I would take refuge in the hotel room and try and get some rest.  Then around 6pm I would leave for a sunset photography session on a Norfolk beach somewhere.  Tonight it was Snettisham.  Lots of caravans by the side of the beach, so lots of people about.  Further along I found the mud flaps and set up for a sunset composition.

The compositions of Snettisham beach  combined bracketing and focus stacking.  These were then merged as individual images via HDR in Lightroom.  Not sure this is a proven post processing technique but seemed like a good idea at the time.  So the foreground shot focuses on the dried mud and exposes for that ignoring the sky.  The background shot focuses on the horizon and exposes for the sky.  HDR merging should take the focused sections from each image?  Seems to have worked nicely, else its just a bit lazy.

Wells Next To Sea Sunrise

Wells Next To Sea was going to be my base for this north Norfolk seascapes photography expedition.  But there were no available rooms so chose Hunstanton instead.  After missing a glorious sunrise on the way to Brancaster the morning before, got up extra early to make it to Wells Next to Sea.  On arrival the car-park near the beach was closed so had to park near the quay. Brilliant red sky as I made my way to the beach from the quay, its a long walk.  Was shooting handheld but using up valuable time.

Once arrived at the beach, the sun was already rising,  not have long to photograph that giant red and orange ball rising before it turned bright yellow.  No time to setup a tripod so had to shoot handheld wide open.  Its more important to get the shot if you think you might miss it because of fluffing around setting up.

No foreground interest so went maximum telephoto, but could have done switching to a 200mm lens.  For a sunrise its good to have that red sky reflecting in still waters at ground level, twice the effect.  With a dark shot, the cameras light meter will try to over expose to compensate.  To capture the natural light of the sunrise you need to underexpose.

Thornham Sunset

After resting from the Wells Next To Sea sunrise it was back out that evening to Thornham beach for a sunset shoot.  The beaches along the North Norfolk coast tend to clear around sunset, so plenty of parking near the barn, just a few campervans parked up for the night.

Both sunrise and sunset along the North Norfolk coast had been during low tide.  High tide was occurring midday and early in the morning during the August bank Holiday.  Tide Times is a great app for checking the times of low and high tides.

Walking Thornham beach and was on the lookout for some foreground interest for a composition of the setting sun.  Managed to find some wooden posts rising out of the sand adding a silhouetted framing of the setting sun. Only when the sun was just above the horizon could I avoid sun flare.

Hunstanton Morning Beach Walk

August bank holiday Monday, the last morning in North Norfolk, was going to do another early sunrise shoot but was really feeling it, so had a lay in.  Decided to wind down and just do a morning walk with a compact camera along Hunstanton beach.  Then return to the hotel and actually make it back for breakfast, before driving home to Hertfordshire.

With the sun rising along the east coast of Norfolk, the cliffs were completely in shadows.  The lighthouse catching the early morning rays of the rising sun made a good focal point with the sand ripples leading you along to the cliffs.  A clear blue sky is not usually desirable in landscape photography as nothing to stop your eyes from exiting the frame.

Wrapping it up

A very hot but lovely weekend break along the north Norfolk coast photographing sunrise and sunset seascapes.  Sure had had my fill of exploring this part of the North Norfolk coast.  The photographing east Anglia book made all the difference.  This trip much more about photography than walking, but just great to be out along the coast.  With sunrise and sunset photography you dont get long to capture the right moment.  Its important to arrive early and be ready and waiting.

If you would like to download any of these seascape photos and many more then please check out my Norfolk portfolio hosted on Shutterstock.