Exploring further along the east Sussex coast, a location not scouted before is the Telscombe Cliffs between Rottingdean in Brighton and Peacehaven.

Telscombe Cliffs Walk

The weather forecast for the day was overcast and cloudy, the gloom continues. For a dawn arrival it was going to be high tide and very little wind. Although scouting along the Telscombe Cliffs, took along full kit as seascape photography nearly always presents good compositions.

Parked up at the Marine Cliffs car park at Rottingdean. One of those awful complicated pay and display machines there where you have to type in your registration number. Costs £5 for all day.

Iv visited Rottingdean before in my early days as a budding landscape photographer, back then was using the AA walking guides to select locations.

The plan was to head out along the coast and over the Telscombe cliffs from Rottingdean to Peacehaven. At Peacehaven I would walk back along the coast and sea wall path.

Saltdean high tide dawn

From Rottingdean its not far to walk to Saltdean. The coastal path takes you down onto the beach at Saltdean. Dawn was breaking but it was not going to be anything dramatic.

This area of the east Sussex coast runs along the A259 and has built up residential areas, consequently even early in the morning there are people and vehicles about.

Low Light Long Exposure

In the low light of dawn, could get some motion blur with the waves. For the best effect, timing is crucial, prefer it when a wave has reached its limit and the water is returning to the sea. With the low light it was not necessary to use an ND filter to get motion blur in the sea water. Although it was getting lighter by the minute and had to keep adjusting exposure. The length of the exposure is critical too for the right effect. Rather than smoothing out the entire motion of the waves prefer to preserve some texture with a shorter long exposure of a few seconds.

Despite the lack of any strong wind the waves crashing into shore were quite big and dramatic. High tide is good for photographing waves crashing into shore or sea walls. Was shooting at F/16 to get a longer exposure, but not check my other camera settings. ISO was set to 200 and image stabilisation was on from last shoot at Hope Gap where switched to handholding.

Sea Wall Undercliff Walk

It was a difficult decision, if to continue over the heights of the Telscombe cliffs or continue along the undercliff walkway and along the sea wall. As this walk was also a scout not know where the best compositions would be. Chose the latter, but this was soon cancelled when realised the undercliff walk not go all the way to Peacehaven. Its not clear on OS Maps where the undercliff walk begins, ends. Much clearer on Google Maps, so should use both when planning a walk.

The undercliff walk is an amazing place to capture waves crashing into the sea wall during high tide. Even better when there is strong winds. Rather than using a quick release cable switched to continuous shooting to capture the right moment of the waves colliding with the sea wall.

Danger Seascape Photography

Its dangerous though in more ways than one especially for a seascape photographer who needs to get close to edge. Always fearful of rogues waves, its slippery too. If you have ever wondered how all those pebbles get thrown up on the walkway its the power of the waves! One just missed me.

Telscombe Cliffs Views

Back up on the Telscombe Cliffs path headed over the cliffs towards Peacehaven. The best views were looking west back towards Saltdean and Brighton.

At various points along the Telscombe Cliffs walk there are footpaths inland over the South Downs. Have touched the outskirts of this area of the south downs before with a walk from Southease and from Woodingdean.

Along the footpath there are a couple of monuments on the Telscombe Cliffs that can make a good focal point. The light was not happening though this morning. It was a day when the light got better later on rather than early as some of the thick cloud broke up and the sun broke through.

Rogue Wave

Further along there was some waterworks complex and steps leading down to the beach. At high tide it was dangerous with the waves crashing in.

The cliff face here is not very photogenetic. Decided to take a long exposure using a little stopper to make the composition more interesting. At that moment a rogue wave came crashing in and swept away my rucksack which was open on the ground. At the same time my Benro tripod and camera were shaking violently. I just managed to grab hold of both and smashed my £90 little stopper ND filter at the same time. So no long exposure and nearly lost all my photographic equipment. Lesson learnt.

Undercliff walk to Peacehaven

Further along the Telscombe Cliffs you can rejoin the undercliff walk all the way to Peacehaven.

The cliff face here is not natural, it has been cut out to build the sea wall defences. An engineering marvel constructed during the 1960s. With rising sea levels today not sure how good these will be in years to come. Recent reports suggest much of the south coast will be gone in the next 30 years.

The problem with photographing the cliff side from down below is can create an unbalanced composition with all the visual weight on the cliffside. What helps the above image the background sky has interest in its cloud formations.

Back in Peacehaven the undercliff walk and sea wall comes to end. Not sure why? Continuing east over the Peacehaven cliffs takes you to Newhaven with views of Seaford Head all along the way.

Telscombe Cliffs Beach

Returned back towards Rottingdean following the complete undercliff walk from Peacehaven to Telscombe Cliffs. The access path back up to the top was about 500 yards from the end of the walk and decided to check it out to the end before returning.

Was pleasantly surprised with some beach access and some nice white rocks in the foreground. This little seascape enclave is popular with surfers. In the distance you can just see the seafront buildings of Brighton.

Sunset Low Tide Return?

Decided this would be a good location to return to during sunset or even sunrise. In the blue hour the lights of Brighton seafront would be visible in the background. Thought at the time low tide would be better as could get a better angle. But checking out the photos of Telscombe Cliffs View on Google Maps, its all black rock and seaweed under that seawater, empty space just like at Hope Gap.

A really good day out walking and scouting. Lots of fresh sea air and sunshine over and under the Telscombe Cliffs on the East Sussex coast. From a seascape photography perspective the right weather and light could drastically improve the available compositions.