Underwater Shots take two...

Last weeks underwater shoots were prematurely capped by both weather and mad dogs being allowed off the lead to run riot; this time we figured, with the summer hols drawing to a close, that we might have a better shot at quiet beaches.  Poor weather once again limited us to just one day per visit (amongst the shoots for the "Home is..." projects), and whilst it was intermittently sunny, it was also rather colder than we’d hoped, so we tried to limit time spent standing in the cold sea.  We returned to Llanbedrog beach, where the sea was nice, calm, and shallow, and with the tide in this time, it meant less of a trek down to the sea (the beach here is so shallow that you can walk out about half a mile before getting the water above your waste, but fortunately Amy and I both needed relatively shallow waters for our shoots).  Apart from our one day visits to Llanbedrog we also managed to get an hour at Criccieth for some more wave shots for Amy's project, the sea being a bit more dramatic on this beach.

Amy’s project is the marginally easier to shoot of the two sets, featuring as it does just the natural landscape and no extra props, which has meant a bit more flexibility with locations and weather.  She took some more pics at Llanbedrog and also at Criccieth (as mentioned above), and the dramatic sky certainly added to the atmosphere of the pics; however she wasn’t too happy with how calm the sea was at Llanbedrog, so we decided we might try and find another bit of coast where the sea has somebigger waves, hopefully at some point next week.  The clarity of the water did lead to some very nice shots under the surface of the waves though.

With my project things were a bit more complicated, with numerous props and more influence from the weather conditions affecting the shoots.  Having proved the concept for doing abstract pics using inflatable toys as props last week (as a variance on my old “Inflate-Deflate” shoot), we’d come prepared this time with a ton of old toys left over from the “Inflate-Deflate” and “Happygoth” projects: lesson learned, never throw anything away that might come in useful in another shoot.  Ignoring the slightly weird looks we were getting from passers-by on the beach (who seemed puzzled by the sight of two young people who kept randomly walking into the sea with various swim rings and beach balls, standing with them held in the water about ten feet from the shore taking pictures, then trailing back on land with them) we proceeded in and out of the surf with a number of toys.  Overcoming various problems ranging from poor lighting, fish and other marine life (that steadfastly refused to stay still long enough to be photographed) swimming/crawling over our feet, and randomly deflating or popped toys, and equipment issues, we finally managed to get a selection of decent shots on the second visit to Llanbedrog.

We were both reasonably happy with how our pics were coming out, so we decided to take the opportunity of another warm couple of days to hit the beach whilst we still could, and get a few more shots- after about mid September we probably wont get chance for any more underwater pics for quite some time, being unable to get to the seaside due to time constraints with work, so we’re doing what we can whilst we can…  However, the promised warm days turned into a day and a half of rain and low visibility, but we finally managed to get to the beach on the last day of the visit to Wales.  The lighting conditions were hazy, with intermittent sun, which sort of suited Amy's shots, even if the camera started to struggle a bit with the low lighting...

...my shots however didn't work- the sea being a bit rougher, there was a surprising amount of sand and other rubbish being washed around in it, which rather affected the pictures, as can be seen below.

And so that would seem to be that; whilst we have another couple of days in Wales, time constraints (and the forecast bad weather) make it unlikely we'll be able to get back to the sea, though at a push Amy might be able to get a few more of her pics.  Now to do some editing; there should be a future blog post towards the end of the month detailing just how we'll be using these pics in a wider project...