Jetty at Derwentwater during a Tranquil and Misty Sunset

Jetty at Derwentwater during a Tranquil and Misty Sunset

News

Sunset at Formby Beach

14th January 2007 by Stephen McIver

Inspired by some nice shots of a Swansea beach at sunset which a friend took, I decided to drive down to Formby beach for a sunset shoot of my own.

I used to go to Formby beach regularly, but for one reason or another, I hadn’t managed to get down there for over 18 months.

The weather forecast looked fine - sunny intervals, no rain, and wind speeds of around 10mph. So far so good! All I needed to do was to get there for sunset, at around 4:20pm, and I’d be likely to get some good photographs.

Before leaving the house, I thought I’d make a quick telephone call as I’d promised someone I’d give them a call to help out with some IT problems they were having with their business. It should have been a 5 minute call, but lasted for a full 30 minutes! It was now about 4:30pm and I knew I’d missed the best light, but decided to go anyway as you can usually get good shots for up to a hour or more after sunset. In any case, my girlfriend already had her coat on and our Siberian Husky had his lead on, so there was no going back now!

The drive to Formby was quite frustrating as the sky was a lovely pinky-red colour. I was tempted to stop the car and shoot some silhouetted trees against this dramatic sky, but decided to keep going and to save these for another day.

When at Formby beach, it was quite dark but there was still some colour in the sky, even 45 minutes after sunset. The conditions were quite difficult though, mainly due to the high winds (a lot higher than 10mph!) and the sand that was hitting us in the face as we made our way towards the sea. Once at the sea, I got the tripod out but it was so windy that I had to steady it by leaning down on it. I managed to take four 20-30 seconds exposure shots before the wind picked up further still and we decided to put the camera away.

I checked the Met Office website later in the evening and found that the wind speed was actually 23mph! That sounds more like it - I’ll be sure to use their website rather than the BBC Weather website in future for weather forecasts.