I adored Clachtoll beach – it was like a little a slice of Hebridean heaven – power, energy, waves, the churn, the surge. I take most of the Sea Fever images using a zoom and often lay on the beach with the Gitzo flattened. I try to look for relationships between the waves and aim to have at least a ‘stack’ of central wave. A slow shutter speed – aim for 0.3 seconds – helps to blur and rear sharpness is of no concern.
Clachtoll is divided by a rocky promontory in the centre of the beach which is where I stood to take this. Here is Pete on the right hand side of the beach engaging with the waves. I love the fan of the waves and the trails across the sand. You can see a wave stack which usually appears when there’s a sharp slope to a beach – it’s just in front of Pete and runs across the whole beach. I took most of my Clachtoll Sea Fever images on the left hand side due to the larger rocks and that sharp slope enables a low approach. We had two rain showers sufficiently heavy to mean packing down the gear. The rain passes, the air clears and the sea rolls.
So keep low and aim for 0.3 seconds of wave roll blur hopefully with a hidden horizon. Let the sea and sky combine in the water world.