One of the things about being a Landscape photographer is photographing the Sunrise and Sunsets. However, this comes at a cost, a cost to our sleep. Especially this time of year with the ridiculous Sunrise times of 05:04 in the morning. This was compounded by the two and half hour drive to Lindisfarne.
This meant the wife and I getting up at 02:30 (should have been 02:00), throwing everything in the car, including Percy the Sprocker Dog, who was a little confused given he hadn't been to bed for long. It wasn't long before his confusion lead to excitement as the hustle and bustle of moving stuff near the front door made him realise we were going out! Thankfully I had packed all my gear the evening before. It was at this point though Sarah had started to regret not making our food for the day the evening before.
Anyway, we got moving at about 03:15ish and I suddenly remembered that I had to put fuel in the car having put this off the day before due to the huge queues at Morrisons. This was now causing some alarm as the tide was in over the Lindisfarne causeway at circa 05:45 so we were in imminent danger of seeing the sunrise from the car and not being able to get across to the Holy Island. I swiftly filled up and put my foot down.
After negotiating the North Pennines which included several owl sitings and the avoidance of adding to the road kill statistics, we made it to the start of the causeway at 05:20. So, for those of you with a keen eye on numbers will realise that I had completed a two and a half hour drive in less than two hours hmmmmmmm......... We were in the Golden Hour for Sunrise and it was spectacular to say the least. We pulled up on the causeway to take a few shots whilst keeping a watchful eye on the time and the tide, it was creeping in. I did manage to get a couple of shots including this Bracketed shot.
Holy Island Causeway Sunrise - 05:32 29th July 2017
Shortly after I took this image we noticed someone coming out from the hut you see in the image. As he walked toward us with his camping gear strapped to him we decided to be nosey and ask what he was doing in there. It turns out he was walking back from the Island to the mainland and misjudged the tide at around 22:40 the evening before so he had to camp in the hut overnight. So it seems the hut had its use for a very pleasant Dutch guy. Having packed away my gear we jumped back in the car and continued across the causeway watching the sun come up and the tide come in.
Once across we parked in the huge carpark located just before the village, the carpark is available to non residence and designed to keep traffic to a minimum inside the village. We paid our £4.40 parking fee, I grabbed my camera bag, Sarah grabbed her rucksack with our food and flasks in, let Percy Sprocker out the back and off we went to explore. The great thing about arriving on the island this early and minutes before the tide was due in, is that we pretty much had the island to ourselves until circa 11:00 when the tide was due out again. The place was like a ghost town!
We strolled around the cliff tops and the edge of the shores, Sarah seal spotting, Percy ball chasing and me looking for some images and nice compositions to shoot. We came across some lovely boat yards that look like upside down boats, there are a few images of these around as they are fairly iconic in the photography world. I managed to get a couple of shots but by now the sun was getting ever higher and the light ever harsher.
Upturned Boat Yards - Holy Island 06:49 29th July 2017
After this shot we strolled on some more and found a nice bench to kick back for some coffee and rolls taking in the views and watching the fisherman load their boats up to go hunt for their daily catch.
After a couple of cups of well earned coffee and some ham rolls we wondered off towards the Castle, which to be fair was a let down as it was covered in scaffolding and tarpaulin, so that was a no, no compositionally. I duly picked my chin up and searched for more images to shoot. It wasn't long before I stumbled across what looked like the remains of an old wooden jetty protruding from the sea. To be fair, I just had to turn my head to the right. I figured these were worth investigating, I also noticed that Bamburgh Castle could also just be seen in the distance. So I set up and took what ended up being my final image on the Island that morning.
Wooden Jetty Remains - Holy Island 07:36 29th July 2017
I would definitely recommend The Holy Island to anyone, not just for the photography opportunities but for the beauty and tranquility of the island, especially at that time in the morning.
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Bye from me for now.