I went to photograph a sea-scape at the Lobster Smack, Canvey. There is a little jetty there which I have photographed before at sunrise and sunset, I imagined a dusk/nigh-time photo would also work. When I got there, the tide was out and, the jetty was poorly lit and the sky was black with no interest. I may try another day.

Anyway, behind me was the Oikos oil storage facility with a little shed in front. I liked the view, it seems to summarise Canvey quite nicely, areas of housing next to heavy industry and a fair bit of nature as well.

I took a three-shot panorama and the I’m happy with the aspect ratio and end result.

I wasn’t expecting great conditions at Leigh. The weather during the day had been pretty windy and almost freezing temperatures. This small crane on the fisherman’s jetty was getting some strong lighting and as usual the back-drop of Canvey lit the clouds up.  The high level wind was driving the clouds past but at ground level there was hardly any wind which is reflected in the calm sea. The new camera excels in low light where it seems to be very happy metering and taking long exposures without needing a second shot for noise reduction.

I’m trying to reset how I approach landscape photography. There are so many clean, technically great shots out there. I think many of them (including my own) often lack any message or personality. In the last year I have always tried to add a human element and that worked well for the series on Hockley Wood. I’m now having a think about what I want to show/tell - work in progress. Anyway the above photo was taken on a new camera..its a Fuji GFX50r with 45mm lens, this allows me to take hand-held shots in relatively dark environments. This was taken on an early morning walk in the woods, then off out to Derek’s funeral.