Llanfairfechan, on the North Wales coast, just to the west of Conwy, is a charming, unspoilt old fashioned seaside resort, boasting a nice large sandy beach.
But I'm not interested in the usual holiday attractions.
Oh no, what interests me is the coming together in one place of many elements that go together to make, potentially, an engaging time lapse video sequence.
The North Wales coast is redolent with such opportunities, with large tidal ranges, huge beaches, unpredictable weather, good views of sunrise and sunset (in the summer months) and large limestone headlands all combining to tell great visual events that just beg to be shown through the medium of time lapse.
Hence my excursion to Llanfairfechan on the longest day of the year.
Checking weather forecasts and tide tables showed me broken cloud at sunrise on an incoming tide, an ideal combination of factors. The only fly in the ointment was getting out of bed at 3.30am to catch the sunrise at 4.45am.
Arriving on the beach in good time, with the sun yet to rise and the tide just having turned, I set up my tripod on a sandbank, just a couple of metres away from a concrete jetty which I planning to use as my escape route to prevent me from being engulfed by the sea, a very real danger on North Wales beaches as the tide can sneak around behind you if you're not careful.
With a 3 stop ND grad filter fitted to tone down the bright sky I started shooting the stills to make this video, keeping a careful eye on that incoming tide.
As it was, I nearly left it too late to escape from my slightly elevated sandbank about an hour later, as the sea was really moving and almost overtopped my wellies as I pushed through to reach that concrete jetty I mentioned.
Once safely on the jetty I continued shooting as the tide finished covering over the beach and it was time for me to pack up and leave, in order to get to my place of work for the usual 8.00am start.
A lot of effort and planning, but well worth it for the pleasure of just being there and watching God's celestial engineering working perfectly as usual.
The photography was just an excuse really!
Filename - llanfairfechan timelapse 01.mp4
Camera - Canon 5D
Lens - 17-40mm zoom @ 17mm
Exposure (1st sequence) - 1/8 sec @f11, ISO100
Exposure (2nd sequence) - 1/60 sec @f11, ISO100
Location - Llanfairfechan, North Wales
This clip - HD 720p
Clip duration - 20 seconds at 25 frames per second.
Shooting interval - 8 seconds
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