The weather has bee improving over these last couple of weeks as we approach mid March and the restrictions seem to be weighing heavier now than when the temperatures were unwelcoming and the days were short. Looking at local areas to photograph and scanning various social media's outlets, from Instagram to 500px for inspiration. I remembered on my last vlog a local photographer, Simon Wootton suggested a local landmark not too far from where that video was shot. Porty's Eiffel Tower. I decided to have a walk down to this location which is situated between Joppa and Musselburgh, North East of Edinburgh and check out Simon's suggestion. The first visit, which was more of a familiarisation of the location, highlighted the importance of catching the tide at the right time and on this occasion it was low tide which made the pipe, for which the structure is a marker for, visible along with some rocks strewn across the scene. As I was aiming for a very minimal image in the style of Michael Levin, the added clutter in the scene wasn't ideal. I took a photo by using the pipe as a leading line to the structure. I tend to favour central weighted compositions, opting for symmetry and balance. I was happy with the image I took from that initial visit but knew there were better times of the day to take this photo which would allow for a more forgiving water level and more colour in the sky.

Fast forward a couple of weeks later, I revisited the scene in the early evening with some nice pastel colours already forming in the sky. Admittedly, the tide level on this occasion was now too far in and finding a vantage point where the horizon didn't cut through the pipe marker structure was not possible. This forced me to shoot the image with a wide aperture to allow the backdrop focus to be soft. I had to hand my Lee filter set with both the 6 and 10 stop filters to control the amount of light entering the camera. This allowed a long enough exposure to soften up the water and the moving clouds.

I was happy with the images but I will definitely try other times of the day when the tide level allows for more experimental compositions.

Below are a couple of the images from both trips.