Newtown Creek Project 2020
Newtown Creek, on the Northern Coast of the Isle of Wight has long been a favourite spot of mine, and somewhere I return too often to Photograph. The old Boathouse by the salt pans near on the Estuary of the Creek makes a wonderful subject. For 2020 I have decided to photograph this Boathouse once every month. Each image will be a different composition and the aim will be to capture the different moods and sights as the seasons change and we move through the year. All the images will be displayed here as they are captured and as the collection grows I’ll look to make them available as prints and as a photo book if you would like to own the collection. Keep checking here and on the blog for more information.
Newtown Creek, on the Northern Coast of the Isle of Wight has long been a favourite spot of mine, and somewhere I return too often to Photograph. The old Boathouse by the salt pans near on the Estuary of the Creek makes a wonderful subject. For 2020 I have decided to photograph this Boathouse once every month. Each image will be a different composition and the aim will be to capture the different moods and sights as the seasons change and we move through the year. All the images will be displayed here as they are captured and as the collection grows I’ll look to make them available as prints and as a photo book if you would like to own the collection. Keep checking here and on the blog for more information.
Update June 2020: So obviously things didn’t quite to to plan in the first part of 2020! With the global pandemic and subsequent lockdown in the U.K. I couldn’t get out to Newtown during March or April. I missed getting out in March as developed symptoms so was self isolating in the couple of weeks leading up to the lockdown. So now we can get out and about again I am picking up where we left off and there will be images from May onwards, however the project won’t be completed until April 2021 as I will capture an image for March and April next year.
Update April 2021: So my project is finally finished. Below are the 12 images captured as part of the project. Overall I am very happy with this body of work and feel it is a good representation of the Newtown area.
Although not part of the challenge this is an image captured in October 2019 of the area and the boathouse that will be the subject of the challenge. Must remember not to repeat this composition now
December: Another of the classic Newtown compositions for this final image of the series, it was a cold morning and the wooden piles had attracted some frost which is what drew me to the composition. The sky then exploded with colours which helped to bring the shot to life.
November: Another lockdown in November, fortunately a slightly less strict one so I was still able to get to Newtown as its local to me. On this occasion it was a very grey morning, which does seem to be typical of November. I chose this composition as the clouds were skidding through the sky over the Boathouse. I got down low to make more of a feature of the wooden piling at the edge of the salt pan which made a very nice leading line through the image. Taking advantage of the grey conditions and the fast moving clouds I took a 4 minute exposure to turn the clouds to streaks in the sky to add some interest to the image.
October: A beautiful Autumn morning at Newtown for my October image. There were lovely pastel colours pre sunrise and as the sky warmed up a band of cloud above the old boathouse seemed to cut the sky into two with the pastel colours on the left and the warmer tones on the right.
September: Another night time excursion to Newtown for September. On this occasion the moon was bright in the southern sky which was providing some lovely ambient light to help illuminate the ground, unfortunately it meant a lot of the stars were washed out in the sky. However Ursa Major or the Plough was shining bright above the boat house so I faced North and captured the constellation in the North Western Sky. it was just a pity that the lights of the mainland couldn’t be turned down for the photo!
August: A crazy summer sunset for August. On this day it had been rainy and grey all day a typical August day you may say. I headed out to Newtown thinking I might get some moody sky images for the project. Just as the sun hit the horizon it found a gap in the clouds and a bright glow started building on the horizon which also made the clouds darker away from the glow. I quickly changed my position to capture this shot with the colours glowing as the sun set and the dark clouds still overhead.
July: Well, what a treat July provided, finally something good about 2020, a Comet appeared in the Sky. Comet Neowise became visible in early July. I decided to make it a feature of my project by capturing it in the night sky above the Boat house at Newtown. Having spent some time capturing images at a longer focal length I suddenly realised that Noctilucent clouds were building up on the Horizon. I therefore switched to a wider angle lens to capture this image of the Comet and the noctilucent clouds as the sky started to brighten as we entered twilight. It was one of the most amazing views I have ever seen, it was a privilege to capture it, even more so as part of this project.
June: The June image was captured on the 1st day of June, nothing like getting in early! We had weeks of clear skies in May which whilst great for my nighttime astro shots wasn’t so great for sunset shots. On this occasion I was at home and saw some cloud bubbling up a few hours before sunset so grabbed the gear and headed to Newtown. I had always envisaged a long lingering sunset for the June image to capture those long summer evenings. This shot of the walkway leading to the Salt pans is a classic view of Newtown and the shot nearly every visitor will capture. I must admit when thinking of this project I initially decided I would not use this composition because it was so popular. I had spent the evening set up working on another composition which didn’t really work because of how the cloud fell, but as I went to leave I turned and saw this scene with the clouds alight and reflected onto the water below. I’m so happy with how this image turned out and very pleased to include this view in the project after all.
May: It felt so good to be able to get back out again in May 2020 after weeks of having to find photography subjects in the Garden. For May I wanted to capture the sense of the area waking back up for Summer, this had even more importance this year waking back up slowly from lockdown. I went for a close up of the boathouse at Sunrise with the sailing boat and other vessels back outside the boat house ready for summer use.
April: Captured in April 2021 following the 2020 Lockdown meaning I couldn’t get to Newtown in April 2020. It was so good to finally finish my 2020 project with this image. This is an unusual image as it can only be captured at a very low tide which I was fortunate to get during early April. The snaking stream provides a strong leading line up to the old boathouse.
March: Captured in March 2021 after the Covid-19 Pandemic meant it was not possible to visit Newtown in March 2020. After waiting a year to capture the March image for this project it felt so nice to capture this image from the western end of the salt pan on a beautiful spring sunrise. It was a a freezing morning though with a wind blowing off the mainland that cut right through. I had very cold hands by the time I got back to the car having forgotten my gloves.
February - For February I decided to venture out at night to capture Newtown bathed in the light of the full moon. It was a lovely still evening. I chose this composition looking back towards the island to avoid the light pollution from the mainland shore and Southampton / Portsmouth. This meant that despite the brightness of the moon I was able to capture some of the stars in the sky along with Venus
JANUARY - January is often grey, overcast and wet. This day was all three with persistent drizzle and low cloud hanging over the hills of the island. I felt this Image perfectly represented January with the grey skies, and the obscured hills in the background. At this time of year, even a location as stunning as Newtown can look bleak and desolate which is exactly what I wanted to reflect in my January image.