Berrow Dunes

Believe it or not this is a view of the wreck of the Nornen - only this time with the tide in.

Another early morning - this time to photograph the dunes. Unfortunately the shifting sands were pretty much tamed with grasses and shrubs at this particular stretch, but I did find these interesting shapes.

Can make out some footprints? The dew had captured the tracks of allsorts - all over the place - fox, badger, rabbits, mice...and their bigger cousins.

I'm having fun imersing myslf in some books of iconic photography. A couple of famous photographers have particularly grabbed my attention. Edward Weston (1886-1958) is one of these.

For Weston photography was "a wonderful expansion of vision". Some of his most famous photographs celebrate the form of objects you wouldn't expect to be worthy of attention, until you take a look, and see as he did. Ordinary peppers for example, and cabbage leaves - plain cabbage leaves photographed to illuminate a beauty that is lost through the blindness that comes from looking at something everyday...we just don't "see" it.

So Weston has become one of my heros. And now the point...Weston took many famous pictures of sand dunes. You could say "you've seen one dune you've seen them all" but that would be a sad point of view. Take time to really look when you next get the chance. No two are the same, and they're all constantly changed by the wind and the light - infinite possibilities.

I didn't manage to capture anything like the magnificence of Weston's sand dune studies in my one moring on Berrow Beach, but I hope I've caught enough of the beauty sculpted by the wind and the sun at the moment I released the shutter for this picture.

Date: 15/03/09

Location: Berrow somerset

Photographer: Chris Abbott

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