Colne Point Nature. Reserve is a large and important 683 acre reserve at the mouth of the Colne Estuary and consists of a shingle ridge enclosing a considerable area of saltmarsh, through which Ray Creek flows.
Intent
The purpose of the trip to Colne Point Nature Reserve was to capture images that would provide tell the story of an important environmental site on the Essex coast that preserves part of the historical coast line and provides a reserve for birds and animals indigenous to the coastal region.
Equipment Used
Similar to earlier trips to coastal locations I selected a DSLR plus 3 zoom lenses: 16-35mm f2.8, 24-70mm f2.8 and 70-200mm f2.8 plus a tripod for longer exposures.
Methodology
The methodology adopted for research was to execute some initial research online to create an initial plan of approach for the location but allow intuition to guide me at the location. The plan was to capture 3 groups of images:
- Landscape / establishing shot images
- Close-up of specific objects that I find interesting or could tell the reader something about the location and how I feel about the location
- Capturing people at the location is a secondary objective
Strong Image
There are a small number of houses with the nature reserve and in the window one of the houses was this interesting collection of found items. I found it interesting as to why the person had collected these items and who had left those items with the nature reserve.
Weak Image
The beach at Colne Point Nature Reserve is a long strip of beach that ends in a spit. I wanted to record an image that captured the isolated nature of the beach. The sky was a little bit overcast when the image was taken which is part of the reason why I found the image to be less effective as a landscape image.
Any Research References
Prior to visiting the nature reserve I did some research to maximise the productive time at the reserve.
Visual Research:
Site related research: http://www.essexwt.org.uk/reserves/colne-point that provided information about the reserve and the wildlife and animals I might encounter at the site.
Assessment
Overall I felt the shoot was more effective in achieving the intended objectives. There were some interesting locations that provided me with promising landscape images of the creeks on the in land side of the point. The items that were visible around the small number of properties within the nature reserve were also interesting based on the objects in the land around the properties or visible in the windows. These images made me curious to discover more about the person who had collect the objects and while. While walking along the beach within the reserve I can across objects that provided evidence of out lack of care for our environment again these individual subject I found fascinating as I want to understand how they had arrived in within the reserve. Overall this shoot felt promising giving me a potential avenue for exploration and a way of linking the nature reserve to the resorts that are also part of the coastal story.
