Tuesday, April 05, 2011

the beach and full moons - how do I love thee?



Just a few pictures taken at night during some of the recent full moons. The first photo was taken on the 17th of February and shows the constellation of Orion , a familiar sight to anyone living in the northern hemisphere. The upper orange star is the red giant Betelgeuse and the v shaped constellation to the right is Taurus, the brighter star being Aldebaran.

The rest of the photos were taken on the night of the 20th of March , just after midnight and again on the following night at just after nine o' clock. These were all taken with an exposure of about 30 seconds.

Photo two shows the very low tide that occured during the March perigee moon. This low tide caused five ships to run aground on a bank of shingle not normally exposed, just along the coast from here on the Solent, near the Isle of Wight. Among them was the 2,900 tonne cargo ship Paula-C, on its way to Cowes with a crew of nine.

On the cliff at the top of photo three is a small pale shape which is the house, called The Gazebo, that the author R. F. Delderfield built on Peak Hill. Because of coastal erosion the house is now only a few feet away from the edge of the cliff. It is a two or three bedroom thatched cottage built in the 1950s or 60s to a circular design and is currently up for sale for the substantial price of £795,000.

Other notable local residents of the past include Sir Edmund Leach, the English social anthropologist who was born here. The Duke and Duchess of Kent, being the parents of Queen Victoria, lived in Sidmouth for a time. The Duke had large debts and sought a place where they could live inexpensively. The coast of Devon was recommended to them and The Duke took a lease on Woolbrook Cottage in the town, where he rapidly caught the pneumonia from which he died of on 23 January 1820.

Jane Austin is reputed to have met and fallen in love with a young clergyman while staying in the town in 1801, of whose manners, intelligence and charm her sister, the letter burning Cassandra, most warmly approved. Having gained the permission of the family to continue the friendship later, he died suddenly. Jane gives the resort only one very brief mention in one novel, Persuasion.

The astronomer Sir Norman Lockyer retired here in 1911 and built an observatory on top of Salcombe Hill, which is still in use. Beatrix Potter holidayed here and painted a small watercolour which captures the pleasure of a sunny afternoon on the beach, in a view not much changed. Turner passed through not long after the great gale of 1824 and painted a watercolour of a stormy sea with the town in the background. Included in his painting is a sea stack which was later destroyed by another storm. The poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning and her family moved here in 1831 and stayed for about four years. Elizabeth is also supposed to have had an unhappy love affair during her stay in the town.

14 comments:

reem said...

Nice photos John , the see seems so quiet and gentle ,and the horizon says welcome to the moon light .I like the last tow photos ,it's the good time for anyone to get rest and moments to think about something in his memory.

How do you love this time ?

and how do I enjoy this journey in your blog everytime?

have good time John .

Anonymous said...

moon drawn rising
pulsating dreams
emotioning life
warming in streams
beam evers patterns
dance on the wind
on the wing of the moontipped
reach of the spring
strings of love calming
stirring all life
in motions of heart songs
whispering bright
rise up the living
open the presence
swirling the truths
of lifes loving essence

..peace..

thankyou john,
really nice pictures,sort of grab the attention....neil

nobody said...

See Sidmouth and Die! Or at least go mad in the attempt.

Thanks John, and how's the depth of field in that second pic? Frankly I didn't think it was possible.

Anyway, lovely lovely.

Penny said...

Hey John!

how goes it?

Sorry for my lack of popping around.
Of course it is my loss completely.

Have just been so bogged down with the Fukushima news and life.

Finally got around to Owsley Stanley.
Of course you got an honourable mention

Penny said...

oh yeah, about the pics.
PIcking my two favourites, the first and the last!
See ya john

john said...

Hi Reem and choukrat. Yes the sea was very calm that night, it was a very quiet night. The moon reminds me of things of the past and memory. It is very nice to be on the beach at night and it is an interesting challenge to take photos. Even focusing the camera is tricky. I am glad you are enjoying the journey here.

john said...

Hi and thanks very much neil and hey a poem! That's very interesting thanks very much, I am glad you are enjoying the photos.

cheers

john said...

Hi nobody and thanks. Many people retire to Sidmouth so a good place to end up, pottering along the front and enjoying the old fashioned charm of it all.

That photo was taken with my other lens. I was thinking that I wasn't making my night photography complicated enough so put on my 50mm 1.8 Nikon lens. It's a real beauty.

john said...

Cheers Penny. Yes the Fukushima news has taken plenty of my attention too. I must say you have done an admirable job of keeping up with it all at your place so keep up the good work there and thanks for that too.

Owsley Stanley. Yes an intriguing character and a year older than my dad. Not at all like him though.

john said...

oh! and thanks everybody for all your lovely comments. It is always very much appreciated. cheers for now. We had the hottest day of the year here so far yesterday, lovely!

aferrismoon said...

great . like the first for the proportions of the stones on the beach to the landscape they're in.

Did catch the 'speck' in your previous post.

cheers

nina said...

Were you cold with cold hands to squeeze the shutter so precisely? Whatever the temps, your pains to get these late night shots was worth it completely. They are beautiful. Thank you John.

love, nina

john said...

hey nice one aferrismoon. The February moon was lot brighter here than the March perigee moon as we had thin cloud on the night. The moon still lit everything up, it was just less light to photograph with, they all have different atmospheres.

The April moon seems to be one to watch out for even though the March one had quite an impact.

john said...

Hi thanks very much Nina! It isn't too bad this time of year now, but taking night photographs in the winter can be a very cold experience. Often because you are concentrating so hard on what you're doing you don't notice how long you have been still for, or how cold you have got.

Being out in the cold is ok if you're moving but when you stop you get cold very quickly don't you?

nice one Nina, cheers