August 2011    Photographers Resource - Monthly    Edition 92

August Holidays on the Beach and
International Lighthouse Weekend

take a look at Coastal Water and sand proofing for some ideas on how you might go about this.

As well as the beach for the more energetic or those who can't sit still, with the UK being an island we have a large amount of coastline and there are many Coastal Paths and Heritage Coasts that you can amble along and admire the views. When taking a coastal walk it may be worth doing a bit of Time planning for coastal photography before you head out so that the sun is in the right direction and you get to see and have the ability photograph the sun at it's best. There will be plenty to photograph from wildlife to plants to activities out at sea to kites flying the sky and so much more, What you can photograph/see on Coastal Paths has lots more. Take a look out our Walks Section fore more.

As you're walking along the coast you may also come across one of the many lighthouses that surround our shores. It is believed that lighthouses have been on around the UK shores since the Roman times, although the earliest that survives today is on the Southerly tip of the Isle of Wight and is the remains of St Catherine's Oratory  dating from 1323. The Development of Lighthouses explains the history and development for the lighthouses around our shores. The lighthouse came about because of the need to warn users of the sea such as ships and as well as lighthouses there are also light vessels.

On the weekend of the 20th and 21st it is International Lighthouse Weekend where many lighthouses and places of associated interest will be open to the public and there will be special events at lighthouses and light vessels around the world. For a list of those participating in the UK see this website link. Just like the Heritage Open days which take place in September it is an opportunity for members of the public to see inside some of our lighthouses which are not normally open or to get to talk to those who operated them and find out what life was like. Photographing Lighthouses gives you some pointers on how best to go about photographing them and how to overcome some of the problems associated with taking images of tall buildings that fill the sky.  On this resource we have around 250 location guides covering many of the lighthouses around the British Isles, with gird references and map links on where they can be found. In many of these guides there are also aerial photos of them so that you get to see them from a different point of view.

If you're not up to walking there are many that you can get to see by car like the Penmon Lighthouse  off the coast of Anglesey or on the beach such as the Burnham-on-Sea Low Lighthouse in Somerset.

Within our Lighthouse Section you will find links to all the locations guides we have sorted by county lists as well as by interactive map. So if you get a chance go take a look at some of these colourful attractions.

This month is full of activities and events taking place all over the UK and many are listed within our August Photographers Diary, some highlights are detailed below. If the weather is good and you are inspired to get out and capture colourful summer images then don't leave it too long and make sure you use this resource to find out what you can do, and how you might go about overcoming a photographic challenge.

Happy holiday's everyone see you next month.

The September diary is now in the 'next month' slot with August moved to in the 'this month'. Both months have a lot of opportunities for everyone.  Some highlights for August that are of particular interest include:-

As August is the main summer holiday month, and at the end it also contains one of our most popular bank holidays, there are plenty of events taking place all over the country. Visiting Weymouth in Dorset for a holiday this month will not only allow you to take advantage of their wonderful beach during the day, but on each Monday throughout August you could revisit at night and take a look at their firework display choreographed to music. Other beach side events taking place this month include the Worthing International Birdman on the 13th and 14th where perfectly sane grown men and women dressed in their creations decide to throw themselves off the pier in a competition for human powered flying machines.

Staying with the water theme, the 6th of August sees the start of Cowes Week on the Isle of Wight, a sailing regatta with over 1,000 craft taking part in up to 40 races a day. The Cowes Esplanade provides a good view of the racing. On the 13th a sea regatta which includes rowing races, yacht races and more starts at Whitby in Yorkshire. Staying on the sailing theme inland you have in Gloucester Docks from the 26th to 28th, the Tall Ships Festival where you can explore Historic tall ships, living history and entertainment celebrating Gloucester’s rich maritime history. If speed on the water is more to your taste then you could check out the Zapcat Powerboat Racing at Barry Island in South Wales on the 6th or the British Powerboat Festival, where racing gets up to speeds of 80mph starting on the 24th also in Cowes on the Isle of Wight. There are also water activities raising money for charity, such as the Nottingham Dragon Boat Challenge on the 7th and the Lewes to Newhaven Raft Race in Sussex on the 14th.

In the skies we have the largest hot air balloon event of the year with the Bristol Balloon Fiesta on the weekend of 11th-14th, where if weather conditions are right balloon launches usually take place at 6am and 6pm, but throughout the day there are arena events, and other activities to take part in and on the Saturday evening there is a Night Glow and fireworks. Also on the 11th is one of a number of air shows taking place throughout the month, the Airbourne Eastbourne International Airshow in Sussex. On the 16th and 17th you have one of the spectacular pyrotechnic displays taking place in Plymouth, Cornwall with the British Fireworks Championships Finals, where 15 finalists compete with 10 minute displays and the winners will go on to represent Britain in the International Championships. The best places to watch are from the Hoe and the foreshore areas and it is a free event.

There are a number of local country shows and fayres taking place throughout the month, and these events generally as well as having trade stands and exhibits also have animals, from the gundog through to the sheepdog, also on display are cattle, sheep and pigs and more, see the diary page with green backgrounds to find out where they are. There are also a number of events involving horses like the British Driving Societies Welsh Show at Carmarthen the 14th, or the Blair Castle International Horse Trials and Country Fair in Scotland on the 18th, and the Gatcombe International Horse Trials in Gloucestershire this coming weekend, 5th-7th August.

August is also the start of the carnival period, with many seaside towns having their carnivals at the height of the tourist season. Over the Bank Holiday weekend, 28th and 29th, probably the largest daytime carnival in the UK takes place in London with the Notting Hill Carnival. This is a free colourful street festival with over 50,000 active participants, from performers, music from mass bands and steel bands to static sound systems and around 1 million revellers attending across the two days. In Scotland the Edinburgh Military Tattoo starts on the 5th and runs to the end of the month, with a daily show of marching bands, dance and more on display outside the castle walls. If you happen to be visiting Inverness in Scotland from the 8th to 15th they also have a Tattoo, where throughout the week activities include Pipes and Drums, military band displays, Highland and Country Dancing, the Golden Lions Parachute Team freefall display each evening, motor cycle imps and a firework display.

Within our dairy we also like to cover the traditional and more unusual events taking place through the UK, and August is no exception to many of these types of events taking place. For example Well Dressing, throughout this month in Derbyshire different village communities will decorate their wells or local springs in garlands and displays made out of flower petals. In Saddleworth, West Yorkshire you have the Rushcart Weekend where they celebrate the ancient practice of renewing the rush flooring in the public buildings (ie the Pubs and the Churches), by pulling a cart laden with rushes from the moors, around the area and stopping at appropriate pubs. The cart is pulled by 80 to a 100 Morris men, with another 30 to 40 acting as the brakes. Every pub they stop at there is dancing and a fair amount of ale is consumed. The 13th sees the start of the week long Kettlewell Scarecrow Festival in Yorkshire where 100 life-size scarecrows will be found in various locations throughout the village, adding to their population growth for one week only. On the 20th you have Race the Train in Mid Wales where individual runners race over a 14 mile route and see who can beat the train, the train takes about 1 hour 47 minutes. Over the Bank Holiday weekend you have the World Bog Snorkelling Championships in Mid Wales, Football in the River, a six-a-side football match in water up to knee height, at Bourton in the Water in Gloucestershire and the World Gravy Wrestling Championships in Lancashire where competing teams slip and slide about in luke-warm gravy.

And finally one event which has become a tradition, having been held across some fields near Blandford in Dorset for 43 years, is the Great Dorset Steam Fair, which starts on the 31st August and runs until the 4th September. This is an event which takes place in a 600 acre showground with everything a steam enthusiast, photographer, or just about anyone interested in history and the countryside would want. It has on display and in action steam engines and vehicles of all types, Fairground Organs, vintage cars, bikes and commercial vehicles, tractor pulling, heavy horses used in farming activities and country pursuits, vintage collections and occupations, rural crafts, dancing shows, vintage fairground, pipe bands, nightlife, a music festival, and a Photo Competition, all rolled into one event.

August is the main part of the summer holiday season in the UK and those who have decided to have their holiday in the UK this year, rather than go off to warmer climates elsewhere, can get the chance to see a lot of wildlife both inland amongst our glorious countryside and at the many hundreds of miles of coastline we have.

 

Along the coast in rock pools you can discover crabs, shellfish, sea anemones and maybe lobsters, as the tide goes out you are also likely to find stranded jellyfish on the beach. On our beaches there will be the greedy seagulls looking out for a good carton of fish and chips, or even the odd ice cream cone, so not only the opportunity to get a close up of the wildlife, but also maybe even a shot with it caught in the act.  In some areas of the UK such as Charnory Point, Inverness-shire and around Puffin Island on Anglesey, you may also get glimpses of playful dolphins and some with their young, but you may also spy on nearby high cliffs people watching out to see as they are taking part in National Whale and Dolphin Watch Week which starts on the 7th of August. There are many events taking place throughout the

Jelly Fish washed a shore

month based around wildlife including BirdFair, the largest annual show dedicated to Birds, Wildlife and Conservation which takes place from the 19th to 21st August, this year being held at the Egleton Nature Reserve in Rutland. As well as trade stands, there will be displays of birds of prey and owls showing off their skills as hunters, wildlife cruises and children's activities. As well as all our natural wildlife which can be found around us, there are also many zoos and wildlife parks around the country where you can see and capture the antics of some of the exotic wildlife from around the world that has a home here.

If you decided to stay at home then you're back garden is full of small wildlife, like butterflies, bees, slugs, moths, flies and garden snails, at the moment I have a vast number of really small young snails all over my basil plants, they must like the peppery flavour. Photographing snails   is also not weather dependent, as they are easy to catch and can be brought inside. This collection of articles show you what I managed to achieve when I had a go. If you don't have a back garden then your local park is also a good place to see the same sorts of small wildlife, but you will also come across Grey Squirrels scurrying up and down tress and probably digging in the ground as they start to collect nuts and bury them ready for the winter, however they are not quite ripe yet so you may see them breaking open the nuts to see if anything is edible inside.

There are a lot of butterflies around in August, at different locations, and landscape types will have a range of different collections.  These may include Purple Hairstreak, Purple Emperor, White Admiral, Silver-Washed Fritillary, Meadow Brown, Small Skipper butterflies and large whites. Gatekeepers are particularly attractive orange and brown butterflies that can often be found near hedgerows.

Most of the bird populations have finished laying or sitting on eggs so the skies will be filled with young broods flying around to get food, and particularly those that are going to leave us at the end of summer, they need enough energy to be able to do this. In the countryside you may see Swallows or House Martins lining up on telephone and other wires taking a break between feeds. If you're in the fields watch you don't get bombarded by the low flying Martins, Swifts and Swallows as they skim up all the flies they can get.

Berries are now staring to ripen and hedgerows will start to fill up with blackberries, blueberries, sloes, hips, haws and elderberries. As well as being a quick snack for us, as we wander through the countryside, they are often a magnet for birds and small mammals as it provides them with the extra food they need to get through the coming autumn and winter months. The Festival of The Tree takes place at Westonbirt in Gloucestershire from the 26th to 29th August where over 4 days they have events which celebrates the world of trees and their uses, including the Giant Tree Sculpture event and demonstrations.

In the later evenings bats are out and about, many getting those tasty insects that fill up our skies on the warm summer evenings. The Bank Holiday weekend is European Bat Weekend. There are 16 species in the UK, two of which are endangered and nine threatened. Over this weekend you are encouraged to see and hear bats in their natural environments by taking part in events put on by local bat groups, wildlife trusts, countryside rangers and more. See BATS.org for more details on where you might be able to see some near you. 2011 is also the United Nations Year of the Bat and as a part of this the Bat Conservation Trust as set up Big Bat Map so you can share your bat sightings, and a photo competition, take a look at their website for more details.

For a more detailed look at what wildlife can be seen during this month take a look at Wildlife photography in August.

Macro Photography

Coastal Water and sand proofing

Photographing Seawater

Filters for Coastal Photography

Coastal Paths and Heritage Coasts (Overview)

Time planning for coastal photography

Coastal Lenses

Photographing Seawater

The Development of Lighthouses

Photographing Lighthouses

Wildlife photography in August

Grey Squirrels

St Catherine's Oratory, Isle of Wight

Penmon Lighthouse, Anglesey     

Burnham-on-Sea Low Lighthouse, Somerset