Marshall Black Photography - Cove Bay

• Scotland

Solitary stone on eroded sandstone slab.

A mysterious clicking noise lifted my head from my Sudoku book, and I was rewarded with the opportunity to watch two red squirrels chasing each other around the trunk of a pine tree about ten feet in front of the car. The camera was tucked up in the boot, awaiting a break in the drizzly rain to allow some photography to take place. No chance of a grab shot of the squirrels, and in any event the light available under the pines and clouds would have meant disappointing results.

After the squirrels moved off, I decided it was time for me to move on also. I had seen some shots of a cave at Cove Bay in Joe Cornish's book Scotland's Coast and decided that even with rain there was a possibility of some shots under the cover of the cave roofs. All I needed to do was find Cove Bay.

The drive from Aviemore to Elgin confirmed my suspicions that the rain was in for the day, so I headed to the Tourist Office for directions, only to find they hadn't heard of my destination.

Equipment.
Canon EOS1DII, ISO 100, 90 mm TSE, polariser, 1/4 sec, f11, tripod, mlu, cable release.

Digital Darkroom.
Converted & dusted Adobe Lightroom.

Solitary stone on eroded sandstone slab.

• Scotland

Three stones on eroded sandstone slab.

Although specific directions to the bay weren't available in the Tourist Office, the helpful staff did find a mention of it as a location for dinosaur footprints, so I decided to head to the coast near there and see what I could find. The dinosaur footprints location was not actually on the coast, and it seemed there was no obvious track to get there, so I headed to the nearby town of Hopeman to seek advice.

Finding the beach-front car park at Hopeman, I noticed a direction board, and there it was, Cove Bay, probably under a mile away to the East.

It was an easy stroll through intermittent drizzle to the bay, where a hole in the rock led through to Cove Bay itself. There I was rewarded with a wide expanse of pebble beach, with some eroded sandstone pavement below the cave overhangs.

Equipment.
Canon EOS1DII, ISO 100, 90 mm TSE, polariser, 1/3 sec, f11, tripod, mlu, cable release.

Digital Darkroom.
Converted & dusted Adobe Lightroom.

Three stones on eroded sandstone slab.

• Scotland

Solitary stone and colourful pebbles.

I was immediately attracted to the wonderful curved shapes in the sandstone pavements, and found one rock which had been stranded on it's own, away from all the other multi-coloured stones, to be a useful focal point.

At first I had homed in on the solitary rock against the eroded sandstone, but slowly began to see more options by using the other pebbles forming a drift of colour against the monotoned sandstone slab.

Equipment.
Canon EOS1DII, ISO 100, 90 mm TSE, polariser, 0.6 sec, f11, tripod, mlu, cable release.

Digital Darkroom.
Converted & dusted Adobe Lightroom.

Solitary stone and colourful pebbles.

• Scotland

Solitary stone and colourful pebbles.

Moving in for a closer view, I began to see alternative compositions for the solitary stone and the pebbles, and began to look for something a little more intimate in the scene.

By arranging the slab and pebbles into a diagonal framing the final composition captured a strong feel of the separation of the stone from it's neighbours, creating a greater feel of solitude, or standing apart from the crowd. This was to become my favourite of the series of images I found on that day, and as the tide began to creep up toward the sandstone slab I realised the sea would erase the scene for a new composition for another day.

Equipment.
Canon EOS1DII, ISO 100, 90 mm TSE, polariser, 0.8 sec, f11, tripod, mlu, cable release.

Digital Darkroom.
Converted & dusted Adobe Lightroom.

Solitary stone and colourful pebbles.

• Scotland

Piled pebbles.

Once the sea had started to lap over the sandstone platform my attention turned to the massed pebbles piled against the cliff face. Choosing to use a diagonal split of the frame again, here the shape of the cliff is almost mirrored in the curve of the pebbles.

As the rain began to grow stronger I decided my time at Cove Bay had been a worthwhile excursion, and headed back happy with my decision to head here.

Equipment.
Canon EOS1DII, ISO 100, 90 mm TSE, polariser, 1 sec, f11, tripod, mlu, cable release.

Digital Darkroom.
Converted & dusted Adobe Lightroom.

Location.
Cove Bay, Hopeman, Moray, Scotland. UK

Piled pebbles.