Skydiving

At 2.45 p.m. it wasn’t long before sunset on this shortest day of the year when Jackie drove us to Barton on Sea where she enjoyed coffee and a slice of Victoria sponge while I sat on a bench peering through dim haze at

The Needles and their lighthouse.

I could just make out a fishing boat beyond

the choppy, glinting old gold, indigo, and spume-white seas rushing to the shore

along which an intrepid couple cycled alone.

Unusually silent gulls swooping, darting, floating, overhead enjoyed the fun of skydiving as I stretched my neck following them with my lens.

Meanwhile, a trio of crows pecked up scraps left by other customers eating cake in the Beachcomber garden. Without even retracting their undercarriages they took off when I approached.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s powerful chilli con carne with savoury rice, with which she drank Tiger Beer and I drank more of the Saint-Chinian opened two or three days ago yet still most potable.

I think I have mastered the enlargement problem, so these images should be capable of what Pauline calls bigifying.

0 comments

  1. Excellent biggifying! Going full out I could see every drop of water flying off the top of those breakers. I remember the dark at 3pm scenario. It’s still light here when I tottered off to my bed last night at 10 and the sun was long up when I finally rose at 6. All this socialising is exhausting!

  2. Oh Hi Derrick, I have missed your wonderful photographer, but hear I am, back again, and thank you for all the glorious photos today.

  3. I enjoyed the meditative feel of this post. You sat still on that bench long enough to experience where you were and the world around you.

  4. OHMYGOSH! Your photos are spectacular, Derrick! πŸ™‚ So beautiful, with an air of calm!
    I love how the birds can perch and balance on such thin tree/bush limbs!
    HUGS!!! πŸ™‚

  5. The crows regard the Beachcomber as a low dive?
    Nice pictures and impression of The Needles. Different to when I saw it from yachting past them, or from walking to the end of the Isle of Wight.

  6. Some of those later shots would have pleased E A Poe. And I would like a little bit of your short day to soften the length of mine.
    Monday, 24 December 2018 (AEDT)
    Sunrise in Melbourne 5:56 am
    Sunday, 23 December 2018 (AEDT)
    Sunset in Melbourne 8:43 pm
    It is hard getting little kids to bed on Christmas Eve.

  7. The choppy, glinting old gold, indigo, and spume-white seas rushing to the shore. The description did bowl me over but then that is why I keep returning to your blog.

      1. You need a lot of natural light for the long distance ones! Dawn or dusk shots are tricky unless you want silhouettes. πŸ˜‰ If you can select to adjust the iso up high it may help?

          1. Recently a couple asked me to take their photograph with their camera. The image was much brighter than mine. That is what they must have done. Maybe I’ll try it for indoor stuff

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