My 10 Favourite British Coastlines… so far!

This weekend I’ve had the honour to take over Jessops Instagram account. They’re posting 6 of my favourite coastline images from right here in the U.K. This prompted me to showcase 10 of my favourites here.

Lizard Point

Whilst visiting Cornwall for a few days I stumbled across this stunning derelict life boat station here at Lizard Point. What a fascinating building with so much character. I instantly fell in love with this place. I know some would see this as an eyesore, but not me. This place was perfect for some long exposure photography.

Portland Bill

One of my favourite places. Portland Bill Lighthouse in Portland, Dorset. When I was in South Devon on a family holiday, we decided to take a drive to the next county of Dorset to Portland. Of course we headed straight to the lighthouse as I have a love for lighthouses. It was slightly windy and my family decided to stay in the car after a little exploring. I informed the boss (wife) that I wouldn’t be long as I wanted to shoot some shots at sunset. Well that ended up being a great decision as the sky all of a sudden exploded in red, pink, orange and yellow. I was jumping around like a little kid with so much excitement at what I was witnessing. I was taking so many images to make sure I captured what I wanted before the colour faded. I think they came out ok 😉

Staithes

Another one of my favourites is this stunning fishing village in Staithes, North Yorkshire. I stayed not too far away in another stunning coastal town of Whitby. I saw Staithes whilst researching local coastal towns on the internet. A soon as I saw Staithes pop up I was desperate to shoot there. The beautiful english architecture surrounded by the cliffs really did make this location picture perfect. My wife was adamant that we had to get this image printed and framed and it now hangs proudly in our living room.

Brancaster

I happened to come across this beach by complete chance. I occasionally drive to Norfolk & Suffolk coastline to shoot as the coastline is stunning and only 2-3 hours drive away. I look for signs that say “Beach” when I’m driving on the main roads and randomly head towards them hoping for something special. Well Brancaster Beach in Norfolk gave me something special. I was amazed at how vast this beach was with golden sand as far as the eye can see, also how unbelievably quiet it was. Ok a storm may have been heading towards this coastline so it would explain most people took shelter apart from a lone, naive photographer hahaha. I managed to capture the intense storm clouds forming above me just before the heavens opened and totally soaked me as I sprinted back to the car with my camera kit falling out my bag everywhere.

Durdle Door

Welcome to Durdle Door in Dorset. One of the most photographed cliffs in southern England. Well you can see why. The stunning arch within the cliff makes for a fantastic feature. It’s quite a steep walk from the carpark to get here, especially if you have heavy bags. But it is worth it if you haven’t been before. I would definitely recommend you walk across the pebbled beach and take a seat listening to the waves crash against the shore. Pure heaven.

Brighton

This is still the most photographed building in Brighton, The West Pier. The Pier was closed in 1975 due to being structurally unsound. Then in 2003 the pier had two arson attacks which totally destroyed the pier after being granted funding to restore the pier to its original beauty. Now just the shell remains, it makes for a great eerie feature in the sea.

Southwold

Southwold in Suffolk holds a special place in my heart as it was here I first attempted long exposure photography. This stunning pier is photographed by many and the town is such a beautiful town. Southwold also have the most stunning colourful beach huts lined up along the shore. Some of those beach huts go for thousands of pounds. Southwold is simply a place of pure natural beauty.

Criccieth

This is Criccieth in North Wales. I stayed in North Wales with my sister camping for 2 days. This gave me just enough time to explore North Wales a little. On my way home I decided to take a coastal route back and came across the beautiful welsh coastal town of Criccieth. It was quite a cloudy start to the day, but it did make for a nice mood especially with these wooden posts in the water as they started to disappear with the incoming tide. To the left of this frame are the stunning mountains you get in Wales. Criccieth is definitely another place I would love to revisit.

Start Point Lighthouse

Start Point Lighthouse is located in Stokenham, South Devon. Me and my buddy Jacob headed here for sunrise. It was quite a mild morning with only a slight breeze coming from the sea. It was dark when we climbed this cliff but so peaceful. We sat here for a while listening to that sound of the waves, that’s always hypnotising. We didn’t know how the sun was going to show itself for sunrise. We constantly looked at how the clouds were reacting, how many and what shape. Then all of a sudden the sun broke through on the horizon creating these beautiful rays and some amazing colours bouncing off the clouds.

Dawlish

Last but not least was here in Dawlish, Devon. Me and my family stayed in a caravan park just up the road in Dawlish Warren. Whilst my family were still sleeping I headed to Dawlish beach for sunrise. The tide was just going out and as it did it exposed the top of this rock. The sun was rising and this made for a perfect opportunity to set up for a long exposure using the rock as the focal point. It can be quite tricky doing long exposures when it’s as long as this one, about 5 minutes, especially facing towards the sun. As the sun moves it can sometimes ruin the long exposure as well as creating unwanted sun flares. I was happy to have pulled it off without to much of a drama.

So there it is, my 10 favourite coastlines I’ve visited so far in the United Kingdom. Clearly there are loads more to visit and I have such a long list. So many to see and so little time to see them all. Scotland is definitely on my list of coastlines to visit a long with Northumberland.

I would like to say a big thank you to Jessops for allowing me to takeover there Instagram account and for inspiring me to write this blog. Check out Jessops for all your photography needs.

Big thanks also to the continued support from my sponsors Cotswold Outdoor, Lucroit & Manfrotto.