Calpe, big rocks, sunrise and the weather

We've been watching some English TV this week and there are reports of heat waves in England with temperatures in the mid thirties (celsius). The weather has also been on our minds here in Spain as a heat wave hits the Costa Blanca with temperatures in the high thirties.

All of this heat does curtail activities a bit. Spending a lot of time outside in the sun really isn't too practical but at least we have the advantage of air conditioning in the apartment to keep us cool during the hottest times and at night so we can sleep.

Of course we haven't just sat around all week.

Our exploration trip this week was to Calpe. This is about an hours drive north from El Campello, taking us well beyond Benidorm, and is another town on the Costa Blanca that sits right on the edge of the sea.

The main reason I had picked this as a place to visit was because of its dominant feature, the Rock of Ifatch (or Penyal d'Ifac). This is a 332 metre tall limestone outcrop emerging from the sea, and linked to the shore by rock debris.

The rock can be seen from miles away and our first views of it were from the mountain road that leads down towards the town.

We had arrived early, partly to make sure we could find somewhere to park, and partly to maximise the chance of having some good light for me to take pictures.

The parking actually proved to be really easy, we drove down the the side of the Marina, directly under the Rock, and there were loads of spaces available.

There wasn't a lot of time to get some pictures before the sun got too high so I focused on getting some shots from the marina.

As we had driven into Calpe we'd seen an unexpected bonus. A salt lake with some Flamingos on.

A 10 minute walk from the Marina got us to the shore of the lake and, with my longest lens fitted, I managed a shot of the Flamingos.

Anyway, Calpe was a pleasant morning out with some nice photographic opportunities. The Rock of Ifatch is a feature that has lots of potential for different angles and compositions so I'm sure I'll be back here later in the year to photograph it again.

Of course I don't have to drive for an hour to find photographic subjects as I have the beach on the doorstep and, of course,  the local hiking trails in the hills close at hand.

The hiking trail offers some splendid views, the arid nature of the landscapes here particularly lend themselves to black and white images...

But back to the weather. One of the challenges I find in terms of taking landscape images here at the moment is the sky. Often the sky is a beautiful clear blue with not a cloud in sight. Although this sounds great it's not ideal for landscape photography as clear blue skies tend to look really boring.

Tactics, such as minimising the amount of sky in the images works up to a point and, for some images, framing the shot to include what small clouds do appear can still make for a nice shot.

However, most of the time it's about keeping an eye on the weather forecast and trying to get out there when there should be some clouds, and if the sea is putting on a display as well then so much the better and I can get images like this.

Sometimes it all comes together almost exactly as you visualise it. I have had a shot in mind, featuring one of the rocky groynes on the main beach near to our apartment, almost since the day we arrived, but it needed the right conditions and they just haven't been there.

This week I went out for a sunrise shoot and right away it looked promising. I needed some movement in the sea, but not so much that I couldn't stand (and place my tripod) in the surf line. I also needed quite a lot of cloud in the sky but not so much that no light got through. I wanted the sun, just after sunrise, hidden in cloud but with enough light going up into the sky overhead to reflect down onto the foreground. I also wanted the light to be low enough that I could get an exposure of between 1.5 and 3 seconds.

It all came together this week about 5 minutes after the sun cleared the horizon. A band of cloud obscured the sun itself but the reflected light was there just as I had envisaged it. As a bonus there was also visible rays from the sun leading up into the sky. I had to get up early and I took this shot with the waves coming up to my knees and the tripod legs buried deep into the sand to keep it stable but I think it was worth it.