August heat and more early mornings

August 07, 2015  •  Leave a Comment

August heat and more early mornings

August is here and it's hot! Actually I'm not sure that it's any hotter than July was, or more humid, but it's still very warm and a more than a bit sticky. In fact Spain, and certainly the Costa Blanca, is continuing to experience a heat wave that's been going on for about six weeks so far.

The week started with the Coca Cola Music On The Beach event. This festival took them several days to set up, with a huge stage near the fish market at the end of Playa Carrer La Mar.

The music started at 11AM on Saturday and ran through until nearly 1AM on Sunday. I think most of El Campello could hear it and the beach and the surrounding roads were packed.

We didn't actually go along (not really our scene) although we saw some of from just walking along the front.

We did a bit of running around early in the week.

A trip up towards Alicante to visit a couple of big stores and also a trip up to Villajoyosa to visit the Ex Pats cash and carry. While we were there I scouted out a possible location for an early morning photo shoot of Benidorm Island. A possible trip in the next couple of weeks.

I've also been out for some early morning shoots, just within walking distance of home.

The area just at the southern end of Carrer La Mar, near to the dry river mouth, is very picturesque. The rocky beach creates some nice still pools and the rocks add a lot of interest to the scene. Also the mountains can be seen in the far background. Definitely best in the early morning.

Either just before the sun comes up...

... or, if the conditions are right, a few minutes after the sunrise.

As is often the case with these shoots I always try to check what the weather is going to be like. I'm normally looking for some clouds to make the sky interesting. One of the things that makes this so challenging is that none of the weather forecasts ever agree. On Wednesday evening I checked four different weather forecasts. They all said that Thursday morning would be clear skies, and Friday morning would be partly cloudy.

So, I planned to NOT get up early on Thursday because Friday sounded the better bet.

However, I woke up early on Thursday and thought "what the hell?" A quick walk along the sea front and past the Marina and, as there started to be a bit more light I realised the sky was not clear. It was completely overcast. In fact the cloud was so dense that I thought we were not going to get any decent light at all. I almost gave up but, with landscapes, patience is often the key and, about five minutes after the time the sun was due to rise (the sunrise itself was completely hidden in the clouds) some light started to break through patches in the clouds overhead.

I was at a site that has become a bit of a favourite. A peninsula that sticks out from the beach, just north of the Marina, that has a site of archaeological significance on it. On the outer end of the peninsula are some regular shapes cut into the limestone. 

These rectangular cut outs give the site its name. According to legend they were the bathing pools of an ancient Moorish Queen and so they are known as La Bassa De La Reine, which translates from Catalan to the pools (or ponds) of the queen. The truth is more practical, less romantic but still interesting, as these are actually part of an 11th century Roman fish farm.

The great light lasted for about 2 minutes and then it was back to overcast skies (but still very hot and humid) until the sun broke through later in the morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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