{"id":317,"date":"2017-07-06T21:59:21","date_gmt":"2017-07-06T21:59:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/davesmith.org.uk\/imagenic\/?p=317"},"modified":"2025-10-13T08:27:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T08:27:16","slug":"lwb1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davesmith.org.uk\/imagenic\/lwb1\/","title":{"rendered":"The long and winding breakwater #1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Watching the photographers <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The St Monans harbour breakwater that juts out into the North Sea is, as far as I know, unique. Maybe it’s because it was built taking advantage of the natural rock formation, rather than imposing a predetermined form. Whatever, the “blocks” as it is known locally, or the “zig zag pier” as it is often called on the web, has become an immensely popular subject for photographs. The influx of photographers has even garnered coverage in the local Fife press<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this is especially so for a particular breed of photographer. The ones who come from the four corners of the earth, equipped with neutral density filters to lengthen exposures and tripods to keep their cameras steady while doing so. They come in all weathers (the roughest seas are of course best avoided) – but dawn and dusk are particular favourites …<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The results they are looking for using this technique are sharp focus views of the pier itself, with a blurred, often surreal and glassy sea in the background – I’ll add some of my photos of the pier, surreal and real, in a future post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Update 04\/02\/18 … “The Blocks were busy tonight” … tripods at the ready …<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And here’s a photograph of photographers photographing photographers …<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Update 8th March 2018 … another one for the collection:<\/p>\n\n\n

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And from December 2018<\/p>\n\n\n\n