This was my second visit in 9 months to photograph Mary’s Shell in Cleveleys, Lancashire, UK. Revisiting locations is something that I have made a conscious effort to do in these weeks following the relaxation of lockdown measures within the English borders. Familiarity with a place means that I am more than knowledgeable in what I require to take, not just photography gear wise, but footwear, type of clothing, safety equipment and of course food. Unnecessarily having to visit a shop 60 miles from home is not part of the plan in our socially distanced way of life.
It seems like the natural first steps back out in our new way of life world.
Plus, of course, all of the photographic reasons to venture back to this lovely part of the world. The last time I was here was a wet overcast Autumn afternoon, grabbing shots in between the rain clouds. And whilst I was really pleased with the shots I got on that day; this time, I was looking forward to the sun
A shot from Autumn 2019 during a short respite from the rain
Upon arrival, I wasn’t surprised to see that a fair few of my peers had also decided to pay a visit. This is always a popular part of the coast for photographers, who come from miles around to capture their take of the fabled shell. But most of those photographers aren’t aware that they are being watched from beneath the ocean by the Ogre. You see; Mary’s Shell is magical, and it has a story to tell…….
The Ogre keeping watch from afar
It’s story starts in Singleton Thorpe, which was a village off the coast of Cleveleys in the mid 1500’s. Swallowed by a tsunami in 1554/55, only three people survived and they went on to become founders of the village now known as Singleton in Fylde, near Blackpool....or so folklore says.
And that folklore is responsible for inspiring ‘The Sea Swallows’ tale, a short story based on that sunken village. In the story, the heroine is Mary, who attempts to save the village from a Sea Ogre....armed only with her magical golden shell.
And so the Ogre sits there, looking on and getting swallowed by the ocean twice a day, whilst Marys Shell commands the swell to stop.
The short story is inscribed on the inside of the shell. Worthy of a read if ever in this part of the world at low tide. And when you have finished reading, take a look over to the far left of the shell towards Blackpool Tower and there you might just see a rather rotund rock glaring at you……or is it an ogre.
The Sun and The Shell. Cleveleys, Lancashire. June 2020
There are many, many shots of Mary’s Shell on the mirror like sea and I wanted to take at least one with the sea in flow. When lining up this shot I was a bit worried that the pebbles could become somewhat of a barrier in the image, putting the Shell at bay, rather than drawing the viewer into the scene. However the sky came to the rescue, providing a lovely wisp in towards the shell, perhaps it had worked its magic again? However, that magic didn’t come for free. As I removed a soft graduated filter from the front of my camera, the unthinkable happened and I dropped it front first onto the jagged pebbles. The price of photography I suppose.
The lovely colours of a spring sunset on the North West coast
There was no doubt though that I wanted to grab a long exposure and really flatten that, now reducing, tide. This would allow for a mirror like effect, twinned with the beauty of the final farewell of sunlight from the day. The big stopper came out. A 10 stop filter came out of the bag and, very carefully, was attached to the front of the lens. This would allow my exposure time to increase to 5 seconds, enough to flatten out that fast moving outward tide. But that wouldn’t be enough to create the image that I really wanted. A multiple exposure would be needed. This would allow for the dying embers of sunset to be captured gloriously, whilst also capturing the side of the shell which faced into the dark of ensuing night, to be captured at a long enough exposure to capture the details hidden in the shadow. Referred to as High-Dynamic-Range Imaging, this meant that the exposure time of 5 seconds would need to be both decreased and increased in order to capture all of the detail. Three separate shots of 1, 5 and 30 seconds were merged to create the final image seen below. Exactly the image I wanted.
Dave, June 2020
The image I wanted required a bit of time and thought but was well worth it