Big waves at Whitley Bay

As Storm Ciara continues to howl outside my window I thought I’d share this image from just over a year ago, on New Year’s Day 2019.

We had gone for a wander on the beach at Whitley Bay and I took a few photos of my son with the GFX 50S as he toddled along the pebbles. As my mum took him off to get a drink, I stayed on the beach an extra 10 minutes to try and capture the bigger-than-usual waves crashing in to the promenade further along from us.

With only the GF 32-64mm lens on me, I couldn’t zoom in particularly close on the waves but, moving along as far as the tide allowed, I could get a reasonable view along the bottom of the promenade wall and up one of the ramps, where people were watching over the rails as the waves crashed up and on to them.

The mist thrown up by the waves was catching/creating a sun beam that shone right across the people at the top of the ramp, acting as a kind of spotlight.

I took a load of images as the waves kept coming in, trying to catch the right combination of a big wave breaking in the sea as well as one up the wall. I got close with a couple but in the end, this frame with one good-sized wave breaking on the left with the observing bystanders up on the ramp nicely silhouetted, worked best.