St Mary's Lighthouse

And out from nowhere came 2 divers.

St Mary's Island

This is the first time I have ever seen the St Mary's Island causeway flooded with the tide.

St Mary's Lighthouse

I was visiting a friend Today that was staying in a caravan at Whitley Bay. Well caravan may not have been the correct term as when you got inside it was just like a small bungalow, central heating, Living room, Kitchen with seperate dining room, 2 bedrooms (one with en-suite bathroom) and a seperate shower/toilet. Yes, as I said just like a small bungalow. The view out of the front window was of St Mary's lighthouse, a famous landmark of Whitley Bay which is very well photographed by all. It wasn't a very nice day, overcast, raining and really not very nice weather for photos to be honest. This is one I took from the balcony of the caravan. I've converted it in photoshop to give it a feel of a lith print.

Settings

Lens - 200mm
Shutter speed 1/200 sec
Lens Aperture F/6.3
Focal Length 64mm
ISO Speed ISO-100
Exposure Compensation - 0.7 step

This is a picture showing a caravan for the people who don't know what a caravan is.

St Mary's Lighthouse

"Reached between the tides via a short causeway, St Mary’s Lighthouse has all the fascination of a miniature, part-time island. The Lighthouse, completed in 1898, on a hazardous coast for shipping, remained operational until 1984 when it was superseded by modern navigational techniques.
North Tyneside Council now operates the Lighthouse as a visitor centre, through the Libraries and Museums service.
Facilities include a popular shop and an exhibition/meeting room, which is available for hire.
Visitors can climb the 137 steps to the top of the Lighthouse, which provides spectacular views of the North East coast. The surrounding Nature Reserve contains an area of rock pools, cliff top grassland, a beach and a wetland habitat.Further services provided include an educational service and organised activities during some school holidays".

For all I've lived in the North of England all my life i've never yet till today visited St Mary's Lighthouse. Friends in my camera club regularly visit here in the early morning for the sunrise and have taken some outstanding photos (see Annas Blog on my 'Other Bloggers' links). I've yet to drag my body out of bed unfortunately. Not that I'm lazy, it's just I have to get up very early in the morning during the week for work so at weekends I like to have a lie in till around 8am. So, unfortunately, no sunrise images for me, just a beautiful sunny afternoon, but very cold. Ofcourse I forgot my tripod and had to take the photos 'hand held' unfortunately. I think i'm going have have to leave a tripod in the car from now on.



Settings

• Camera Olymus E500
• Aperture - f/7.1
• Shutter speed - 1/60sec
• ISO-100
• Focal Length - 22mm
• Exposure compensation 0 step