Out and about – Whitby

So this weekend has pretty much been a ‘Whitby Weekend‘!

With a couple of stories that I wanted to look at, one yesterday and the other today it also gave me the chance to go out for a wander around the town with a completely free and open brief to go and shoot whatever I wanted without having to concentrate on the ‘story’. So with my Leica M9* in hand and fitted with an f2 50mm Summicron I headed out and about to shoot a few.

The Saturday job was to try and get a big picture of the steam locomotive K4 – No 61994 ‘The Great Marquess’ from the North Yorkshire Moors Railway as it steamed out of Whitby station on route through the Esk Valley to Battersby. I was hoping for a bit of blue sky and sunshine to help lift the picture and make it more appealing to the papers but unfortunately it was a bit cloudy and overcast and was lacking a little but nonetheless I shot down on the train from the main bridge in Whitby that crosses the A171 and got a couple of frames. I’ve turned them black and white here and they can be seen below.

The Sunday job was to get pictures of the RAF Search and Rescue Sea King helicopter call-sign ‘Rescue 128‘ from RAF Leconfield. The aircraft offers invaluable help to those in need and often flies in support for the volunteers from the Coastguard, RNLI or the Mountain Rescue teams. It was due to do a fly past over Whitby before landing at West Cliff on the final flight before it is replaced.

Members of the public then had the opportunity to meet crew members and climb on-board the aircraft.

So with these two jobs as the main effort I headed down really early on each day. The early start was firstly to try and catch any nice light that appeared, although the forecast wasn’t great but it did work nicely a couple of times albeit briefly and then secondly I wanted to beat the crowds that were soon to appear. Whitby can get really busy!

I often visit different towns or places around the north east area to shoot some pictures. Even though I shoot news and feature pictures for my freelance work I find it relaxing and almost therapeutic to go for a wander and simply shoot what I see without any other pressures. It de-stresses and relaxes me even though I’m concentrating all the time and there’s always a picture to be had if you look hard enough.

So why not give it a go. Travel light and keep it simple and you’re photography will improve. I guarantee it.

Below are a few from over this weekend…

*All pictures below were shot with the Leica M9 and the 50 cron apart from the helicopter shots and the wide shot of the steam train. These were shot with a Fuji XT1 with a f2.8 50-140mm and a Fuji X Pro 1 fitted with an f2 18mm lens respectively.