Fleetwood Marsh Wrecks

  Don’t ever go to a marsh when the tide is in.  And if you do go don’t take your wife who, although lovely, has no balance whatsoever.  Such was my lesson learnt after a few hours at Fleetwod Marsh Nature Reserve one sunny Saturday afternoon a week or so ago.  The marsh is located on the west coast of the UK, just north of Blackpool and aside from housing a variety of wildlife contains multiple wrecked and rotting boats which i had seen online and was rather keen on shooting.  When I, my wife Jess and our friend Paul went the tide was in and the water had filled the metre or so deep channels that ran from the coastline inland towards the footpath full of very cold water.  These are what Jess kept falling in up to her waist.  I really felt sorry for her as she isn’t warm at the best of times and this water must have tipped her over the edge.  She braved the outside for a further hour or so after her final fall though – all credit to her!  It was a bit of a rushed shoot as i wanted jess to get somewhere warm so i shot a quick roll and we piled back into the car with the heaters on full blast on the journey home.  When i developed the film at home i discovered my developer had expired so my negatives were covered in streaky blues.  Useless.  Jess on the other hand had had taken a beautiful shot of one of the wrecks - the colours were fantastic and the composition spot on.  She really does have a superb eye for photography and you can see her shot here http://www.flickr.com/photos/mindymooface/6782584991/in/photostream

  Following my C41 failure I decided to take a Friday off work and head back to shoot in black and white.  I checked the weather and i was promised sun so when Friday came i packed my bag and headed out.  The weather was just as good as my first visit and i had timed it so that the tide was fully out.  Having been there before i had a good idea of some of the shots i wanted to take and what gear i would need.  I love shooting with other people but sometimes its nice to be alone to really take your time and get the exposures and compositions right.  With the water back out to sea the land was mostly very soft mud which prevented me from getting right up to the shoreline so i stayed a little inland.  Getting up to the wrecks took a little manoeuvring but it was so much easier with the channels empty.  It was nice to have the time to picture the finished shot in my mind and compose/expose accordingly. 

  I developed the film as soon as i got home and im really happy with the results.  I’ll probably head back at some point soon-im wondering how the shots will turn out with the infra red film i have in my freezer...