The day started with cancellations. #Southern, our local rail company, seems incapable of running a railway properly. The morning was despoiled by cancellations on our branch line, and I had a call from OH to rescue her day trip to London. Dashing to the station I ran her the 25 miles to the mainline so she could pick up the train to town. I drove back and then did some local shopping, and that was my plan for the day gone. Instead of a day enjoying the sun with a camera in Brighton as I thought I might, I was reduced to making my walk along the cliffs as dusk fell.
A lone fishing boat made its way towards Newhaven
My route along the cliff tops of Splash Point and Seaford Head is a popular walking route, and even in the cold of the last November evening there were dog walkers,ramblers and tourists walking the paths.
The sun shone amber and pink onto the cliffs, their colour reflected in a sea that was calm and blue. I stopped to talk to a violinist and painter from Minnesota about mastery of instruments in both art and music, both agreeing that teaching of skills had all but disappeared, he lamenting the quality of contemporary work he had seen in his sabbatical in Europe. All the while both taking photographs as the light constantly changed and nature painted the scenery differently
We were walking in opposite direction he and I, so we parted and I carried on in the gathering twilight seeing the warren coming out ahead of me to enjoy a warm in the last rays of the autumn sun
Gradually the clouds deprived me of what had promised to be a glorious sunset, leaving a gathering mistiness as night drew in, lights coming on in the shipping in the Channel as well as on distant houses
Pulling my coat more tightly around me I ambled back, enjoying the sound of the birds settling into their roost for the night, happy with my recharged visual cortex and wondering how I can work with these images in the studio
