Hove

Hove is about half a step up the coast from Brighton. In fact you can easily see the piers at Brighton from there.

I had found myself in Hove with some time to kill, so I decided to wander along the seafront and see what there was to see. Even though we’re now almost a third of the way through September, the sun was bright and the weather was warm. If anything, the sun was too bright, as it was occasionally a bit intense in some of the shots I was taking. Still, you work with what you’ve got.

I soon came across a long row of beach huts. Normally I’d just fire off a perspective shot and move on, but in what would become a bit of a theme of the day, I instead elected for a symmetrical shot.

In editing I straightened the vertical lines to get them perfectly upright. If I did this sort of thing more often I’d be thinking about investing in a tilt-shift lens – although interestingly, second-hand EF mount tilt-shift lenses are actually temptingly priced these days, considering in the early days of this website they seemed like the most expensive and unobtainable of all lenses, so the idea is not as fanciful as once it was.

I continued walking and soon saw an empty seat shelter. Continuing the theme, I framed it for symmetry.

Again I have straightened the vertical lines, and cropped slightly to balance the image.

Despite my new theme for the walk, I still took a more traditionally angled shot.

I also took a photo of where I was heading.

As I got closer to Brighton and the i360 (the big pole in the photo above) I came to a bandstand. Once again I returned to the symmetry.

A little further on is a tourist attraction/art exhibit. Either that or someone accidentally read the plans upside down.

Right next to this is the i360, a viewing platform a bit like the London Eye, it if went up and down instead of round and round. Once again I returned to focussing on symmetry.

I tried for some portrait symmetry too.

I didn’t always stick to symmetry, if I’m honest.

The i360 was built at the spot where the old West Pier met the land. That pier is now just a charred frame, having burned down in 2003. It probably makes for more interesting viewing as a ruin than if it was intact, if I’m honest.

I was quickly back to the symmetry.

You might recognise this shot as being very similar to one in my post earlier this year from Brighton. Truth be told I’m not exactly sure where the boundary is between Brighton and Hove, since they’re usually mentioned in the same breath, so let’s just assume this is close enough. To be fair this was also the limit of my walk.

Some of these attempts at symmetry look a little bit off. Possibly because, unlike some of the other images above, I was trying to centre myself by eye on a beach, whereas in some previous attempts I had some really helpful paving slabs to help line myself up.

I started making my way back, so I photographed the pier from another angle.

This is one of those times where I have two very similar photos and I can’t decide which one I prefer. I like the fact you can see the waves hitting the beach in the image above, but in the image below it’s framed out, which makes the scene seem more expanseful to my eyes.

Although, as I was writing this and comparing the images, I decided it might actually look pretty nice in monochrome.

As I made my way back along the seafront, I saw another shelter. Or possibly it was the same one. Either way, I took a shot from a more traditional angle.

Soon there was another opportunity for some more symmetry.

As you can see, apparently I knocked my camera down to f/4.5 by accident. I had been shooting at f/8 as I was photographing mostly landscapes. I noticed quickly and fixed it for this next shot. I was back by the beach huts again, but this time decided for some perspective.

This is one of those silly times where I’m consistent with my composition. I elected for a perspective shot partly because I’d already done a nice symmetrical one, but mostly because the background behind these huts wasn’t very clean for a similar symmetrical shot as I did earlier. But then in the reframing, I didn’t pay attention to the fact that the background behind here wasn’t particularly tidy either.

Truth be told I was aiming for the person in this shot, to try to draw some attention to them instead.

Although I opened up to f/2.8 for a shallower depth of field, it wasn’t really dramatic enough to draw your attention to the woman in black. I could probably have framed it better to serve my intentions.

A little further on I came to another shelter. Liking how grotty it looked, it was time for one last symmetrical shot.

Having done so well throughout, right at the last I forgot to close up the aperture again. Still, because there isn’t much to the background in this one it isn’t particularly detrimental to the shot.

I’m pretty pleased with how these shots came out, especially considering when I got there I didn’t particularly feel ‘in the zone’ and wasn’t expecting much from the wander. I’m also pretty happy to be taking photographs with a clear vision, and then using editing to help achieve that vision. I’m pretty sure that’s how I’m often supposed to be doing it.