A tempestuous image topped our weekly Twitter competition – we speak to photographer Edd Allen to find out how it was captured
Image by Edd Allen
Storm Ciara may have had most sensible people battening down the hatches and snuggling under a blanket with tea and biscuits, but photographers aren’t like most sensible people. Some of the intrepid snappers who enter our weekly #WexMondays competition captured some fantastic images from the storm, and the winner of the week’s competition was Edd Allen, also known as @EddAllenPhoto.
The judges loved Edd’s wild, wet and windy image taken on a storm seafront, and were thrilled to hand him the top prize. We wanted to know more about how the shot was captured, so we decided to find out...
Wex Photo Video: What were the main challenges of grabbing this shot?
Edd Allen: It was an incredibly windy day on the South Coast, with Storm Ciara visiting for the day. Along with being continuously soaked by torrential rain all day, my equipment and I were constantly being blasted with sea spray! It didn’t help that I’d left my lens hood at home, but fortunately a good friend helped me out by taping his Canon hood to my Nikon!
WPV: What kit were you using when you snapped it?
EA: I shot the photo with a Nikon D810 and a Nikkor 70-200mm lens. I left my tripod at home and didn’t use any filters as the conditions would have made it very tricky. I did use a rain cover to try and keep the water off my camera, but that was about it!
WPV: What post-processing (if any) did you do on the image?
EA: I made a few adjustments to the image in post processing, including changes to exposure, clarity and saturation. I added graduated filters and square cropped the image to draw attention to the wave hitting the sea wall.
WPV: How long have you been taking photographs? What do you enjoy most about it?
EA: I have been taking photographs since moving to Eastbourne in 2014. I used to be a videographer for a BMX company, so it feels like a lot longer as I’ve always been around film and photography. I love the escape photography gives me. The world is a crazy place and being out with the camera is a fantastic way to escape the madness and connect with nature.
WPV: Do you have your next #WexMondays image planned?
EA: I don’t really have a next image planned. I’ll just see if I manage to get any photos each week and go from there.
Reckon you’ve got what it takes to win our weekly competition? Head here for the rules and everything you need to know about how to enter.
