Paul W. Baker

Coastal Photography Journey: Fareham Coast Road to Portchester Castle

Last week’s vlog takes you with me on a peaceful ride along the Fareham coast road — a route I’ve long admired for its mix of maritime textures, quiet corners, and glimpses of history. My destination? The timeless Portchester Castle, perched proudly at the edge of the water.

But this wasn’t about the destination — it was about the journey.

🧭 The Route: Slow Travel, Visual Discovery

Using my e-bike (a real game-changer for someone like me managing leg problems), I set out to explore what the coast road could offer photographically. The freedom of stopping whenever a scene caught my eye meant I could truly take in the atmosphere — from wide coastal skies to weathered railings, small boats resting in the tide, and birds wading through tidal pools.

📷 What I Photographed

I wasn’t chasing dramatic light or long exposures this time. Instead, I let the route guide me. I looked for:

  • Subtle compositions — the kinds you only spot when moving slowly
  • Leading lines along the seawall and railings
  • Tones in the sky and water that played with the soft, shifting light
  • Distant views of Portchester Castle emerging through the haze

🖥️ Editing: Lightroom & Photoshop

Once back home, I processed the images using Lightroom and Photoshop. I focused on:

  • Bringing out the texture and light in flat skies
  • Toning to reflect the calm, introspective feel of the ride
  • A subtle, moody look — quiet, not overly polished

🎞️ Watch the Vlog

If you enjoy slow, thoughtful photography with a documentary feel — this one’s for you.

▶️ Watch the full video on YouTube:

📍 Final Thoughts

This wasn’t about epic landscapes or perfect light. It was about the value of simply getting out there — letting a familiar route offer new visual opportunities. Whether you’re a fellow photographer or just enjoy quiet visual storytelling, I hope this vlog brings a moment of calm and inspiration.

Thanks for watching — and as always, you can find the full gallery and updates at:

👉 paulwbakerphotography.com

Paul W. Baker

Not this week – well doubtful

It is actually very frustrating, I have so much to do at home and I am attending the first game of the season this Saturday that I do not think I will be going out to vlog this weekend.

You may know? But I am a lifelong Stoke City supporter that owns a season ticket, well this first game of the coming season is on Saturday 9th August at 3pm and I am really looking forward to it.

I am also in the middle of painting parts of the home, the aim is to have that done before the weather turns, not that it is particularly good at the moment, ensuring we are bad weather protected throughout the property.

Some hours later – Painted (shed) white, looks nice and fresh.

And I have already mentioned this weather, it is poor, very overcast with a high possibility of rain! I was planning on doing the vlog today, but it is just gloomy and I felt it wasn’t worth the effort. Get the painting done, along with the football and venture out again next week.

So, apologies, I may try later today but it seems doubtful at this time. I will leave you with a photograph of the Spinnaker Tower taken on another more joyful day!

Click to enlarge
Paul W. Baker

Stay Local

My trip this week was local to where I live, the van had a small issue and had to go into the garage for some work so I couldn’t go to far unfortunately.

Thankfully I have the e-bike and I used that to go down the coast path taken images along the way! So if you are interested in where I live here in the United Kingdom, this may be of some interest to you.

Thank you

PS: The link in the menu has been updated to take you to the vlog also.

Paul W. Baker

Warwickshire

Yesterday I travelled some 3 hours to Warwickshire to photograph a Mill I have only heard of recently through watching vlogs of other bloggers namely Steve Stain and Martin Hajdukiewicz, both of whom are well established on YouTube and good friends.

I was expecting the trip to take between two and two and half hours but the sheer amount of traffic put pay to those expectations.

Thankfully I took the eBike on the back of the van as once there it was clear I was not going to be able to walk there. The bike did struggle to carry me towards the end of the ride and I had to get off and walk, but that was about five minutes, that walk is now felt in my painful legs.

Tysoe Mill, Warwickshire.

The trip was reasonably successful but if I am honest I was hoping for better.

I was hoping to have the vlog out tomorrow, that is now not going to happen, I fell asleep, I hope to have it out on Sunday.

Paul W. Baker

Counties not yet visited

I was just looking at all the places I have been to in England and wondered how many counties I have yet to visit and photograph something with them, and trust me all the counties in this country have something worth photographing.

I thought I would hare a list of those I have not visited and ask you to tell me what one to visit, why and what would you like to see photographed and added to the website.

Bedfordshire

Berkshire

Buckinghamshire

Cambridgeshire

Cheshire

Cumberland

Derbyshire

Durham

Essex

Gloucestershire

Herefordshire

Hertfordshire

Huntingdonshire

Kent

Lancashire

Leicestershire

Lincolnshire

Northamptonshire

North Yorkshire

Nottinghamshire

Oxfordshire

Rutland

Shropshire

South Gloucestershire

South Yorkshire

Staffordshire

Tyne and Wear

West Midlands

West Sussex

West Yorkshire

Wiltshire

Worcestershire

I think that’s the full list you tell me if I’ve missed one! It’s funny. I look at this list and I see things and I know I’ve been there, but I can’t think of anything that I photograph within those counties? I have family that live in Gloucestershire for instance and I’m there quite often but I cannot think of anything that I have photographed there?

All of these counties are absolutely stunning, and all of them deserve to have a photograph taken. It’s finding a subject worthy of long distance drive and a sleepover to get both sunrise and sunset at that location. I guess I’ll start working at that now and see what I can find within these counties.

But if you would like to have something photograph within there, and you know something within that county that you would like to see photographed, leave a comment below and I’ll see what I can do.

Paul W. Baker

Northumberland

The images taken on our roadtrip to Northumberland have now been added to the website. This trip was organized by Ginger Captures and we were accompanied by 4 other photographers. The trip was fantastic, I don’t think I have laughed so much since I left the army in 2003.

Just go to the menu, at the lower end, and select your page within that group.

Thank you.

Paul W. Baker

Canada

It is getting very demoralising!

I have just uploaded the images I have from Canada, and I have about 10 photographs of about the 2000 taken over the 2 weeks we spent there remaining. I truly have no idea where these images are going. I did have a phase where I uploaded them to Adobe Lightroom and they would disappear from my files on my Mac, why I have no idea, but to prevent loss of files I would create a copy on the same drive.

My Hard Drives with all my photograph files

I have looked over the five HD’s I have attached to my Mac, my one drive account and in some other places but I am not able to locate ANY of the RAW files, all have gone? I can only think they too were on the Hard Drive that failed taking all with it.