After last weekend’s epic road trip to Stoke and back, I’m swapping stadium noise for something a little calmer — a return to the Norfolk Broads.
I’m not sure exactly where I’ll end up yet (half the fun is in the exploring), but the forecast says the weather’s heating up again. Perfect for boating (not that I do that), walking, or just sitting by the water with something cold in hand.
Of course, this is Britain, so “how long will it last?” is anyone’s guess. The sunshine could stick around for a week… or disappear before I’ve packed the car. Either way, I’ll make the most of it.
From the roar of the crowd to the ripple of the water — here’s looking forward to another weekend worth remembering, and the making of some great memories.
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.
It is a known fact that I love to own NIKON cameras and lenses, well they are exceptionally high quality so why wouldn’t I be?
Today I went out to have some breakfast after our weekly too early in the morning meeting. Before I sat down to eat a reasonably healthy breakfast I decided I should call in at one of my my favourite shops London Camera Exchange.
I started to look at some of their lenses and other equipment that were for sale mentioning my desire for a camera purely to do the occasional time lapse, so I looked at the second hand cameras that were for sale.
NIKON Z50 shouting my name
About 5 minutes later I left, with a new camera under my arm, I mean how many cameras can a man use? The Z50 did look lonely and I clearly heard it calling my name so I clearly had to, yes, had to buy that camera.
I had to explain the purchase to my wife, she doesn’t care to be fair, but that question ‘how many cameras do you need’ did pass her lips but thankfully we were distracted by the breakfast that was placed before us and all was forgiven.
To celebrate my wife’s birthday (which is actually tomorrow) we took a trip to the majestic town of Lyndhurst in Dorset and I, as I always do, took a camera along for the day out.
The NIKON 1
The camera wasn’t the normal Nikon Z8 but the much smaller though very capable NIKON 1, a small 10 Pixel (or there about’s) camera.
I took the NIKON 1 as it is lighter, could be kept in my pocket and is perfect for those recce trips out when with the family at such stunning locations.
Lens wise, I only took the 10-30mm lens, again very capable and just right for what I had in mind for this trip.
I didn’t take too many, but you get an idea of the treats available on the right day to all having a camera by their side. Below are three of the photographs taken on the trip. Please share your thoughts below.
I have decided to sell a couple of my lenses to MPB, very sad really.
Landscape photography, a demanding craft that hinges on precision and vision, often entails tough decisions when it comes to gear selection.
The weight of each piece of equipment can be a burden, prompting photographers to carefully curate their kit for each outing.
Today, I bid farewell to the 70-200mm F2.8 lens, along with its trusty X2 teleconverter, as I own both the 100-400mm and the 70-200mm lenses.
Parting with the 70-200mm F2.8 was a poignant moment for me; its exceptional clarity and performance have left an indelible mark on my photographic journey.
This separation echoes the regret I still feel from letting go of the remarkable 50mm F1.2 in 2023.While the loss is palpable, adapting to new equipment is an inevitable part of growth in this pursuit.
So the trip actually got off to a good start, I set off for Liverpool and the New Brighton Lighthouse about 10am and got there about 3.30pm plenty of Queen and Metallica to listen and of course sing along too.
On arrival I parked up and I went to the cafe about 100 yards from the car park to get the lay of the land – can I sleep in my van on the car park, high tide times, fuel and a coffee and snack too. Yes, I could park there and it was free to do so, they were unsure of high tide time but I got that offline easily.
The entrance to the Cafe is somewhat noticable
After having a coffee (and a ‘small’ cake shhhh) I went to have a look at the Lighthouse and see where I wanted to be when it was time to take the photographs. I took the Nikon Z30 with the 16 – 50mm lens with me to get some ‘B’ Roll and some images, here are a couple of those images.
All seemed to be well at this point, clear sky with some cloud, but there was a weather warning in place for a storm later in the day, so the sky changed from what you see on these images to those taken later in the day (you’ll need to watch the Vlog for those later).
Beautiful sandy beach
A rather rough route to the Lighthouse
I eventually returned to the van, did an intro for my vlog and headed straight to the beach with all my normal gear and started to do some of the vlog and take some photographs. I suppose this is where things started to go wrong?
I went from the van to the sea defences then to the lighthouse and took nearly 200 photographs with lots of vlogging and ‘B’ roll.
Once I was finished some hours later I got to the van I found I had forgotten to do several things which included, checking the mic, correct I did not check it so there was no sound on the Z30 from all that vlogging.
Turn on the ‘2 second delay’, important for those long exposure photographs to eradicate any shake, so some of the photographs are not going to be usable.
Change to my wellies, simple right? Obviously not, I went in haste to the Sea Defences and did so wearing shoes, that was a big mistake.
Beautiful green pathway
Find my trips on TikToc @paulwbaker
On the way back to the van, some hours after I started, I managed to fall over landing on my already painful knee which had given way (yet again) and once again I fell on the hard ground losing control of the camera and which left my hand and hit the hard surface.
Yes, I was surrounded by sandy beach and my camera hits the road of all places. Luckily nothing wrong with the camera however the KF Concept ring took the brunt of the fall and got damaged – not their fault for a change (if you know you know as they say).
When I got back to the van, eventually after a good old whinge to myself, I tried to turn on the vans diesel heater to warm up the inside of the van for the evening and an ‘Error 3 code’ appeared (see the pic) on the display.
No heating for the night it is then . . .
So I had to abandon the long anticipated Bow Fiddle Rock element of the trip and return home, book the van in with The Road Viking to be repaired and order a spare part for the repair.
That has all been done, repair being done tomorrow (Friday 28 Sept 23) and thankfully I do have some good images which I will share on the Vlog next week :)
Paul W. Baker Photography 
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