As you can read in my previous post I spent some time shooting a sunset and a sunrise in Manorbier the previous day. After a good full welsh breakfast I headed to my next destination in Marloes. The weather was really nice, warm and sunny. I wanted to discover the area walking. I parked my car at the National Trust car park and walked down to Marloes Sand beach. It took about 10 minutes to get to the coast path. The view is breathtaking from here. From Marloes Sand I walked about a mile towards Martins Havens and spent about an hour exploring this stretch of the coast. There were many gorgeous vantage points to take photos later in the golden hours.

From here I walked back to my car and drove over to the other car park at Martin’s Haven, which is just about half a mile away. Martin’s Haven is a tiny little cove and that's where the boat leaves to Skomer Island for tours. I walked around the Marloes peninsula starting from Martin’s Haven. I stopped at Wooltack Bay and finished my walk at Deadman's Bay. The rocks and cliffs are amazing here and of course the views as well. I had found some arches and caves on the western side of the peninsula which I shot two days later. I spent about one and a half hour walking and exploring.

On the way back to the car park I had a quick look around the boat departure area but I couldn’t find any good composition to shoot from here.

During walking I used my Sony Zeiss 16-35mm F4 lens to figure out the different compositions and to give me an idea which focal length works the best in certain scenarios. I had a great time here and had walked a couple of miles too. Knowing where I can park and how I can reach the different locations I drove back to my accommodation to check in. I planned to come back later for a sunset photography. As the evening was approaching the clouds started to cover the sky and it became flat and dull. I decided not go back to Marloes Peninsula but to walk down only to the closest beach, Musselwick Sands. I hoped that I would be able to take some photos of the rocks on the beach. But the weather thought it differently. Half way there it started to rain heavily. It made no sense to go further, so I turned back. I went to bed later with hoping for better conditions next morning. Unfortunately the situation got even worse on Friday. The wind got stronger with gales of 50 mph. This combination is my worst nightmare. I'm not afraid of drizzling or light rain but I hate wind. And it kept going on all day. I stayed in my room closely monitoring the weather forecast waiting for a change in conditions. Although the wind stayed strong there were some nice light breaking through the clouds as the evening was approaching. I decided to take the risk and ventured out. I drove to Marloes Sand car park and walked down to the coast path in full waterproof clothing. Although it wasn't raining the wind was too strong. I had spent about 15 minutes until I found a quieter spot where I could set up my tripod. I took some photos with different compositions. As dark clouds were approaching fast from the sea I decided to head back to my car. It was a good decision, it had started to rain just as I reached the car park. I was satisfied knowing I had taken some nice moody images. But at home things turned out differently. When I switched on my laptop a warning window popped up about new removable drive. It was my SD card, I left it in the reader. There was no memory card in the camera. On location I didn't even notice that the camera warned me after every photo taken. I was too busy to get the job done quickly in the crazy windy weather. Lessons learned, I changed the settings in the menu not to take a photo without card at all. This way I can avoid the unnecessary disappointment.

Saturday morning the weather situation was still the same. The rain only stopped after 10am. Although it still was very windy I went for a walk. I wanted to check out the locations again I can shoot later at sunset. I walked all the way down to Marloes Sand Beach. I took some images but I realized there was too much mist in the air covering the front glass of my lens. And also the foam created by the strong waves was blown by the wind which stuck to everything it landed on. These combination can ruin the experience hence I decided not to come this far and rather go for a higher vantage point later at sunset.

After an hour of walk I returned to my accommodation. I spent a couple of hours resting and then drove to Martin’s Haven car park. It was almost empty, lot of people cancelled their weekend getaway because of the weather. The ones already there went rather into the local pub than walking outdoors in these conditions. So I find myself alone which I was happy for. I didn't have to worry people ruining my composition. The wind was still very strong but I had luck. The area where I wanted to shoot a beautiful rock formation was relatively shaded from the wind. Not completely but just enough to safely set up my tripod. It was too early I wanted to wait at least an hour for the light to drop. I took a werk photo and walked back to the car park.

I grabbed some bites and then I returned. The scene had become amazing. The light filtered through the clouds and hit the rock from the side. I took several test shots and I decided that the best result was a longer exposure with shutter speed of around 2-3 seconds. That gave back the mood of the rough sea and the rugged cliffs. I think this became my favorite image of the whole trip.

Having the image of my trip on the memory card I still had more than an hour before sunset. I played a bit here and took an image of Skomer Island. Then I returned to my car and drove back to Marloes Sand car park. From here I walked to the locations I picked early afternoon.

10 minutes later I was there. Here there was no shade from the strong wind. I had to cope with the 50 mph strong gales. Every time I fired the shutter button (with 2 seconds timer) I grabbed the legs of my tripod and pushed it downwards in order to avoid camera shake. The air above the water was filled with mist and there were black clouds on the sky. It created very special atmosphere, just like Mordor in the Games of Thrones movie. I loved it. I managed to capture some very moody images. These were totally different than the ones I took two days ago in the calm and quiet weather. There were no pinks here at all but lots of dark greys, dusty oranges and blacks.

I also sacrificed my favourite baseball cap which was blown away in a wrong moment. It’s been with me for more than five years on all of my photo trips. But at least it’s lost in a glorious battle with the elements during a photo shoot so I’m not really sad about it. I didn’t plan further walks or shoots for Sunday morning the weather forecast was telling dull grey sky and rain. After a final breakfast I packed my luggage and left for home. This is a beautiful part of the British coastline. I hope one day I can return, there is much more left here to walk, enjoy and of course to photograph.