A Tide Table Is Not Enough

Back in August, I wrote about my experience of not appreciating how high a high tide was at Sandymouth Beach. With most of the beach cut off because of the high tide, I was lucky to get the photographs I did. When I recently decided to return to Sandymouth beach to start a photography project I was keen not to repeat my previous mistakes.

While I captured images of the rocks on that last visit, I was eager to get images of the sandy part of the beach this time. I have shot this part of the beach before and the images I captured of the sand patterns and pools had inspired me to return.

I already knew that to get photographs of the sand it would need to be a low tide. What I hadn’t appreciated was how low it needed to be. If I’d done a simple check of the historical tide data from my last shoot of the sand, I would have noticed how low the tide needed to be.

When I arrived at Sandymouth I was surprised to see that the sandy part of the beach was already covered in water! The low tide I had looked up wasn’t that low for Sandymouth. As the tide was coming in the situation wasn’t going to change in my favour either. I was going to have to switch tactics. I decided that I would instead shoot the rocks that I’d shot previously. However, the tide was a bit far out for that!

So, it was back to square one for me and I had to do a little bit of exploring to see what else I could find. You can see the photographs I did manage to capture below. More important than the photographs was the lesson I learnt.

Tide tables only tell half the story. The tide at beaches like Sandymouth has a huge reach. When they are out, they are miles out and when they are in it can be up to the cliffs. From all my experiences of shooting at Sandymouth I have learnt that I need specific tide heights for specific subjects. Knowing if the tide is going in or out isn’t enough.

Next time I visit, I will pick a time where the tide is going to support my creative vision!