On Sunday the 22nd of September we will be running a workshop in the Dungeness, Camber Sands, Romney Marsh are of the South Coast.
The day will start with sunrise on Camber Sands, high tide is before 04:00 so we should have plenty of flat sand to work with and not have to worry about the incoming tide. We then move onto the historic World War 1 Sound Mirrors at Denge. We have paid to have access to them for 2 hours from 10:00 to 12:00. We will break for a little lunch and then proceed to Dungeness, the only desert in the UK for an afternoon of photographing the 2 Lighthouses and the abandoned fishing boats and huts. If it’s not suitable at the beach we will head inland to photograph the historic churches of Romney Marsh.
Access to the sound mirrors is tightly controlled by the RSPB and they only grant access a few times a year. It is possible to photograph from a distance but this is the only way to get onto the island, via a drawbrigde, and photograph them up close. The RSPB do offer a couple of open days during the year but these are very busy and as a result not very photogenic.
A forerunner of radar, acoustic mirrors were built on the south and northeast coasts of England between about 1916 and the 1930s. The ‘listening ears’ were intended to provide early warning of incoming enemy aeroplanes and airships about to attack coastal towns. With the development of faster aircraft the sound mirrors became less useful, as an aircraft would be within sight by the time it had been located, and radar finally rendered the mirrors obsolete.
Paul Burgess and myself are running this one day workshop on the south coast around Camber Sands and Dungeness. We have managed to secure access to the historic sound mirrors at Denge for 2 hours from 10:00-12:00. Normally the mirrors are not accessible to the general public as they are on Romney Marsh RSPB land and are reached by crossing a draw bridge. Part of your workshop fee covers the cost of access. The RSPB offer a couple of Open days but these tend to be very busy and therefore not very photogenic, they also offer photography days, or at least they used to, but these were only 2 hours long and cost £44 for RSPB members and £62 approx. non-members, with no tuition just access.
We are planning to arrive at Camber sands for sunrise, timed at 6:43 as the tide will be out, high water mark was at 3:10. Spend some time there before heading over to the Sound Mirrors. We will then go for lunch and explore Dungeness in the afternoon.
Attendees are welcome to join as at the start or meet us at the Sound Mirrors at 9:45