Welcome to Spring in Brighton

I don’t often believe those weather reports, so when we were warned of snow falling in March, I was doubtful, especially in Brighton, the sea tends to melt the snow before it has had a chance to land! So after the snow fell overnight, the kids were elated and I was glad of the opportunity capture some fun spring snow photography in Sussex. The problem was that the gorgeous sun was melting the snow fast!

Despite the lack of snow, I decided, as my kids were throwing snowballs, to catch some crackles and ground reflections. I was a tad disappointed with the meltdown, not of my kids, the weather!

Yes, our blessed Brighton seafront has been strewn with photographers over the years, for a very good reason. It’s beautiful, this is one of my favorite viewpoints.

Sledging at Ditchling Beacon

So after some nice soup a kind neighbour threw together, we headed up Ditchling Beacon way, after being tipped off that Stanmer Park was melting… the snow, not the place. Sledging it was, kids were electric!

A few camera speed and snow tips

Firstly to get the right camera setting ignore the white snow and use a face or object to measure light. The snow will make the camera think there is more light available than there is and silhouette your subject, so meter on object or face, unless that is what you are going for photographically.

A camera speed of 500 is rather nice for freezing the fun downward motion. Those of you unafraid of manual, on a sunny snowy day you have plenty of light. Your ISO can be popped from 100 to 400, but ensure your camera speed is higher than 400 speed, then apply the other setting accordingly. My aperture was about f:13 on most of these. The top shot being quite successful as you can see motion was fast thanks to the tell tale snow sledging cascade.

The inbetweener shots

Shots like these are priceless to me. It’s not always about the ride, it’s also about the instances in between. The post elated breather, the fall, the climb…

Brighton is so photogenic for photography, I felt spoilt that the sun came out as previous days had been shockingly dull. Hope you enjoyed this blog.

Sophie Sheinwald offers bespoke family photo sessions outdoors. Choose your locations with her and you can have your personal session photographed based on your family personality. Sophie is happy to work in the realm of Sussex, just ask and you can have some special memories created for you.