My second trip to The Hoe over the Christmas period was again to use the ND110 filter and to show Viveca a little of Plymouth’s nicer side.

On arrival we noticed that the water was flat, very flat, hardly any tidal ripple at all which pretty much negated what I had come to do. On the positive side of things that meant that there would be no re-occurrence of my trip earlier in the week where i had to hide from the rain and keep wiping the salty water from the lens as waves splashed everywhere. So a quick photographic rethink was required. There’s plenty here to see

I’ve been here many times before but not with a camera in my hand, or anything more than a cursory  appreciative eye towards the place. This time was a bit different. As photographers, or at least when we go out taking photos we all have an eye that tunes into the world around us.  As I’ve become more interested in photography, shooting and processing I often find myself looking at the world differently, more visually critical and I’ve become far more appreciative of the my environment and this is a point in case.

The Hoe has been the suntrap and destination for locals for over 50 years now with its terraces and lido. Its a cool place to hang out as kids or adults and families. There wasn’t much of that going on when we were there though – it was pretty cold, so no sunbathing or swimming was taking place!

The curves of Plymouth Lido looking out towards the commercial port. (Mark Blundell)

I’d always liked the curve of this promenade, it slopes in a pleasing manner at the same time as sweeping around to the west. It’s now complimented with stirs in the opposite direction down to the lido.

This has come from a 9 image set of shots, processed in Photomatix 4 and using Nik Filter to pimp it up in Photoshop.