The Poldark Factor
15/04/2015
The BBC's period drama is drawing people to my Seascape Workshops.
It has been a regular summer scene around Port Isaac and Port Quin, whereby coach-loads of foreign tourists (known locally as 'Klunatics') descend on these picturesque little fishing villages. They are here to see where Doc Martin is filmed but there's not a great deal of interest shown outside this localised area. However, the BBC's dashing new dramatisation of Winston Graham's Poldark novels has brought a surge of interest in Cornwall's stunning coastal scenery. In turn this is driving a new audience of photographic enthusiasts, who are looking to come down and shoot some of the featured locations, to my Seascape Workshop website.
Fortune would have it that my home on the North Coast is ideally positioned to do just that. Crantock is almost equidistant between the main mining location near St. Agnes Head and the rolling clifftop scenery close to Padstow. Also the locations on The Lizard and the rugged scenery near Botallack and Zennor regularly feature in my daily itineraries. So all the main coastal locations are covered off. There are also the ports and Charleston Harbour is a short drive away over on the South Coast. We just have to get there early as the sunrise is often spectacular and we avoid the daytime visitors. But there's more than just where the production crews are limited to visit - where distant buildings, pylons or wind farms don't interrupt their panning - there's a whole host of locations on my doorstep that inspired the author's writings.
Back in 1945, Graham published his first novel. He wrote it in Perranporth just a couple of miles away and came back year after year, staying in a small clifftop cottage to pen his series. The real Wheal Leisure mine was on the cliffs overlooking the vast, 3 mile long beach, that is surrounded by some truly beautiful scenery. So it is right here, amongst the golden sandy coves and high rugged cliffs, that he wandered and got his creative juices flowing. They are quite remote and TV cameras can't reach these places. But we can and there's so much to photograph. The majority of my images are taken along this stretch of coast and if you'd like to view them go to the 'Cornish Horizons' gallery in my photography website's Portfolio section.
I am really enjoying the TV series and it's great trying to spot the exact vantage point the scenes are filmed from (as well as watching Eleanor Tomlinson!) So I am delighted to hear that due to its runaway success, a second series has been commissioned. This comes at the ideal time as my Seascape Workshop business enters its second season and I am always looking to get me name in front of prospective new clients. Hopefully the BBC will be selling Poldark abroad and, fingers crossed, I'll get some more foreign interest generated. I've had a client come over from Sweden on two separate visits and of course, the adorable Carole Lesley-Hyatt, who came from Wales... (she's going to slap me for that!)
Anyway, if you'd like to visit the 'Poldark Coast' then why not do it in style? Come and take a 3, 4 or 5 day seascape photography workshop in Cornwall and I will show you the very best locations while you brush-up your photographic and post-production techniques. Please get in touch and we can organise dates.
Fortune would have it that my home on the North Coast is ideally positioned to do just that. Crantock is almost equidistant between the main mining location near St. Agnes Head and the rolling clifftop scenery close to Padstow. Also the locations on The Lizard and the rugged scenery near Botallack and Zennor regularly feature in my daily itineraries. So all the main coastal locations are covered off. There are also the ports and Charleston Harbour is a short drive away over on the South Coast. We just have to get there early as the sunrise is often spectacular and we avoid the daytime visitors. But there's more than just where the production crews are limited to visit - where distant buildings, pylons or wind farms don't interrupt their panning - there's a whole host of locations on my doorstep that inspired the author's writings.
Back in 1945, Graham published his first novel. He wrote it in Perranporth just a couple of miles away and came back year after year, staying in a small clifftop cottage to pen his series. The real Wheal Leisure mine was on the cliffs overlooking the vast, 3 mile long beach, that is surrounded by some truly beautiful scenery. So it is right here, amongst the golden sandy coves and high rugged cliffs, that he wandered and got his creative juices flowing. They are quite remote and TV cameras can't reach these places. But we can and there's so much to photograph. The majority of my images are taken along this stretch of coast and if you'd like to view them go to the 'Cornish Horizons' gallery in my photography website's Portfolio section.
I am really enjoying the TV series and it's great trying to spot the exact vantage point the scenes are filmed from (as well as watching Eleanor Tomlinson!) So I am delighted to hear that due to its runaway success, a second series has been commissioned. This comes at the ideal time as my Seascape Workshop business enters its second season and I am always looking to get me name in front of prospective new clients. Hopefully the BBC will be selling Poldark abroad and, fingers crossed, I'll get some more foreign interest generated. I've had a client come over from Sweden on two separate visits and of course, the adorable Carole Lesley-Hyatt, who came from Wales... (she's going to slap me for that!)
Anyway, if you'd like to visit the 'Poldark Coast' then why not do it in style? Come and take a 3, 4 or 5 day seascape photography workshop in Cornwall and I will show you the very best locations while you brush-up your photographic and post-production techniques. Please get in touch and we can organise dates.