Richard and I wanted to head out for the day as the weather in the UK has been especially good this Easter Weekend.

As it’s Easter, most of the usual places are not really an option as they would be super busy.

I decided to turn to the excellent book by Justin Minns – Photographing East Anglia for inspiration.

We wanted somewhere picturesque but not too busy and that ruled out anywhere near castles, stately homes or the coast!

We opted for a small village on the Black Water Estuary in Essex called Tollesbury.

It was ideal as it was small, quiet and somewhere we had not been before.

It was so small we had some problem parking – having left the car by the harbour wall (as instructed in the book), a kind local advised us to move as high tide would have seen the car underwater (not great for a hybrid!)

We parked near the green and walked back to the quay, enjoyed a hearty breakfast in the local cafe before setting off to take photos.

It was a super bright midday sun which meant the light was quite harsh but we both set about taking some shots.

I did try some long exposures on the water alongside the boats but sadly there wasn’t enough water to get the effect I was after.

In fact of all the shots I took today, only this one remains in Lightroom (I rationalise everything in Lightroom due to space so only photos I want to keep, use, publish stay in the CC library).

When I first browsed Justin’s book I was worried that I actually didn’t need to visit any of the places featured as he had taken all the best shots from each location.

Well, I am sure this shot isn’t in the book and wasn’t one I was looking for but I like it nonetheless.

This is what I love about photography.  I head out with the intention of coming back with some great landscape shot and end up pleased and surprised by this rather random shot of a boat hook!

It is set to continue to be a couple of really warm days here in the UK, we don’t plan to head out that much but I intend to see what else I can capture during this long weekend (although I doubt I’ll capture any more boat hooks anytime soon!).