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Dusk and Tide at the Menai Straits

License this video (4K, and HD formats available)

The story behind this video

I've been wanting to make a time lapse video here on the Anglesey side of the Menai Straits in North Wales for a couple of years now, and I've finally managed it!

Believe it or not, it's very tricky to get the combination of weather, tide, sunset time and personal availability all to coincide, but it all came together one glorious afternoon and evening during January 2014.

Having seen the forecast, my wife Liz and I decided to spend the afternoon and evening on Anglesey.

We started off at Red Wharf Bay with a walk along the sand in the glorious afternoon sun, and then headed over to this favourite spot on the Menai Straits, just next to the Sea Life Centre where we can look across the water to Caernarfon and Snowdonia beyond.

I like this spot especially because of the old decaying jetty that sticks out into the Straits. It's especially interesting to watch the tide cover over the crumbling concrete and wooden pilings, and it's startling just how fast the tide can move here.

In fact, the whole sequence shown in this video encompasses just ninety minutes of real time. Just as well as the temperature dropped alarmingly as the sun went down.

If you look closely you'll see a couple of people making an appearance on the jetty. That's Liz and me, busy photographing the sunset off to the west and reflecting in the Straits as my good old Canon 5D fires away every 7 seconds.

Video data


Filename - menai straits timelapse 01.mp4

Camera - Canon EOS 5D

Lens - 17-40mm zoom @ 24mm

Exposure - 0.5sec (start) to 3.2secs (end) @ f11, ISO100

Location - Menai Straits, Anglesey, North Wales

This clip - HD 720p

Clip duration - 25 seconds at 25 frames per second.

Shooting interval - 7 seconds