Back in January I did a post on landmarks that photographers like to take photos of disappearing. Sometimes it happens because of natural causes and other times from malice and horrible people. Today’s post is more about natural causes and we are talking about the famous arch at St Paul’s Beach in Sorrento.
I know I normally do a Lens-Artists Challenge post today, but I am sorry to say the challenge this week is not something I like doing so I decided not to participate. However, if you would like to see what the host, Anne, has done, then take a look at her post, Slow Shutter Speed.
On Friday, I spent the better part of the day taking photos down and around Sorrento, in the Mornington Peninsula. One of the places my friend Chris and I wanted to go to was St Paul’s Beach. We both realised we hadn’t been there for a while, and it turns out it had been a long time.
We parked the car and got our gear out, I took my full pack because I wanted to do some long exposures. So we took the path and then saw a woman standing up looking out so we went and stood next to her and this is what we saw.
It was gone, it had collapsed.
The woman told us it happened a few years ago. It was then that we realised the path that led to the steps had been blocked off. You couldn’t get down there anymore.
We decided to go over the fence and down the path that was still there. You couldn’t go down the steps very far before you came to a barrier, and over the other side, the steps were gone. Not sure if they were taken down, or a storm took them out. Who knows. I don’t know why there was a fence at the start of the path, no reason for that really.
We got down there, and I did this long exposure with my Formatt Hitech filter and Bucky, my 3 Legged Thing Tripod.
It is sad to see that it is no longer there, just another landmark that we can’t photograph anymore. We were lamenting about it on the day.
It has meant both of us have been looking through our photos of past visits.
You can see the arch in the image above. This was taken in January 2016 and apparently it collapsed in March 2016, so two months after we were there. It had already collapsed a few times up to that point, and I guess it is always inevitable that it wouldl collapse completely.
I am gong to share the above photos and some others I’ve taken of it in a gallery.
Oh what a shame Leanne! Thank goodness for your beautiful images ..
It is disappointing, but I guess that is nature too. Thank you Julie.
That is awesome! It’s too bad the sun position isn’t thru the tunnel, but that is still awesome.
I don’t think you could get the sun through it, though I might be wrong about that. It is was a shame.
Maybe difference time during the year. I know where I live in October the Sun sets over the fishing pier. Right now, the Sun is setting over the ICW.
Maybe Ziggy, but too late now as the arch is gone is sadly.
I wish I could get a copyright of this photo
You would have to take it.
❤️
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First, the pictures are glorious. As for losing things we loved to photograph, back when we lived in New York, every time there was a hurricane, entire beaches would vanish. During a hurricane in 1936, on Martha’s Vineyard an entire bay where all the fishing boats were kept, disappeared. Completely. Including all the fishing boats. Now, only amateurs fish off the island. No one is willing to moor their boats there. It only takes one big storm.
Wow, I did not know about that, what a great story to hear Marilyn. It is always sad to things change and it seems these days there are more changes than we can possibly keep up with. I guess it is the life we live. Though I think with what is happening to the climate thinks like your story are going to happen more and more. Our storm of the century seems to happen every few years now. It is crazy. Thank you Marilyn, keep safe.
The natural passage of time, but it’s always sad to see things go
It is and it is, thanks Sue.
Thanks for your tribute to this gorgeous natural monument. So sad it has slipped into the sea.
Thank you Rebecca, glad you enjoyed it.
Great gallery and story.
Thanks Egidio.
I enjoyed your photos of the beach and rock formations. We have something similar here on the shores of the Bay of Fundy. Like yours, one of the most iconic formations collapsed a couple of years ago.It takes eons for the sea to carve them out and one brutal storm to destroy it.
Thank you Ceci. I guess over millennia they are formed, collapse and then something else forms. Just not enough time in one life really. Those storms are happening more and more sadly.
What a beautiful landmark. How lucky you were to capture it when you did, Leanne, but how awful that it is no more.
Yeah, I was lucky, shocked to find it gone though.I agree, it is really sad, it was a good spot to take photos.
So many things I would like to photograph have changed or disappeared. I just can’t photograph everything fast enough it seems.
I know the feeling Randy, I think the lesson is not to put them off. It is very hard.
It’s tough to lose a landmark, but that’s what nature does. Lovely images.
It does, thank you Anne.
That’s horrible. The beaches I’ve been shooting in Matthews County VA are both getting eroded, washed away it seems like…one was closed to be rebuilt the last time I went, another’s just…well, it’s smaller. There’s also a populated island in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay (Tangier Island) that’s going to be underwater before too long. Fun with climate change and all that.
Nothing lasts forever, I suppose. Glad you took some great photos of it while it was still there.
Yeah, though I think it was always going to happen really. We have had similar problems with beaches here, some are being completely eroded away, in the bay at Melbourne sand from one side is being washed and dumped on the other.I guess that is what happens. Yeah climate change is making things a lot harder, that’s for sure. The storms seem to happen a lot more frequently.
I am glad I got some too, lucky really. thank you Adam.
You’re welcome!
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