Ellis Skelton Photography.

28/08/2026

This morning I headed up to the top of Beachy Head to capture the lunar eclipse.

The plan was to photograph the Moon throughout the eclipse, from around 3:30am through to 6:00am, capturing each stage as it slowly moved into Earth’s shadow. Watching it gradually change from a bright, detailed Moon into that deep red colour before slowly emerging again was an incredible experience, especially as the first light of sunrise began to appear.

I used the Nikon Zf paired with the incredible 800mm f/6.3 lens to capture the individual phases, before combining them into this curved composite to show the Moon’s movement and transformation across the morning.

14/08/2026

Spent last night at Beachy Head photographing the Perseid meteor shower, and somehow managed to capture something even more special than I was expecting.

Amongst the countless stars and occasional flashes of meteors, I found this incredible lone tree standing on the clifftop, completely windswept and shaped by years of exposure to the elements. With the Milky Way rising directly behind it, the scene had an almost otherworldly feeling.

The contrast between the tiny, fleeting meteor trails and this solitary tree that has stood there through countless nights really caught my attention. The grass moving in the wind, the enormous expanse of stars above and the occasional meteor cutting through the sky made it one of those moments where you can quite easily forget you’re standing on the edge of Eastbourne and just lose yourself in the scene.

I then finished off the shoot by capturing a shot of my mate looking up at the stars with his torch over the lighthouse!

12/08/2026

What an incredible experience this was to photograph! I headed out towards Alfriston to capture the partial solar eclipse, with the idea of creating a composite showing the Moon gradually passing across the Sun.

There was something genuinely surreal about standing outside and watching the landscape slowly change as the eclipse progressed. The light became strangely muted, the atmosphere felt almost still, and there was that incredible sense of anticipation every time the Moon moved a little further across the Sun.

The photography itself was definitely more of a challenge than I expected. I didn’t own a solar filter at the time, so I had to be extremely careful with the camera and spent around 99% of the time with the lens cap firmly on, only taking it off for the briefest moments to capture each stage of the eclipse. It was a huge risk and definitely not the easiest way to photograph it, but I was determined to come away with something.

After capturing each individual phase, I combined them into this final composite to show the progression of the eclipse across the sky. It was a long and slightly nerve racking process, but seeing all those individual moments come together into one image made it completely worth it.

29/07/2026

A last minute plan that turned into one of my favourite moon shots I’ve captured so far!

Originally, Josh and I were only planning to photograph Camber Castle, but after checking the moon’s position we made a spontaneous decision to chase the setting moon all the way to Dover Castle; a location I’d never photographed before. Thankfully the gamble paid off!

To create this final image, I used a 400mm Nikon Z f/2.8 lens (kindly borrowed for the evening) to capture the Moon in incredible detail, before switching to my 70–200mm f/2.8 FL to photograph the castle. The two exposures were then carefully blended together to create this!

It was a hectic evening, but definitely one that was worth the drive.

09/07/2026

Thanks TK photography for being one of my first test subjects with my new film camera and lens last week 😂

Not an everyday opportunity being photographed by Ellis Skelton Photography. with one of his collection of old film cameras! 📸🎞️
Thank you mate!

08/07/2026

Thought I’d share something a bit different, a few weeks ago I collected a large collection of different vintage cameras; some working some not.

This was one of the ones which unfortunately did not work and due to its age and complexity can’t be repaired. So I decided why not dismantle it and frame it!

This is a pre WW2 Contax II is a fascinating piece of kit and back in the day it would’ve been an extremely high end camera, the camera’s shutter and advance mechanism is all manual and works fairly similarly to a clock using different ribbons and cogs.

I started off by removing the original leather to reveal the screws which held the whole thing together slowly and carefully putting them to one side, then I let some of the parts soak in silver polish to ensure it would shine up against the black mount board I had ordered earlier that day! Next I brushed the parts which could not be dipped and carefully removed the grease and oils from the shutter mechanism. Once complete I was ready to start playing around with different arrangements as you can see I originally was going to go portrait but decided landscape worked much better in the end!

I then used a mixture of strong wire and glue to carefully attach each component to the mount board making sure it was hidden to create a floating effect. Once that was done I could then get it framed and here I am now with a new piece of art!

Although I wasn’t able to get it fixed I’m glad I was able to give it a new life as a decorative piece of art! I hope to create more of these with the other cameras that I have which I’m unable to fix, maybe I’ll even consider selling some on my stall in the future if that’s something that you would all like!

Thanks for taking the time to look hope you all have a fantastic day :)

27/06/2026

Last night was one of those nights that reminds you why storm chasing can be so addictive.

What started as a trip to Newhaven with a few friends quickly turned into an unforgettable evening. Storm after storm rolled up the English Channel, with lightning constantly illuminating the sky from around 11pm right through until about 5:30am.

After photographing the first storm at Newhaven,
I made the journey back to Eastbourne as another cell approached. It turned out to be the right decision. The second and third storms of the night produced some incredible displays, with lightning striking offshore and eventually moving close enough to light up Eastbourne Pier from behind. Watching the sky flash every few seconds while trying to anticipate where the next bolt would land was an adrenaline rush unlike anything else.

The first image captures one of those moments where the entire cloud was lit from within, framing the pier beneath a sky full of electric purple. The second is a single cloud to sea strike, caught just offshore after what felt like an endless amount of waiting. It’s one of those photographs where everything comes together for a split second before disappearing again into the darkness.

Nights like this don’t come around very often, and after six and a half hours of chasing storms along the Sussex coast, the lack of sleep was more than worth it.

22/06/2026

Saw something spectacular the other night so thought I’d share with you all! On Saturday night I headed to Beachy head to attempt to capture the milkyway however I arrived to a landscape full of fog, my forecast said it was supposed to clear so I waited…

As the fog cleared I noticed lots of sudden flashes out at sea, my lightning radar hadn’t picked anything up within 50 miles so assumed it was aircraft strobe lights, then I saw a bolt and knew it had to be lightning.

Checked my radar again and it turned out the lightning I was seeing was all the way in France bordering Belgium. Absolutely incredible that you could see this from the south coast of the uk despite the storm being over 150 miles away!

And it’s even more shocking that it didn’t require a large zoom/telephoto, I was able to capture this at 70mm and could very easily see the storm with the naked eye.

30/05/2026

Good morning everyone today I’m back at terminus road! It’s been a while so pop along to say hi! Would be great to talk to you all again. I am here from 9:00 till 16:00.

26/05/2026

Coming up this Saturday is Eastbourne Boroughs youth market! I always look forward to attending this event each year as it’s a fantastic opportunity to share all my latest work. Please do come along I always love chatting to you all it starts at 9:00 and finishes at 5:00. You can find me along Terminus road, see you there!