Heh - there's some good stuff in here! no putting anyone to shame!
I actually spent about 3 hours walking up and down the beach looking for EXACTLY the right patterns in the sand, so sad lol.
aha! a fellow LF photographer, we're pretty rare these days 8)
Yes - I have a full set of Lee filters, they're a pain because each one is made to order but they're worth it, because they're the only filters (that I know about) which are totally neutral and don't introduce any casts.
I mostly use a 0.9 hard grad (3 stops) but sometimes I use a 0.9 AND a 0.3 to balance the exposure, Velvia 50 has such rubbish latitude.