Category Archives: Night
Westminster Cathedral
Another shot taken from my recent walk around the Victoria area, this one is of Westminster Cathedral, not to be confused with Westminster Abbey which is a little grander than this nice little place.
This is taken at 16mm on a full frame and just reminds me how much I love to shoot wide. I really need to save up and buy a nice 14mm this year as that would allow me to show so much more in the shots, including the tripod, and my feet.
I hope everyone had a nice weekend. I had a pleasant walk in the rain on Saturday, but a hangover ruled out any productivity yesterday and I spent it lounging around in self pity.
A new week now though, let’s hope it’s a good one.
Wharf
Friday already, and I thought I would end the week with a shot of Canary Wharf taken a few weeks ago while I was out with Dylan, James and John. As I was taking these exposures a boat drove wandered sailed past and left a nice light streak across the bottom third of the image; I would have liked it to be a little closer to leave the trails slightly lower, but am happy enough with what they add to the shot.
It was a pretty cold night and we had contemplated walking to Greenwich from here, around 2 miles, and back up through the foot tunnel to Canary Wharf. Instead we jumped back on the tube to go back a stop, and a few shots later ended up in the pub. This was followed by a brief trip to London Bridge and another stop in the pub.
I’m officially going to stop calling them photowalks and refer to them by the appropriate title of pubcrawls very soon.
Last week I celebrated one year of this photoblog and posted a few of my favourite shots from the previous year. Thanks to everyone who voted for their personal favourites out of this batch, I’m pleased to announce that your preferred shot was The Day The Music Died
Winter Tree
I’ve never shot images in the snow before, I don’t think, so when I went out on Sunday for a quick walk with Dylan and John I found myself with a new challenge to contend with. Though most of the snow in London had melted away, there was still a little bit left in the park areas, and as we were in Greenwich park there was enough left on the ground to be a recognizable part of any image taken, even if it wasn’t the freshest snow in the world.
This image was taken shortly after the sun had gone down as we headed along to watch a firework show. As it was dark and there was little light in the park I was surprised by how much detail I was able to see in the tree, which is no doubt due to the light reflecting off of the snowy surface. I would love to be in an area that has snow over a period of weeks where I can actually attempt to learn about how it affects and image, and how to capture it well; in the meantime I’m happy to just have a go and see what comes from a shot which I know is there on a compositional level.
The Last Stop
Not too much to say about today’s image in this write up; instead, I’ve created a video on how I processed this image from the original exposures through to the end product. Apologies it’s so long…there was me thinking I spend 20 minutes on an image when this one is twice that.
So…my first video attempt at recording a screen, webcam and audio and I have a few notes about it.
1. My PC used to be top notch, but now struggles to handle so many power hungry applications.
2. Uploading the video seemed to lose a little of the quality.
3. Hope you can understand my accent, even though it’s a little out of sync with the webcam.
4. Grab yourself some wine/beer/whisky and drink along with me while I’m at work.
5. Enjoy, and please do leave feedback. What do you do that I don’t, what have you learnt, what questions do you have, etc.
Here’s the original image and the video follows that.
Curtain Call
Here we have the London Marriott Hotel West India Quay, a 5 star hotel in Canary Wharf, and one of the first places we arrived during a impromptu photowalk in that area. It’s pretty tough to get a decent and symmetrical shot of this building I found, but a little bit of perspective cropping seemed to have done the trick for the most part.
I like how the curtains are drawn in many of the windows yet others show the blinds and light from within. There was also slight movement in the clouds over the long exposure.
I’ve had several people ask about different areas of my workflow recently, so tomorrow I’m going to post a video which goes through how I work through an image from the initial selection, through Photomatix and using a few filters from Nik and OnOne Software to get to an end product – hope you can come back then and check it out.
Pan Drops
Pan drops are a mint sweet, however the title fits here due to the angle from which I’m taking a photo from the Pan Peninsular in London and combined with the fact this is the location where I managed to drop the 5d Mark 2. As said before, I luckily dropped it to my feet and not over the edge where it would have had this nice long drop to the ground below.
I hope everyone had a nice weekend 
The Dome
The Millennium Dome in London was built for the Millennium Experience, a year long series of exhibitions to commemorate the year 2000. I think it was mocked by most leading up to the launch, and certainly didn’t do as well as it was expected to. Nowadays it’s the O2 Arena and is used for gigs and other events throughout the year.
Regardless of the intention of the building or what it’s used for now, there is no denying it is a pretty unique structure and one that is often photographed by those who see it.
This is my first posted shot that was taken with the shiny new 5d Mark II – a superb camera that I am really enjoying getting to grips with. I say shiny, it’s already showing a little war paint as I have managed to drop it from chest height already. 36 hours in before that little gem happened. I thought I had it safely locked into the tripod, which has become pretty fussy lately with the RC plate locking in. I was wrong, and it plummeted to the concrete ground. Originally I thought it had nothing more than a little scratch on the corner which had taken the impact, however upon further investigation the next morning I noted there is a crack in the frame. It still works perfectly well, and the camera itself along with the glass that was attached are in perfect working order…just a bit annoying what with it being so fresh. I feel I took it very well though.
It could have been worse, of course. At least it only fell from chest height onto the floor at my feet…it could easily have fallen over the opposite side of the wall I was placing my tripod on, coming to a swift end 48 floors below.
Night to Day – Piccadilly Circus
I hope everyone had a great day yesterday.
Last year I went out on Christmas day and took photos of a very desolate London, rushing from place to place trying to capture the eerie atmosphere of this usually vibrant city while it was pretty much empty.
This year I wanted to go back out there while it was still quiet, but only really had one purpose to do so and that was to try my first attempt at making an image that transcends from night to day. This is what you see above.
I took multiple exposures over a 45 minute period, stood in an empty Piccadilly Circus. I started early while it was still dark and continued until there was quite a lot of light. I then processed a selection of these shots, giving me around 5 to work with, before then merging them together to appear night at the left and blending into daytime at the right.
It turned out quite well for a first attempt and I look forward to trying more in the future.
London Sunrise – Panorama
So this is the last post before Christmas, which seems to have rolled around once more with the stealth of a ninja, and what better way to celebrate than by providing a shot for Santa to guide his way through the London skyline by way of a panoramic. Be sure to check out the larger view for all of the detailed goodness.
I love the skyline of this magnificent city, though must admit the Shard is an issue. Yes, it’s one of my favourite buildings at the moment and I try and shoot it whenever I get high up…but it does mean that I have to have a lot of sky in the shot above the other buildings, just to give the Shard room to breathe. Luckily this shot was taken as the sun was coming up and there were some nice clouds in the sky so it at least offered a bit of focal interest throughout the shot.
I hope you all have a lovely Christmas, whatever you may be up to. Happy holidays, and happy shooting.
The Drop
A view straight down from the best rooftop in London; she will be missed.
Had the work Christmas party last night, which was good fun, and have opted to take the day off. Sensible Mike remembers the last Christmas party that was held on a weeknight and decided it was safer to have a day off rather than risk working in a horrid state. In the bar after the meal, where the second round ordered were tequilas, I was thinking I had certainly made the right choice – though I feel alright this morning.
I should use this time productively to do something like Christmas shopping (it’s still ages away….right?) but know that I’ll only end up buying stuff for myself if I attempted that.
Plastic Pirate
A couple of weeks ago I went to ‘Winter Wonderland’ in Hyde Park with John, James and Dylan. It was a very cold night as we stood around taking a few photos, and though I didn’t take a lot that I liked it was good to be able to play with the new 24-70 2.8 as this was the first time I had really been out with it. It was also nice to finally meet up with YorkshireStacked and mattomatto who kindly popped down to say hello; hopefully we’ll get to go on the long overdue photowalk soon (even if you do shoot Nikon).
Outside one of the rides was the pirate you see above. I have no idea what the ride was, but I liked the way he stood out and allowed the background lights to fade away. However once I was processing the lights were actually a little distracting from the subject so I opted to process as a black and white instead.
Royal Exchange
This is a shot of the Royal Exchange in London, taken at night at a lovely long exposure to really get the flare of the lights and movement of traffic in the shot. The colour version did nothing for me so I turned it into monotone, and this did nothing for me for a long time, however looking back at it today I think I’m pretty happy with how it did turn out in the end – it’s always funny how a fresh look at something often leaves you liking it when you didn’t shortly after processing.
I haven’t been able to get out with the camera much lately, nor process any of the images in my archive really – the mojo is lost at the moment so I’m relying on those images which I’ve already spent time on. Hopefully I’ll be back into the swing of it sometime soon.
I guess I should start thinking about buying Christmas presents also…
OXO Boardwalk
Another image I’ve sat on for a while and didn’t initially like due to the blue spotlight on the OXO Tower; however I haven’t had the time or energy to process over the weekend and pre-processed shots are thin on the ground.
I hope everyone had a nice weekend…mine was very long and I’m glad to be at work in the new office with everything all settled in.
Nelson
I’ve sat on this image for quite some time and it’s only recently that I’ve warmed to it enough to post. I’m not sure why I didn’t like it, but I think the slight imperfections in the way it’s lined up has had me not wanting to publish it. I feel differently as I write this and quite like it, especially the stars glimpsing through in the night sky.
For anyone unsure, it’s Nelson’s Column which sits in the heart of Trafalgar Square in London.
With my latest additions to my camera bag, namely the 24-70 glass and the Speedlite, I have suddenly found that my camera bag is way too small for the regular stuff I want to carry around and so I must now look for a new one. Suggestions from others on bags to buy would be wonderful…here’s what I usually carried in my current bag and my criteria for the new bag:
Stuff I carried in the Lowepro Flipside 300:
Always:
Canon 500d
Tripod Head
Sigma 10-20mm
Canon 50mm
Canon 18-55mm
Samyang 8mm
Wireless Remote Trigger
Wired Remote Trigger
3 77mm Filters, boxed
X-Rite ColorChecker Passport
4x Memory card
3x Batteries
Torch
Tripod (mounted on rear of bag)
Cleaning accessories
First Aid Kit
Sometimes – but due to space I couldn’t carry all.
Canon 55-250mm
Canon Speedlite 580ex II
Flash remote trigger/receiver
BlackRapid RS-4
iPad
gloves/scarf/hat/urbex mask
The Canon 24-70mm with the hood takes up a little too much room for this bag, so that’s why I need to buy a new one. Plus, I wish to upgrade to the 5d Mark II in the near future, so that will need to fit also.
Considering the above, I now need to consider the following (note I won’t usually be carrying two bodies):
Canon 5d Mark ii
Camera Grip for the 5d Mark ii
Ideally, I would like the bag to be suitable to take on planes.
As I dabble in a little urbex now and then, I also want the bag to be able to squeeze through reasonably small spaces, such as allowing it to stay on my back as I climb ladders of scaffold or cranes.
The tripod mount would be better on the side, than on the rear.
I know I want the moon on a stick sometimes, and I can’t always have that – but any suggestions on what you currently use which fits similar gear comfortably would be awesome – either in the comments or via email/twitter/shaved into a dead badger.
Thanks, and have a great weekend.
Deciduous
I thought the harsh lights of the posts on the left of this pathway contrasted nicely with the soft green light cast into the trees on the right, so set up for a couple of quick shots as I was walking through the London Victoria area.
After my first set of brackets I noted the lone leaf sat on the ground ahead of me, and so moved that closer to the camera so that it could be an added area of interest in the shot.
I’m not sure the shot is exactly as I thought it may turn out when I had set up, but I quite like it anyway.
Caught in the Act
Stood high up on the corner of a building, watching as the city moves quietly below is a great sensation, and a huge contrast to the regular daytime where you are pushing your way through the hoards of people fighting for space on the streets or public transport.
It’s peaceful up there, alone with your thoughts and the heightened senses that comes with standing in a location where you know in your mind you should be safe, it is just standing still after all – something you do every day, but with the knowledge that if something were to happen it would not end well.
I fainted on the tube once, many years ago. I wasn’t sick, hand’t been drinking the night before, and was just on my way to work. It wasn’t blistering heat or anything like that…for some reason I just fainted. One minute standing up, the next feeling I was in bed and trapped in my duvet, and the next realising I was on the tube. I was sick for three days after that but the doctors didn’t find anything wrong with me.
It’s that thought I come back to often when stood on the edge. I’m confident in my ability to stand, to hold, to climb. I’m not confident that the sudden blackness that I encountered many years ago won’t return for some unknown reason.
On this particular trip, as I stood on a similar outcropping section of an incomplete building, concentrating on standing, willing myself to breathe and with my thoughts on that day that I fainted I was suddenly brought back to reality by a shout of ‘Oi…Police’ and the shining of a torch in my eyes. Not the best place to be stood when someone startles you. Unable to see anything but the torchlight on one side and a 20 storey drop to the other I walked sheepishly towards the light, happy that there wasn’t a bounding police dog to go with that shout, but sad that this particular trip should end so soon after it started.
Seven
First up, a very happy birthday to Steve who has just hit the mid-30s range of the life scale.
Second, we have a rooftop, a multiplicity of the hooded character and a London skyline – what more do you want on a Friday? If the hooded guy has 9 lives it looks like he’s already lost 2 of them somewhere along with way – hopefully this weekend won’t see any more disappearing 
Have a great one everybody.
Ready to Fly
A friend and I have been discussing the possibility of taking a skydiving holiday next year to get a week of sun, sights and a little bit of craziness from jumping out of planes. If anyone has taken one of these trips somewhere in Europe, please drop me a note with details of who you used to arrange it with. I’ve never skydived before and don’t wish to simply do a static line jump, so any trip that offers a tandem followed by supervised jumping would be ideal. Thanks.
One Giant Leap
The other night I went to the Science museum in London for an evening of alcohol and canapés. I didn’t take many photos, but one of the ones I did take was of this spacesuit using a speedlite at the right hand side and which you can see the flash of reflected in the helmet.
I added an image of the moon that I took on Christmas day a few years ago and processed using the PhotoTools package by OnOneSoftware to get this space walk shot.
It’s certainly something a little different to my usual, but as I’m starting to say that a lot just now that hopefully means I’m moving away from a ‘usual’ style of shot.
Darkness Falls
The nights are closing in earlier and earlier just now as we make our rapid descent into winter. Sure, I get to see a few less sunsets and golden hours while I’m sat behind a desk working, but at least it means I can start doing a little urbex at a reasonable time and not have to wait until it’s very late before we head up somewhere under the cover of darkness. Hopefully the mist that stopped play on Saturday night doesn’t last too long…there’s no point going up 30 storeys to find you can’t see a thing.
I hope everyone had a nice weekend, do anything nice?
Millennium in Monotone
I took and processed this shot several months ago, but was never really happy with it, but couldn’t put my finger on why. Looking back at it this morning I thought it was alright, actually.
Opinions change for a variety of reasons on images, and it could be the mood you’re in, coming back from having a break and seeing it afresh, or just that it somehow grows on you over time.
Of course it could also be that I’ve had no time for processing over the past week or so and I was looking back over my previously processed shots when I saw this, immediately thinking ‘that’ll do’.
Hopefully I’ll have time to sit and process this weekend. I hope you have a great time yourself…what are you up to?
Zoom
One of the great things about sitting up high on a crane of rooftop is that you get to watch the world go by below you. Sure, you come for the view of the city, but it’s the buzz generated by those getting on with their lives that makes you feel like you’re watching over the wonderful capital as a guardian; you feel connected to the city, yet detached at the same time – a little like when you’re playing Sims and you know that the characters within it are under your watch, but without the godlike power of being able to remove the doors to their homes so that they die alone after a few days.
I was never any good at the Sims.
Hoochinoo Live
Something slightly different today, as instead of a single image I’m going to post up the ones I took on Saturday night at a gig at the Vibe Bar on Brick Lane. Hoochinoo showcase acts from the UK’s underground alternative hip hop and urban music scene – not my usual cup of tea, but with beer and the chance to break out the new speedlite it’s something I decided to leave the house for.
Well I say that this type of music isn’t my cup of tea, but I don’t see why not as all of the acts were actually really good, and Def D Fires were certainly one of the better, and certainly one of the most energetic, live acts I’ve seen in a while. All in all it was a good night out.
Oh, and in case you were wondering – that is indeed one of my beers in the image above and, no, it did not taste like it looks.
Taken with:
Canon 500d
Canon 50mm 1.8
Samyang 8mm Fisheye
Canon 580EX II Speedlite
BlackRapid RS-4 Strap (yep…another outing with this strap, and yet another eyecup replacement needed)
Processed with PhotoTools 2.6 by OnOne Software
City Hall
Friday again already! This week has been a bit of downtime from the hectic work life of the past few weeks, and though I’m getting a lot done it feels like I’m doing nothing much at all. Evening’s are free once more, and have been used to chill out and catch up on a bit of TV watching…this weekend is likely to be the same.
Here’s a quick shot that I took of City Hall when out on a photowalk last Sunday. It’s an odd shaped building that always reminds me of Alien. For a building that houses the Greater London Authority I’ll let you go ahead and make your own comparisons between the two.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Towering Above
It’s not easy to take a long exposure from the top of a crane when you don’t have a tripod of any sort with you, however on this trip I managed to do so by getting a little creative with my BlackRapid strap which I wrapped around both the camera and the small metal railing that was at the top of the crane in order to hold it steady for the duration required.
By now my readers will not need an introduction to the building which is shown here towering above the rest. I normally take shot of the Shard from the West looking East, so it’s good to be able to get one here which is from the North looking South instead. The bridge you see at the right with the red light running across it is London Bridge.
