Coastal daytime photography captures light and colour

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I spent the day at the coast with my family yesterday. In between the Father's Day celebrations, I got the time to take a few photographs and practise my skills in a lighter setting than I've been recently working-

In this first photo, I've tried to capture the essence of the fishing village Staithes. The village is quite unspoilt by modern life and us a balance between old-world fishermen and new-world Britain In Bloom entrant. This photo by the river, I think, captures some of both worlds.

Also in Staithes, I was drawn to the lines created by the telephone wires and how this framed the seagulls. I have studied leading lines in my photography and I always find the addition of lines to an image an interesting feature. When the lines are crossed, as in the image above I like the fact that they seem to converge to a common point.

This image has really come away from the darkness I often capture. I was taken by the lightness of the promenade in Whitby and the vibrant colours of the beach hits. I took photos in both directions, but having the sun project the shadows of the hut peaks onto the promenade lifted the image to another level.

Now I often avoid the sky as the main feature in a daytime photo because I find that it either looks washed out or the imagery is too dark. I've tried several different filters and I've yet to find much joy with them. In this shot, I didn't mind the buildings darkened a little and the large clouds made the photo for me.

This is my last photo of today's blog and it's Whitby Abbey. I've tried to fill the large gaps in the windows at the front of the Abbey with parts from the Abbey behind. I think that this adds depth and interest to the image.

London photographs on a trip away

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Another interesting time with my photography came about after carrying my camera around on a London day out with my family.

First stop was Wembley Stadium and I found that the tour offered a glimpse or two for photo opportunities.

I simply loved the framing of this photograph. The ground staff were busy getting the pitch ready for the FA Cup Final on Saturday, and the sign, lawn mower and hose felt a perfect staging for the rest of the photo. I liked the contrast between the large swathes of green and red and felt that in the bright sunlight, these balanced well.

I saw these shapes and lines in the library just outside of Wembley and I thought that the hundreds of lines in different directions really made a good composition. I tried to capture just this building, as it had enough going on without adding any other elements. And I think it sort of worked.

The next two have followed my theme of capturing scenes as the sun starts to set. I've tried to work hard with reducing the shutter speed and darkening the foreground, whilst retaining some clarity in the sky above. I think that the moody sky, and darkened backgrounds add to the gothic theatre of St Paul's Cathedral and continues my theme of silhouetting foregrounds and moody sunsetting skies.

Lastly on this trip is this dark image of the City of London. It wasn't much after the St. Paul's photographs, but the fact that I was now surrounded by tall buildings changed the light dramatically. This photo is in the same state it was taken and I like the metallic element in the photo - it adds a real depth to the scene.

Sunset photographs are giving me great pleasure

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I've been going out in and around sunset in the local area recently and in really leased with the results. I've blogged before on using the golden hours to make the best of the sky and recent clear weather conditions have provided excellent opportunities to get photographs with great skies in that really set off the subject matter.

The first is a photograph of the River Wear close to a place called Sunderland Bridge in County Durham. I got there just before sunset and used the fading light to create the reflection in the river itself. I think that the oranges and blues work really well with the dark outlines created by the trees and river banks.

This is Brancepeth Castle a little later in the same night. The sky was so clear and so blue that I thought the shot created itself. The alignment of the castle, the sky and the moon just felt right and from there I only needed to set my shutter speed and aperture at a suitable level to keep the sky blue and the castle in a sort of silhouette form. The slight pinkiness and cloud forms at the bottom of the sky have added a bit of reality to whst cod have looked an unreal scene.

Another photograph of Brancepeth Castle here, and again I've tried to contrast the dark silhouette of the rigid, structured castle against the pastel blues and pinks of the sky. The trees, for me, add a sense of the size of the castle. Once again, I've looked at the angle of taking the photo so I've got the moon in the picture.

It's a continuing process and I'll share the results with you on here.

Photography on location in Southend-on-Sea

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There's only 100 days left of my journey and I'm away from home this week. I've taken some photos on my travels. One of  the things I wanted to get out of the course was the ability for my photos to tell their own story and I think in starting to get there with my final project and these photos.

I've deliberately under-exposed this to emphasise the sky and the dark, cold conditions. I liked the geometry of the fence and lamp posts and how this repeated through the image.

I worked hard here to ensure that the shafts of sunlight breaking through the clouds showed up here. I've enjoyed shooting industrial scenes, often alongside natural features and this continues on that theme, which is also the theme for my final project.

The contrast of the flurry of colour at the bottom of the picture against the bleakness of the top half of the picture really appealed to me when I saw this. Again I've slightly under-exposed to ensure that the sea stays dark

And there isn't too much going on in the sky.

This is my favourite picture of the week as I've used depth of field and leading lines to capture the construction and length of the pier at Southend-on-Sea in Essex. Again I think it captures and conveys how cold and bleak the day was and how man-made structures can take on and reflect the elements.

Developments in my photography style

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My photography course at the local college started again this week after the Christmas break. It was his to get back to it, and a chance to review and assess the photos I'd taken over the Christmas period.

Here are a few of them and my notes in how I've progressed over the course of the lessons-

The first two are taken with my new lens and are of a Buddha ornament into back garden. I have used the lens to create two depth of view shots of the same subject. One where the Buddha is in focus and the other where the branches of the plant in front are in focus and the Buddha a blurred into the background.

The second pair are a set of lights taken from two slightly different angles. I was at a museum and it was very dark inside the museum, so I wanted to capture something from a light source. I saw this strip of lights at the top of a set of stairs and thought their light against the darkness of the museum was quite a contrast.

The last photo I think is indicative of my developing style in portraiture. I captured my subject in light and dark, in the same museum. I was talking to one of the guys in the class and he showed me the work of Steve McCurry.

http://stevemccurry.com

I was taken by how he used the dark as much as the light to create his portraits. This is my attempt.

Photography stalls as the light fails

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As I've mentioned before on my blog, I'm taking a course in photography at the local college. The reasons are professional and personal. Personally it's always interested me, and it's nice to have a hobby and to have like-minded people. Professionally I'm often appalled at estate agents photographs. The subject matter is often poorly chosen (bathrooms and toilets are a particular bugbear.) The photos are often poorly staged and badly composed. The images more often than not don't add to the overall appeal of the property and do nothing to sell it, which is their dole purpose.

I'm taking the course on its merits, trying to accept the whole of the teachings and to take photographs of portraits, landscapes, abstracts, etc and not just photos of interiors that will assist me in my future profession. I think that having a rounded skill set and being able to apply different skills and techniques will assist me in taking great photographs for my clients.

As the weather has turned colder and the evenings are darker earlier, the light has hugely affected my ability to, and inspiration for taking photographs. A large part of photography is understanding and playing with the light, and when the light changes so significantly so quickly it affects all the settings and I admit, has thrown me out.

I'm looking at taking my camera with me on Christmas shopping trips but I'm sure I'll be distracted by more pressing issues. I'm not overly sure about how many photos I'll get taken but any practice I can get will be beneficial to refining my art!