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.