Landscape Photography ( Brighton, East Sussex)

Recently, I have been concentrating on two areas of my photography, British wildlife (mostly birds and wildfowl) and landscape, therefore most of the time I spend taking photographs is spent outdoors. In the cold snaps of weather we keep having it can be very easy just to stay indoors but with many opportunities when the sun does break through or we have one of those crisp, cold, clear days, it's worth venturing out either at sunset or sundown for some great winter landscapes.

I have never really photographed the area in which I live and although I have snapped away at some of Brighton’s very well photographed tourist attractions, the West Pier and Royal Pavilion for example, both of which can offer some interesting shots, I was keen to get out of the city and explore the surrounding area. N=Close to where I live there are some nice walks with vantage points looking down towards Brighton and Hove and on clear days you can see for miles along the south coast. I have taken to this higher ground on a couple of occasions of late, first when it snowed heavily and it was just too beautiful to miss and the second time I was hoping for a stunning sunset as it was a clear day with a little cloud here and there.

Landscape photography is something that I have dabbled with but never really focused on, it's always interested me but it seems that it can be difficult to do it well and do justice to the scenery and the beauty of the light. However, I was determined to give it a go and got my tripod, polarizer and lens hood assembled and went off to experiment. I set my camera to 'M' or 'Manual' mode because I wanted to have complete control over my exposures and also to bracket a bit so that I could account for the difference in the brightness of the sky and the land. By doing this I gave myself the option of combining images in post production should it be necessary. I found that when the light was good that I could capture detail in both the sky and the land but once the sun started to go down the land can become very dark and underexposed, which sometimes isn't a bad thing if it's the sky you are most interested in.

There are a couple of solutions to this problem that I know about, one is to do what I did and take two exposures, on metered and correctly exposed for the sky and another correctly exposed for the land/foreground, then combining the two in post production. To do this it is essential that you have taken both shots from exactly the same spot with the camera on a tripod or the two won't align properly. The other, and dare I say less time intensive, way to accomplish a more even exposure is to use a Grey Graduated Filter that will reduce the difference in brightness between the sky and the ground, typically a 2-stop difference.

The next thing on my list of things to try is the use of a Neutral Density Filter to slow my shutter speeds right down to achieve motion blur effects such as running water or fast moving clouds.

Snow In Brighton

I'm sure those of you that live in th UK are well aware that we are having a very cold and snowy winter, and here in Brighton it's no different. These are a few shots I took looking down towards the centre of Brighton, doesn't everything look so much more beautiful like this?

RSPB Reserve - Pulborough Brooks

A few weeks ago I took a day trip over to an RSPB reserve, Pulborough Brooks in West Sussex, armed with my camera and praying for a bit of sunshine which luckily I got on and off throughout the day. Previously I have only visited a couple of RSPB sites and not only loved them for their natural beauty and the chance to be out in the country, but also because of the wide variety of birds and other animals that you can see with a bit of patience. So not knowing exactly what to expect I arrived at Pulborough Brooks and set off into this rather large and very beautiful reserve, stopping almost every few steps to watch birds, butterflies and rabbits, and also to try and snap a few of them too. Unfortunately I am somewhat restricted by my 100-400mm telephoto lens as it mean that I have to get closer to the subject than is often possible, particularly from the hides that are, in this instance, set back from the wildlife. This is to be expected to an extent because the RSPB aims to preserve and protect our natural world and I respect that. So despite my technological restrictions I made the best of the day and had the opportunity to photograph some birds I haven't so far, along with deer and rabbits which was a welcome surprise, and also to learn more about being out in the field. I realise that it would have been exciting to be able to zoom in even closer but for one of my first field trips I am pleased to say that I did get a few decent shots and will be continuing with wildlife and bird photography and hopefully developing my skills further.



In these photographs you can see a Song Thrush perched on a branch and chirping, wild rabbits and a grey heron in flight that was some distance away but I took some shots nonetheless. The top image is of the view that greets you as you arrive at the visitors centre at the reserve, for more information about Pulborough Brooks RSPB nature reserve CLICK HERE.

Port de Barcelona & Torre Telefónica

There are so many photo opportunities in Barcelona, especially when the sun in shining, and so it's going to be impossible for me to post every picture, but here are a few of my favourites. I had taken my red lens filter with me but not used it yet with my digital SLR so when I got up to the top of the Castell de Montjuic and saw the view across the Port de Barcelona I decided to experiment and switched my camera to black and white mode and attached the red filter to bring out the contrast in the clouds and the sky. Shooting this scene in b&w has softened the harsh industrial landscape and with the sun in the shot this really is a beautiful landscape.

Rather than walking all the way back down the hill I got the cable car instead as the sun was beginning to go down and was able to take several photographs on the way. I was thrilled to get stunning views across to the Montjuic Communications Tower (Torre Telefónica built for the 1992 Olympic games) which you can see clearly here with the beautiful sky behind and distant mountains looking misty way off in the distance at the Western edge of the city.

Paris 12th-15th Nov 2008

The trip to Paris was a huge success and great fun, and although there wasn't much time for photographing this wonderful city there certainly was a lot of photography and art on display for us to enjoy. Highlights for me include my first visit to Paris Photo at the Louvre which was so vast that I didn't even see everything, talk about image overload but it was well worth it. James Casebere at the Galerie Daniel Templon was amazing and highly recommended as it is on until December 31st, and Shirana Shahbazi at the Centre Culturel Suisse was also very inspiring.

This is a handheld night time shot from my hotel window looking east across northern Paris, bumping up the ISO and setting the camera to 'anti-shake' mode helped me maintain a sharp image. I didn't take my digital SLR along with me for several reasons, this was shot on a Nikon P5100 compact camera. Notre Dame at night is also handheld and the camera handled it pretty well, there is a certain amount of noise due to the high ISO but considering I didn't have an SLR or a tripod I'm pretty pleased with these shots.

A really useful leaflet I found in one of the small galleries is called 'Galeries Mode D'Emploi' and lists dozens of small independent galleries and exhibitions, the link to the website is www.fondation-entreprise-ricard.com or click here.

Photographing Paris & Eiffel Tower At Night

Well I'm off to Paris for a short break, although this time around I'm one of seven members of staff accompanying a group of sixty four students which should be fun. I have visited Paris three times before and absolutely loved it, and on previous visits I have taken many photographs of this fantastic city, though this time I'm not sure I'll have that much time to myself to snap away.

One of the most photographed landmarks in the world, the Eiffel Tower, dominates the skyline from most parts of the city and is a huge tourist attraction, so it can be difficult to find a good spot to photograph it without people walking across in front of the camera, particularly at night. I persevered when I took these night photographs back in 2007 and managed to successfully take three or four long exposures and here are some of the results. In the first image I wanted to include the tower but make it a small part of the scene in which I have tried to capture a small slice of the hustle and bustle that surrounds this attraction even at night, and I like how the fountains soften the harsh street lighting with the blurring that has occurred due to the long exposure.

With the second image I wanted to try and do something a little different and so I chose to include one of the magnificent sculptures in the foreground, and this one of a bulls head grabbed my attention. Once again the running water appears soft against the imposing lit tower that contrasts greatly against the dark blue sky.

Brighton Photo Fringe Photography Exhibition 2008

These images show my photography exhibition as part of the Brighton Photo Fringe, I am pleased to say that all went well and I was happy with the way my work looked in the space. This series is entitled 'Night' and although I only exhibited a selection of images from the larger series, I feel that these images work well together as a four. The following statement is the text that accompanies the images.

"This series is based on the idea that the beauty in the landscape around us is very different at night than it is in the light of day. Having photographed sunsets, rolling hills and dramatic cloudy skies I began to question whether we only really see our surroundings when the sun is shining; when darkness falls do we react differently to what we see in front of us?

These images where shot in the suburbs of Brighton close to where I live, areas that I often see on my way home or from the car window. Just as the appearance of our landscapes changes gradually over time throughout the seasons, what we see every day is determined by the time of day and the weather. So I began to take note of how these elements affected how I perceived the same scenes I pass almost daily.

By this time the leaves had fallen and winter had moved in and I was able to capture the huge variety of shapes formed by the trees and the light they filter through their branches. I started to explore the idea of beauty at night including many man made elements, mainly artificial lighting from street lamps and car headlights, combined with the often eerie beauty of the natural landscape that transforms itself at night when its shape, form and scale change from the way we see it during daylight hours. When the sun has gone down what we see before us is a fusion of natural and man made elements. My photographs portray a world that is easy to pass by without being appreciated, transforming mundane structures such as masts and posts into striking silhouettes, often reducing intricate objects like trees to masses of shapes and rely entirely on artificial lighting that acts very differently to natural light."

Photography Exhibition

As part of the Brighton Photo Fringe I have an exhibition entitled 'Night' showing part of a series of suburban night landscapes shot on the outskirts of Brighton. As far as I know this will run from today (Friday 17th October) until Sunday 26th October, with my work showing in one of several rooms on the 2nd Floor, One Grand Parade, Brighton. If you haven't had a chance to see any of the dozens and dozens of exhibitions running throughout the festival I highly recommend you see some as there is some excellent work on display. For more information and exhibition listings check out the Brighton Photo Fringe website.