A few years ago, I was in the US to shoot a TV commercial for VW. I took a couple of days out after 5 days of filming and wondered over to Death Valley. I was incredibly lucky to be there as the weather turn from bone dry to stormy. This is a short while before the heavens open and flooded many of the roads in the National Park.
Whilst out one evening in Devon, I was walking along the Jurassic coastline when the light made me stop in my tracks. Using a Lee Filter Big Stopper, I softened the rolling waves into silky smooth wisps, lapping against the groyne.
As the light changed, the waves became ever more energetic. Soon, the pinky orange hues gave way to the grey blues post sunset, making the whole scene feel palpably colder.
At the edge of the world is a place called the Salar de Uyuni, in the altiplano in Bolivia. It feels alien, set at over 4000m high in the Andes, close to the gods. With the exception of the cactus, it is bereft of life. This hostile, baron environment is one of my favourite places on earth. There is a brutal simplicity to existence here.
From the same session as the shot for yesterday at Bentham beach in Devon, this one was taken as the sun dipped into the cloud on the horizon. The fiery sky looked stunning. Made me feel as though I was back on the equator again, just without the incessant heat to manage.
Next time I am in Devon I hope to head to Thurlestone. There is a natural stone arch, which could make for an interesting near to mid point of interest.
This is Bentham beach in southern Devon. I took this a few weeks ago when I was in the area. This was taken about 30 minutes after the sun had dropped below the horizon. I should probably remove the light sources on the island and cliff top to make the image a little cleaner. The cloud and colour of the sky reminds me more of a tropical sunset than the UK. Could be due to the hint of magenta in the heavens. Well worth a visit if you can find it.
A couple of other extra long exposure shots from last weekend. This one was taken close to the Millennium Bridge. As the river was low, I was able to walk down to the beach, to take a lower angle shot of the Thames and Shard. The sun had finally broken through the clod, albeit temporarily, to illuminate the scene and bath the Shard in light.
This next shot was of HMS Belfast, across the Thames, of the Walkie Talkie building with the Gherkin also visible. As the ship was floating on the river, it tended to bob around, so I diminished the length of the exposure to compensate. You can see this in comparison to the tub boats in the foreground, which are blurred.
This weekend, after gaining inspiration from a couple of YouTube tutorials, I tried my hand at some extra long exposure shots in London. The weather on Sunday was perfect, with a mixture of sun and cloud.
I walked around Tower Bridge and the London Assembly. However, it was the view from London Bridge that caught my eye. The image above is made up of 8 long exposure images stitched together. Each image was a 90 second exposure. The whole shot took around 15 minutes, including set up and transition time.
One thing to look out for is battery usage as extreme long exposure shots use up a lot of power, so I recommend carrying spares.
The shot below was my first shot of the day. Being a film photographer at heart, I used my handheld lightmeter plus Lee Filter Big Stopper app, to deduce the exposure.
Back in late November, 2015, I went to visit my sister in Berlin over a weekend. On the Sunday, we wondered around downtown former West Berlin and for the briefest of moments, the weather was kind. Less than an hour later, whilst standing by the Brandenburg Gate, it was a very different story, with heavy, sustained snowfall for the rest of the afternoon.
As I was travelling light, I had only my Nokia 1020 with me, which I took this shot on.
This weekend, I was in Sentosa, an island just to the south of Singapore. It is a local favourite and the closest proximation to the white sandy beaches of Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia that Singapore has to offer.
Whilst relaxing in the sunshine, this beast settled in front of me. He seemed utterly unperturbed about our proximities and basked in the heat of the afternoon alongside me. With only my Nokia 1020 to hand, I was still able to grab this shot.
As they say, the best camera you have is the one with you.
All Terrain Photography 