On the road

Shot for the Day (08 February 2017)

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End of day in Iceland in 2011 when I cycled round the island. It was the middle of summer and on the first few days, the temperature was a balmy twenty degrees Celsius.

A few days later, the skies open and for the remainder of the 18 day circumnavigation, the weather was in single digits and rained steadily most days.  However, what stays with me above all else from Iceland was the unrelenting wind. Regardless of one’s orientation, the wind seemed to be permanently against one. If ever I have been close to quitting on a ride, it was several days into that experience.

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Shot for the Day (05 February 2017)

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Saturday walk along the River Thames and we finally had some clement weather, albeit not balmy.

I was trying out my new 25mm lens with a Firecrest 3.0 HD this weekend.  Not the classic streaking clouds shot but was quite interesting. I have started to do more HDR images (this is not one of them) as I have seem some great YouTube videos on how to combine images subtly.

Shot for the Day (25 December 2016)

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For the last couple of weeks before Christmas, I was in China on business.  I spent my time in Shanghai and Qingdao.  Unfortunately, in Qingdao, I did not have the chance to take any shots.  However, I was fortunate enough whilst staying in Shanghai to have a day when the smog was not too heavy and the sun was out, albeit briefly.

After taking lots of shot of the river and Pudong, from the boulevard on The Bund, I spotted a raised platform and included the foreground Christmas bustle.  To make the image more interesting, I used a combination of filters including a Polariser, Big Stopper and 0.9ND.  I was fortunate that the lady in the yellow jacket hardly moved whilst I took this long exposure, which really anchors the shot for me.

Shot for the Day (2 October 2016)

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Sunset in Reykjavik

Last couple of shots from Iceland.  On the day I finally completed my circumnavigation of the island on my trusty cycle, I went for a wonder around the shoreline of Reykjavik.  I was treated to the most glorious light across the bay.  The yellow light house a beacon at twilight just as it was at night.

Prior to arriving in the capital, I had camped on the shoreline of Jökulsárlón.  This image was taken close to midnight.  As Iceland is just south of the Arctic Circle, it has little darkness in the summer.  However, even though it was meant to be the hottest time of the year, it was chilly, with temperatures still very much in single figures that evening.

Ice sculptures at midnight

Shot for the Day (11 September 2016)

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A few years ago, I was in the Canadian Rockies, travelling around Banff and Jasper National Parks.  The shot for today was taken from an observation platform above Peyto Lake. It was not a great time of day to be shooting as it was close to midday but this really made the turquoise colour of the lake stand out all the more against the lush green of the surround forest, greyness of the mountain face and deep blue of the sky.

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This was taken a few miles away, along the river bank above a raging torrent below.  You can make out a young girl relaxing by the river, wearing red, to give you a size perspective of the scene.

Shot for the Day (09 September 2016)

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A shot from the archives.  This one was taken in Iceland when I cycle around the island.  I had made my way around the peninsula and had to back track through the mountains.  Ahead of me, the clouds loomed ominously above the range I had to cycle through.  Needless to say, I was soaked in the mother of all storms.

Just over a week later, I was on the other side of the island.  The omnipresent clouds parted momentarily as I passed an abandoned house.  Soon afterwards, the rain fell and the clouds closed in.  If you can overlook the bad weather (these were taken in the height of the Icelandic summer) and the relentless winds, cycling around this rock in the middle of the Atlantic was a fantastic expedition.

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Shot for the Day (17 August 2016)

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I was almost at the hotel after a long drive to Death Valley from Los Angeles,when I spotted this scene.  It was insanely hot, well over 40 degrees Celsius but Death Valley is such a fascinating place, I had to stop and grab a couple of shots before sunset.

The shot above was moments before the sun dropped behind a cloud.  The one below was a little later, as the sky was lit up with the afterglow.

I heartily recommend a trip to Death Valley to anyone.  Just a word of warning.  Make sure you have a car with air conditioning and that you can handle temperatures of over 50 degrees Celsius as it hit 125 degrees Fahrenheit (51.7 degrees Celsius the following day).

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Shot for the Day (12 January 2016)

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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.

Shot for the Day (25 October 2015)

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Finland 1

Some shots from a recent trip to Finland.  The weather was hovering around zero but the skies were generally blue and the ground frost intermittent.  Finland is a truly beautify place and I have been there several time.  I was only an hours drive north of Helsinki in Karkkila but it felt like a million miles away from London or Singapore.

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For this trip, I took along my new Nokia 1020 to shoot on.  These are the low res files I downloaded and did not even colour balance or amend.  Very impressive result from a mobile phone.  Then again, it does have a 41 Megapixel camera…

Finland

The last shot was taken on the return journey from Finland, where I enjoyed a 2.5 hour long sunset as we flew south west from Helsinki to London.  This image reminds me of how people often envisage the entrance to heaven.