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Shot for the Day (02 August 2016)

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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.

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Shot for the Day (31 July 2016)

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Tower Bridge

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.

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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 (11 January 2016)

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All creatures great and small

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.

Shot for the Day (06 January 2016)

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West Witterings – Shot 2

Following on from my last entry, here is another shot from the sequence I shot in West Sussex, at West Witterings beach in December 2015.  This shot was taken using a Lee Filter Big Stopper about 10 minutes after the previous shot. You can see the rain falling in the distance, beneath the cloud.  Quite a surreal scene.

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West Witterings – Shot 3

Shortly afterwards, the sun climbed high enough in the sky and started to light the clouds above the main bank.  I had to wait another half an hour until the sun had completely cleared the main bank of cloud in the scene and that created a completely new view of Witterings.  Truly a stunning morning.

Shot for the Day (04 January 2016)

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West Witterings – Shot 1

Before leaving the UK for Christmas with my family in Singapore, I headed down to West Witterings, one of my favourite childhood beaches.  The morning was cold, wind lashed and stormy.  All of which made for fantastic clouds and changes in light.

The image for today’s shot of the day is one of a series of five shots I took that morning, that I will publish over the next few entries.  This was the moment the overhead storm relented momentarily, giving the sun a brief reprieve to broke through the cloud and washed the beach in golden light.

Warning, if you head to Witterings, remember to take £1 coin or change with you as you have to pay to drive into the car park behind the beach.  Otherwise, it is a long walk.

Shot for the Day (02 January 2016)

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Pilau Ubin rain

Yesterday, we took a family outing to an island off the north eastern coast of Singapore called Pilau Ubin.  It feels more akin to neighbouring Malaysia than the ultra-modern Singapore and as such, has a certain charm that is lost in this country’s modernity.

Unfortunately for us, being in the midst of the rainy season, the heavens opened as we were en route to the island from Changi.  The shot above was from the pier we were deposited on at Pilau Ubin.  Our boat was reversing out into the emerald green bay as the rain lashed the landscape.

Pilau Ubin after the storm

After a very wet cycle ride around the island, we caught a boat back to the mainland in the early evening  The rain had finally stopped and we were afforded a dramatic view of Pilau Ubin to the north, as the heavy rain clouds circled the seascape, in preparation for another storm.

All shots were taken on my Nokia 1020, which did a pretty decent job.  However, I will definitely return on a less inclement day and take my camera kit as the views on the island are very contrasting to mainland Singapore.

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.

Finland 2

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.