winter

Shot for the Day (09 March 2019)

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Last morning in Devon for a while and the weather was meant to be bad. As I drove towards Dartmoor the fog was think and almost impenetrable. I ended up getting lost on the moors after taking a wrong turn. However, once back on track, the fog gave way to clear skies around Haytor.

Leaving the car in the nearby car park, situated a short walk from Haytor,.  The imposing granite stack was covered in lichens and mosses, holding an imposing position over Dartmoor.  Apparently, these rocky granite outcrops, or tors, were formed over 280 million years ago.

Shot for the Day (18 February 2018)

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The first decent (weekend) day of weather in London for almost a month and I was out to grab some more shots of London. Above is the Lloyds building with the Leadenhall Building to the right (also affectionately know as the Cheese Grater).  The curved glass facia of the building behind me to my left was throwing a lovely afternoon golden glow on the Lloyd building.

I wondered down to the river over the course of the afternoon and set up on the north shore of the River Thames, overlooking Tower Bridge and the Shard. A gaggle of photographers descended upon my location moments after I set up, which somewhat took away from the moment. However, they were a friendly bunch of mature gentlemen, so were very pleasant company.

Shot for the Day (15 January 2018)

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Towards the end of a very grey day in London, the clouds started to break up as I was overlooking the Shard on the River Thames. Lights from London Bridge cast a golden hue in the foreground with the trace of a tourist boat passing.  The tide was dropping fast, exposing the remains of wooden groynes beneath the waters, creating interesting shapes in the river.

Shot for the Day (07 January 2018)

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It was a glorious day in London today, so I grabbed the camera and headed to the South Bank. As Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament are currently under wraps, the Millennium Wheel seemed like a good place to grab a few shots.  This photograph was exposed for almost 7 minutes, hence the motion blur and absence of people (best way to remove them from the scene).

Shot for the Day (03 January 2018)

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Over the Christmas period, I was staying over in Asia.  The above view is looking south from Kowloon across Victoria Harbour, at Hong Kong. The skies had been clear blue all day until the critical moment when the sun was about to drop behind the peak. I found a great spot on the crowded harbourside, close to the Star Ferries terminal. Seated by the barrier, whilst other photographers snapped the many boats in the scene, I exposed the shot for over 100 seconds, to blur out all the foreground detail and capture the movement in the clouds instead.

Shot for the Day (12 March 2017)

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Believe it or not, this is late spring / early summer in Ushuaia.  You can just make out the city across the Beagle Channel to the right on the coast.  The clouds rolled in from the south (which in this case, the next landmass is Antartica) and it started to snow (this would be like late May in Europe).  We were on a yacht and the boat was at a constant 30 degree angle as we sped across the waves back to town.  It was unbelievably cold and all of the passengers were required to stay on deck.

On the plus side, the wildlife we had travelled over to see did not seem to care about the impending storm.

Shot for the Day (09 March 2017)

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Last time I was in Ushuaia, the most southern city in the world, was back in 2010.  I visited Argentina, Bolivia and Chile for a 20 day photography trip.  I started in Tierra del Fuego and worked my way north.

Ushuaia is an industrial town, situated next to the Beagle Channel, nestled amongst the mountains.  Whilst wondering along the waters edge, I cam across this old tug that had run aground.  The scene felt as desolate as the wintry weather that was lashing it that morning.

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 (05 December 2016)

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I was in Stockholm at the end of last week and wondered down to the harbour in search of a morning shot before the working day commenced.  The weather forecast had stated it would be a clear, sunny day, yet as I stood on the quayside, it started to snow gently.  As the opalescent cloud drifted off in a south easterly direction,  the dawn light emerged along with some dawn colours.

The second shot below I took a short while later, with a Lee Filter Little Stopper (x6 ND filter), to lengthen the exposure.  I lost the colour in the clouds but the movement of the ferry and sky made for an interesting alternative version of the same scene.

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