Framedlight

I am interrupting the Chicago blogs to bring news of bluebells, while they are still in bloom. Last week I went on a work shop with Valda Bailey and Terry Gibbons based in a wood where there were a mass of bluebells. Unlike the woods around her it was quite tidy which made for less distractions. The morning entailed a 5.00am meet up so I stayed overnight at a B&B in Pewsey in order to lessen the shock. We photographed until around 9.00am and then went back to Marlborough where we had breakfast and spent a few hours developing and printing our pictures with the help of Valda and Terry, and also Toby from Fotospeed (feel a bit of a traitor here as I have always been a Permajet girl). The sun came up with a lovely warm glow and there was even a little mist coming through the trees. Here are some of the finished images, with some ICM and multiple exposure ones at the end.

After our late dinner, or early breakfast we drove to a quiet residential area on the north bank of the Thames, overlooking Canary Wharf. It was still dark but by the time we left the sky was starting to brighten. Our next and last stop was More London, just downstream from Tower Bridge. There was a bit of a sunrise which promised a lot but delivered little, and then the sky brightened very quickly. By 5.30 we I was back at Kings Cross and waiting for a train to take me home. Many thanks to Doug and Terry for excellent scouting, driving and organisation. All the pictures were taken with the Nikon D800e and the 24-70mm f/2.8 zoom lens, apart from the last two where I used the 24mm f/3.5 tilt shift.  

We were dropped off by Terry at Tate Modern. The time was now a bit before 1.00am and we were told by Doug that the lights illuminating St Paul's would be switched off at 1.50am. I started photographing around the entrance of the Tate and then started to walk towards the Millenium Bridge, finally crossing it and arriving on the other side just as the light went out. I managed the classic shot from the ramp at the Tate end of the bridge looking across to St Pauls, and then a less classic shot of a curve in the bridge. The blue colour of the bridge at night was electric and looked wonderful against the velvet black sky. I managed to process all the shots just in Lightroom except for some minor cloning out of a sign in one. It is amazing how Lightroom can cope with these extremes of contrast, especially in long exposures, although the wide dynamic range of the D800 must help as well. Terry picked us up in front of St Pauls and whisked us off to a cafe in Smithfield where I had tomato...

Bt the time we left Westminster night was completely upon us and we went from photographing car light trails to catching train trails at a little spot Terry knows overlooking Battersea power station. From there we moved to Albert bridge - so pretty - where it was late enough to take traffic free pictures from the centre of the road (Doug was mindful of health and safety on this one as he didn't wish to lose a client).

I was fortunate to go on a night photographic workshop in London directed by Doug Chinnery with his stalwart companion Terry Gibbons driving the five of us (including Doug) round London in his black cab. We stopped at several great locations for a few snaps, some well known and others less. As we started the night at 8.15pm and ended at 5.30 the following morning I expected to be dead beat but the adrenaline kept me going until I arrived home at 7.30 the next morning and retired to bed. We had sunset at Westminster Bridge. It was not dramatic but the light was lovely nevertheless and as it got darker we entered the blue hour and made pictures of light trails from traffic going over the bridge. There will be more to follow....