Hey everyone, recently a lot of my photography has been Central London based, so I wanted to explore local for a day. Armed with just my Nikon 50mm 1.8G lens myself & Reiss went on a cold, windy & muddy walk cross country. Below is a map of the route we took, the colours match up to the title of the post section & relevant photographs.
First Shots
The first location on the map where I felt inspired enough to take my first picture was alongside the M25 motorway, an unlikely spot I know. I saw the structure above the motorway and climbed the earth bank to get my shots. There was probably some more angles available to me for another few shots, but I was very aware that being so close to the motorway edge attracts unwanted police attention.
Along the river(sewer) side
As we walked further along through the fields we crossed over a small stream, which I believe serves as a make shift sewer system. Wandering along this stream we had a field of green crops meeting the sky to our left. It was a perfect opportunity for a photograph as the clouds had parted just enough to let some of the blue sky through and the sun was beaming from behind me. This photo is again in keeping with my minimal style, although unusually it consists of natural, not man made, objects.
Trains
All along these fields there is a train track which runs the C2C commuter route from London Fenchurch Street to Southend. There are various bridges of all different shapes & sizes along the route, I’ve always wanted to attempt a shot of a train just as it comes through the bridge and this was my chance. After a steady wait for the train due to off-peak timetable services one finally came, I only had a split second to capture the train as it went under the bridge and although I could hear it approaching it was more guess work as to when it would expose itself. So crouched uncomfortably in some brambles on the side of the tracks I snapped away nervously and this is what I achieved.
It isn’t the best of photographs, and I would certainly like to attempt it again, maybe next time I will avoid sitting on thorns and getting tangled up in the brambles, much to Reiss’ amusement.
Gravestones
After the train, we had a long climb up a steady hill. The mud kept attaching itself to the bottom of my boots and made my feet feel twice as heavy, after much banter from Reiss about how I had an entire field of mud attached to my clumsy self we reached Church Lane. At the end of Church Lane there is a small fence that you can hop over into a tiny woodland area. Inside here you will find various graves all stacked up against a brick wall. All of them that can be found today are from the 19th Century, the earliest I believe was 1819. The actual church doesn’t exist any more as it was demolished in the 1920′s and as far as we could tell the only remains are the graves themselves. To find out some more information on the Old Great Warley Church you can visit this website, it is certainly an interesting read and has quite a bit of history dating back to the 13th Century.
Machinery
After exiting the woodland there are various farm buildings which have a variety of interesting photo opportunities surrounding them. This photo of some old machinery was my favourite.
New Church
The last photos of the day were taken at the church built to replace the old one down Church Lane. Follow the same link as before to find out more information on this Church.
After taking pictures of this church we continued down the road walking past various fields, farming & industrial areas. We were stopped by a rather angry man in a Range Rover who asked if he could help us quite aggressively, we just said we were walking down the road and he said “it’s a bit strange to be walking about with cameras isn’t it?” neither of us really knew how to answer this question which was sort of spoken rhetorically, Reiss said “it’s what we do” and I backed it up with “photography”. He claimed he saw us in the CCTV cameras further down the road, which would have been true, but then asked if we had come across the field next to us. If he had seen us in his cameras we could not possibly have walked across the field which was another 100 metres down the road, so I’m not really sure what his problems with us was as it is a public road. He eventually drove off, although not after another guy had shown his presence by getting out of the car. This is probably what ended the day, we were quite confused by the situation and didn’t want to get into further issues that we just stuck to the main roads and headed back home.
Thanks for reading the post, please leave a comment below stating your favourite photo and if you have come across people in situations like ours.
It is a well known fact that to get blue skies in England is almost impossible during the winter and would usually be due to some witchcraft! This photography trip certainly looked as though it may continue the grey skies & rain routine in the morning after leaving the train. Thankfully, however the clouds cleared, the sun beamed and the photo opportunities were ripe for the picking! Here are some photos I took below:
This fan was next to a building complex that used to be owned by the London Hydraulic Power Company. This company was set up by Parliament in 1883 to provide a network of high-pressure cast iron water mains. These were cleaner than the usual steam driven equivalent and much more efficient. The water was pumped direct from the Thames & during the winter was heated to prevent it freezing. At its height the system was used to power various machinery, lifts & workshops as well as being the back up power source for the mechanism used to open Tower Bridge.
When I was looking at this building at Canary Wharf it really looked to me like I was seeing through holes in the building to the sky on the other side. I’m pleased that it still has the same effect on the photograph.
It has been a couple of weeks since my previous photography trip and I was itching to get out into the open world again! For my latest trip I decided to go out during the darker hours to try and get some interesting shots of lit architecture & structures. I began my journey from Fenchurch Street Station walking past the Tower of London & across Tower Bridge (something I usually make a habit of when I am in London). The bridge itself is exquisite at night, the lighting is very soft and allows the shadows to really bring it to life, I always have a sense of wonderment while gazing up at the bridge and across the water towards City Hall with The Shard in the background. Unfortunately I didn’t get too many shots of the bridge from where I wanted, the amount of people walking past makes it impossible to effectively place a tripod, so I took just this one from the Southbank.
There was a blanket layer of brown clouds in the sky tonight so I didn’t take too many pictures of buildings which involved including the sky. On the brief occasion when the clouds parted, providing enough time to set up the tripod and explore possible angles, I managed to get a couple of shots, although not as many as I would have liked. Most of my photography was therefore focused within the boarders of the structures themselves, which I found to be quite a challenge. This shot was one which I managed to get during a cloudless minute or two.
I have realised, during my attempts at minimal photography, that the sky is a very useful asset, possibly a way of cheating. It provides me with what I consider to be a blank canvas on one side which helps towards the “minimal” theme. Due to this, I have been questioning whether my photos of buildings are indeed minimal, or if they are more “geometric”, possibly a mixture of the two.
London Bridge, below, is always colourful at night time.
I wanted to experiment with the way the light hits extruded parts of buildings and thus throws shadows, sometimes as a gradient, other times in total darkness, over the rest. While taking pictures in these situations I wondered whether I considered the lit area of my frame the most important aspect, or whether the shadows played the most important and dominating role. Certainly the shadows gave significant definition and a harsh contrast to the lit areas of the building, or was I just using it to try and create a fake sky, another blank canvas to make my images seem more minimal? I think I will leave that for the individual to decide.
The photos below are good examples of the use of shadow as the blank canvas.
Geometry within architecture has been a very influential part of my recent photography. This next photograph has so many shapes happening I don’t think it can be considered minimal, however, the use of the same material, rivets & colour throughout provide the image with some redeeming minimal features. As I was taking the photos of Southwark Bridge I was very aware of a person watching me, and finally a man and woman approached, they asked me a few questions about my photography and if I would mind if they “stole” my shot of the bridge by taking some of their own, of course I didn’t object and thus we formed a small photography hotspot along the Thames. Many of the passers by must have thought we were mad (or just British) to be taking pictures of the underneath of a bridge.
This second bridge photo is actually my favourite of the night. It certainly isn’t the strongest, but there is something about it which I think for me sums up the trip.
Overall the trip was good fun, I think I got some nice photographs and although they are not the strongest I have taken I feel they have turned out really well. I am looking forward to trying out some future night time shots and explore the use of shadows further. I will also make sure there is no brown cloud cover on my next night time trip so I can get some ground level cityscapes.
Thanks for stopping by. Check out my updated website at www.visuallyinteresting.co.uk and have a photographically good New Year!
Today I went with some of my family to the traditional Boxing Day hunt send off at Matching Green near Harlow, Essex. Every year they bring out the Hounds, jump on their horses and hunt down a guy who has run on ahead with a scent. This was the first year I had actually seen the hunt go off, the first year I went it had to be called off due to dangerous conditions for the horses and near impossible conditions for the runner. Last year I didn’t attend, so it was nice this year to bring the camera along and try to get some shots. It was quite difficult to get some really nice shots of the horses and near impossible for the dogs due to the vast amount of people who turned up to send them off.
Since 2005, when the government banned the hunting of foxes using dogs, they have continued the tradition, keeping dogs trained and spirits alive for when they may reintroduce such laws. It does not seem likely this will happen for some time however, as the current government is the most likely candidate to do so, but doesn’t seem close to making such changes.
All that aside, it was a really nice chance to step out into the country side, breath in some fresh air and take some snaps of a very old British tradition.
Wearing traditional Scarlet coats.
The pub at which everybody congregated and that the hunt starts off from.
This was my favourite shot of the day, however the van and two cars behind the lady & horse really spoil what could have been a really nice shot.
A couple of very old 4 wheel drive vehicles. Very useful at driving around the terrain after the constant rain battering England in recent weeks.
Above a few attempts at minimal photography.
A beautifully crafted horse carriage, this one turns up every year. There was another much simpler one next to it.
So because England is a wash out these days it is very hard to get motivated to walk outside and do some photography. So to make sure I continued taking pictures I decided to take a look around my house and see if I could spot anything of interest. Here are some of the pictures that I took:
A trip around Shadwell, an area of London I had never explored before, produced some interesting photographic opportunities. I walked mainly around the back streets, avoiding main roads as much as possible. The photographs are in keeping with my minimal theme, some of them providing quite strong colour variations.
London has always fascinated me as a city. The intertwined mixture of old & new architecture can develop some strikingly complex visuals. I wanted to try and reduce this complexity down a notch, to deliver something simple & minimal whilst keeping the original detail and complex nature of the architecture.
Today was the first time I have taken any photographs for 8 months, I have taken my camera out on a few occasions, although never felt inspired enough to actually use it.
Today’s trip was all about getting out there, going to a place which doesn’t necessarily have the most exotic, obvious or exciting photo opportunities & trying to make something of it.
Hey everybody! After last weeks photography success I was on a high so decided to take a trip into my favourite city… London!! I went out with the idea of trying to be as experimental with capturing objects and buildings as I could, in the end I mainly took pictures of buildings, although I am really pleased with how a few of them turned out.
I started my journey outside the ExCel centre at the Royal Victoria Dock on a bridge that goes across the dock itself. From this bridge I had an amazing view of the O2 arena, the Gherkin, London City Airport, Millennium Mills (abandoned building) and Canary Wharf. Once I had finished in the docklands area I decided I wouldn’t take the trains but walk my way through London to Canary Wharf, then down Commercial road through Whitechapel finally ending my journey past the Gherkin and at St. Pauls Cathedral.
Here are a few of the pictures I took whilst on my travels. At the end there is a little video of my attempts to get inside an abandoned building i stumbled across.
This first picture shows the building structure of the ExCel centre, I think it has an amazing interlocking quality. The photo itself is a little bland due to the sky being so cloudy but is interesting none-the-less.
This next picture is one of my favourites. I love the way the blue tones on the glass change from blue at top, white middle to blue again at the bottom, I also find that if you stare at it long enough you begin to wonder which parts of the building are facing the camera and which parts are the other direction.
The only full building picture I took today, the Lloyds building of London is a magnificent structure and is looking quite futuristic and menacing against the sky in the background. Finished being built in 1986 the Lloyd’s building, often referred to as the “inside out building” was a revolutionary new build, having all water pipes, stairways, lifts and ventilation systems built on the outside thus leaving an uncluttered space on the inside. It is the home of the insurance company Lloyd’s of London.
I had to include this photograph in the post, I love the curves of the building and the much darker (possibly open) window at the bottom I believe helps add to the image itself by giving something for the eye to be drawn towards.
An image with slightly more contrast, this building reminds me a little of Doctor Who’s Tardis. The building itself looks horrible in my opinion and yet I find myself drawn to it, I think there is some beauty in the symmetry it holds which shows through the dirty and dark exterior.
This is definitely my favourite image of the day. The contrast on the building is amazing and when viewed on a large scale really messes with your eyes. This building certainly stood out to me, I’m really pleased I went down the road it was situated on. The grey skies really help add to the look of this photo, so it wasn’t all bad!
As mentioned above here is a little video showing some filmed footage of a quick diversion I took into some burnt out abandoned buildings!
So that is what I got up to this week, I am hoping to be out on another photography trip next Saturday so don’t go away until you have seen that one!
As promised in the previous post I have been out doing some photography. I thought this morning I would get up earlier and make the most of the beautiful blue skies by trying my hand at some minimal photography. The blue skies somehow managed to turn grey half way through my trip, although I do think this aided me to a certain extent. Below are a few of the shots that I got. I’m hoping to go out again next week on another photography session! (click the images to view larger versions)
To begin with I thought I would add to the collection of photos that Upminster Windmill has already collected over the years. Probably being the most interesting landmark in the town it naturally must be the most captured on film. However, I thought this would be the perfect subject to start with some minimal photographs. As you can see the sky was perfect for the occasion.
Next I walked down to St. Andrews Church of Hornchurch. On the way the sky made a dramatic change which to begin with was quite disheartening, but I think it really improved the atmosphere of the image of the spire, especially the tonal changes within the sky.
And of course! What photography trip would be complete without an image of a flag! Sadly I only came across this Scottish flag, but a flag is none-the-less a flag. This image is much nicer with the grey sky, as the blue of the flag probably wouldn’t have been visible against the previous sky.
All in all it was a very nice morning and I look forward to some more fresh winters mornings with blue skies!
@GameRiotArmy only serious if China, US & Russia start launching nukes at each other, N. Korea cant do a thing Scotty.. It's all good fun :) 1 month ago
