Fairy Lights

I have not had much time for photography recently.  But on Wednesday, after work, I managed to get to Stamford Mid-Lent Fair.  It's been several years since I was last there.  I had a pleasant 90 minutes or so, shooting lights trails before rain eventually stopped play.

Cambridge On A Foggy Evening

 A recent extended foggy spell coincided with a weekend, which meant I could head to Cambridge for some night pictures.  For years I have wanted a moody monochrome foggy picture of the tree-lined path across Jesus Green.  This was my chance.  But since the fog didn't seem to be going anywhere, I tried a few other locations on my way to the green.  Once there, I spent about an hour, taking multiple shots, waiting for just the right person to walk by and getting very cold.  

Eventually, I got a shot approaching what I wanted.  But, it's not my favourite of the night.  That was taken in just a couple of minutes at my first stop of the evening, outside Fitzbillies.  The bus came around the corner at just the perfect time and I love the way the steam from the vent is back-lit.

Christmas Lights - London

We are still in the Christmas period (sort of), so it's still acceptable to post some shots of Christmas lights.  These were taken around Regent Street, just before the big day.

e-Luminate, Cambridge

Over the last week the e-Luminate festival has taken place again in Cambridge.  Having shot this event last year, and recently attended the London version, I was keen to get along.  A CCC trip was organised for Sunday evening, which looked like it would be the quietest night of the week.  There were some crowds early on, but most had left by about 8pm.  There were light installations on a number of buildings across the city centre.  However, I chose to spend most of my time on Kings Parade and Trinity Street. The gate of Gonville and Caius proved a particularly popular location with photographers.  After some perseverance, waiting for the right people interest to come along, I managed to obtain the main image, which I am quite please with.  

Skyride

Regular readers of this blog will know I can't resist photographing a funfair.  So, in the 'tween days of Christmas I found some time to go the North-pole fair in Cambridge.  Most of the rides didn't interest me, as I had shot them several times before.  But the big tall spinning thing; whose name I didn't determine, but, for the purposes of titling, I have called the Skyride; was new to me.  I wasn't there on a busy night, so, sadly, the ride only ran a couple of times during the best of the blue hour.  I played around with exposure length, from giving the riders some definition, to pure colour trails and ended up with a lot of shots to sort through from only a few rides.

 

Photo24: Through The Night

Some more images from Photo24.  Regular readers will know that night photography is a particular passion of mine.  So the idea of shooting through the shortest night of the year was one of my main reasons for taking part in the event.  The set meeting point for sunset was near Westminster Bridge at 8pm. 

On the bridge, an obvious first thing to try was blurred buses and taxis in the failing light.  Sadly, the weather was not kind.  It had rained quite hard earlier in the afternoon, and no sooner had we set up tripods and cameras than the showers returned, forcing a cover-up.  There followed an hour long battle with the on/off rain.  Eventually it cleared up enough for a hint of a sunset, and the wet roads did add a little something to some of the images.

It wasn't long before we had to head off for the next meet-up, 11.00pm at Liverpool Street Station for a late night walk through the City.  The initial rendezvous was a little confused (not helped by the fact that there was a completely separate 12 hour photo event also taking place), but eventually a group of us started a slow stroll though the heart of the City, ending at St Paul's.  I had bought the new version Canon 'nifty fifty' (the f1.8 STM) just prior to this trip, with the express purpose of having a lens I could use hand-held in low-light situations.  I didn't use it much, but it did help get a few shots.

The planned meet-up for dawn was back on Westminster Bridge.  However, I didn't see the point in doing that location twice, so I persuaded Vic that instead we should head for the 'More London' area near Tower Bridge.  Having failed to find an all night cafe that we were 'assured' was not too far from St Paul's (thanks Mr Cheung), we spent a couple of hours in a McDonalds, before heading over London Bridge and down past HMS Belfast to City Hall.  There, we met about 20 or so 'togs from the 12-hour event. 

This was clearly too many for the More London security, who felt the need to hassle us at 4am regarding the copyright status of their buildings.  God bless whoever it was that persuaded them we were merely shooting the sky (a singly dull flat featureless sky) on the shortest night.  At one point, there were so many cameras and tripods lined up facing Tower Bridge that the South Bank took on the appearance of an al fresco branch of Calumet.  Sadly, dawn didn't happen.  The flat grey sky just got lighter.  It was time to move on to another location.

Fairground Lights

I am a little behind in my blog posts.  A couple of weeks ago was the Mid-Lent Fair in Stamford.  This year, for the first time in a few years, the riverside meadow was dry enough to be used.  This meant there were a few more (and bigger) rides.  I spent my time on these, but struggled to find decent angles.  Getting a full circle on the Airmaxx proved to be a real challenge.