Windmill Dawn

So, this morning I decided to set my alarm for a reasonably early time (07:00) and see if the weather was clement enough to allow for a sunrise shoot.
…it turned out that it was indeed, virtually cloudless blue-skied morning, with Jupiter and Venus clearly visible. Time to head for a local landmark – Stevington Windmill.

Like many windmills, it is built on a slight rise (we don’t really have ‘hills’ in Bedfordshire…), and the morning was windy and quite brisk at 4 degrees C.
It appears that Winter is making at least a vague attempt to arrive this year!

So, bundled up with thick coat, hat and gloves, I took my trusty D810 and 16-35mm f4 lens out and drove the 10 minutes or so to Stevington, over the floodwaters rushing beneath Oakley bridge.
In this case, I used my Manfrotto Befree travel tripod, (good enough to do most jobs and light enough for my various travels), with a pair of ‘Yongnuo’ wireless triggers, the ‘YN-RF603N’, meant for flash photography and they act as a wireless cable release, too. (Hands in pockets = good!)

I got a couple of shots on the way up to the windmill:

Venus before dawn; Stevington January 12th 2016

 

The path to Stevington Windmill, showing Venus and Jupiter just before dawn; Jan 12th 2016

Then at the windmill itself a few images of the pre-dawn light, which was luminous and delightful. The windmill itself is a listed building with public access to a space around it, and private farmland surrounding that – I don’t like to traipse all over the planted fields (no matter what might be planted there, or how delicate it might be), which rather limits the available angles. Nevertheless, I managed to find angles for these images:

Stevington Windmill, just before dawn – the light was amazing, and you can still just see Venus!

Just as the sun rose over the woodlands in the distance, I decided that it was time for some HDR and adjusted my camera position, for what I think is the best image of the set:

Dawn at Stevington Windmill on a crisp, clear and windy morning!

 

 

Finally, walking back, I could see the low sunlight beautifully backlighting the furrows in the field, with a great oak tree on the far side:

Overall, an early morning well spent, I’d say!

New! TimeLight Photographic

After much deliberation, I decided to shelve my old FB photography page and SmugMug accounts – Both were named ‘Pitcheresque Imagery’, but although I love a good pun or play on words, that title didn’t entirely roll off the tongue, and spelling it correctly to search on the web was a pain for those new to my photographic endeavors.
Plus I’m a reasonably literate chap who can actually spell ‘picturesque’, and I don’t enjoy the though that others might believe otherwise!

As a result, ‘TimeLight Photographic’ was born!
It’s a name that I feel somehow conjures up the types of images that I focus on (lots of historical and reenactment shots in my portfolio), as well as highlighting that light and time relate to aperture and shutter speed, both rather relevant to any photographer.

I’ve been producing the images for my wife’s business ‘Prior Attire’ (www.priorattire.co.uk) for the last few years, and following this change of name, the first folks to turn up for their  new historical outfits were Karen and Wel from Happening History.
They loved the new outfit, and Karen wrote a blog about her new Victorian clothes and our shoot together; you can read about it here:

Victorian Winter warmers

From now on, ‘TimeLight Photographic.com’ will be my portfolio site, my portal on the net for my obsession hobby-turned-business, and a place where I can organise my images. I plan to use it to direct my creative impulses and to post projects regularly as I delve into more specific areas of photography and practice both more complex and more artistic set-ups.
I’ll be continuing to produce the images for Prior Attire, as well as offering to cover events (equestrian, martial arts, reenactment and others), portraits, and weddings. The two weddings that I have covered to date have been great fun and a real test of my planning, my photographic skills and my ability to think on my feet.
I have to thank Paul Mockford of Mockford Wedding Photography (http://www.shearsmockford.com/) for all of his help and tuition as I’ve been learning about which buttons to push in what order – and in particular for agreeing to be my ‘second shooter’ at Lucy and Richard Bunt’s wedding in 2015, my first as primary photographer.

So, expect to see and hear more from TimeLight Photographic, both here and on G+, FB, Twitter, Instagram and all other social media.

Watch this space for updates on photography projects and explanations of how I plan and achieve specific results, including my screw-ups in practice…

This is a new beginning!

My Big Fat Victorian Wedding – St. Audries Park, West Quantoxhead, Somerset. 17th October 2011

My Big Fat Victorian Wedding – St. Audries Park, West Quantoxhead, Somerset. 17th October 2011.