The Waterfront building...

A chance passing of the Waterfront Leisure Complex on the Pier Approach, Bournemouth, and I stop to shoot some images.
This controversial building, acquired by the local council on the first of this month, is due for demolition. Also known as the Imax Building, it opened in 1998, and has frequently been cited as England's most hated building. Residents complained that it blocked sea views across Poole Bay to the Isle of Purbeck. Why people couldn't just move to the side to regain the view is beyond me.
For the record, I've always liked the building...but that's got nothing to do with other people's sentiments.

24-70 mm f/2.8 AF-S Nikkor. 1/320 second at f/9. -0.33EV. ISO 200

© 2010

Cerca trova...

The good weather of the past two days is about to end - heavy rain is predicted tomorrow - so I attempt to make the most of what's left.
It's not until the afternoon that I'm able to get out of the house, and by then the broken cloud and blue sky is being replaced by a layer of translucent grey. Nevertheless, I plod west on my bike, hoping something inspirational will be just around the next corner. It's not.

Having crossed the entrance to Poole Harbour on the chain ferry, the cloud threatens to blot out the sun altogether by the time I reach Studland Beach. Flat light may well flatter a sitter for a portrait, but not so a landscape. I decide to go home.

As I ride along I keep repeating my photographic mantra - there's no such thing as bad light: just different light - and keep an eye open for something to photograph, even if it's just a token image.

Before the cloud completely blots out the sun's disc, I make the photograph included here. I nearly missed the scene altogether, had I not looked back over my shoulder as I passed. In stark contrast to yesterday's image, shooting into low light gives an almost monochromatic appearance to the picture, with just the colour of the boats as a focal point. 
Cerca trova.

24-70 mm f/2.8 AF-S Nikkor. 1/320 second at f/8. -0.33EV. ISO 200. 0.9 ND grey graduated filter.

© 2010

A hint of colour...

After several days of rain and overcast conditions, the skies clear over Dorset, so I set out for a sunny afternoon's photography.
I don't have any specific subject in mind: just photography for the sake of it,  but as the sun gets lower in the sky I start to seek out bold colours as a compositional tool. I use a super telephoto lens to help isolate and compress elements in the scene.
The photograph, shot an hour before sunset, is of the beach huts in front of Boscombe Spa Village, Dorset, and the colourful guy walking past in the red anorak adds to the image.

300 mm f/4 AF-S Nikkor. 1/4000 second at f/4. -0.33EV. ISO 320

© 2010

Fisherfolk and stone eagles...

Saturday morning; good light and a new lens in the bag. There's no doubt about it; buying new equipment is one way to inspire a photographer to get out and shoot. There has been an overnight frost, and air temperatures are around 4˚Celsius, and although there is a good deal of heavy, broken cloud, rain is not expected until later in the day.

Riding to Poole Harbour, I'm attracted to the calm conditions and assorted water craft at Fisherman's Dock, near Poole Quay, and stop to make a number of photographs of the boats (top image). Apart from the optical quality of pro-spec lenses, there is also the excellent contrast and colour rendition that these lenses deliver - and deliver they do, in spades.

The photograph of the stone eagle was shot at the East Gate Lodge entrance to Poole Park. The 90 acre park was opened in January, 1890, and its lake is home to a variety of waterfowl, but despite researching the subject I can find no explanation as to why these birds (there are two, either side of the entrance) were used to top the gate posts.

24-70 mm f/2.8 AF-S Nikkor.

Top: 1/640 second at f/8. -0.33EV. ISO 200
Bottom: 1/3200 second at f/4. -0.33EV. ISO 200

© 2010

(Yet another) new lens...

Yesterday, I took delivery of a 24-70 mm f/2.8 AF-S Nikkor lens. Although this zoom range and focal length was covered in my lens bag, I was never entirely happy with the results my third party (Sigma) optic was producing, especially at maximum aperture: it had to be replaced. Widely regarded as the benchmark for mid range zooms, the Nikkor knocks its predecessor into a cocked hat in all departments.

So, out to make some real-world test images, I come across a man hurling lumps of bread into the air for the local gull population at Sandbanks, Dorset, and pull the camera out for some impromptu images of the cloud of sea birds circling overhead. The photograph of the herring gull, about to catch a piece of bread (why do people insist on feeding birds with this stuff: it does them no good whatsoever) are among the first images made with the lens. Shot with the lens wide open and at 70mm, the original photograph is pin sharp. If there are any photographers out there contemplating this lens...just buy it. You won't be disappointed.

24-70 mm f/2.8 AF-S Nikkor.  1/4000 second at f/2.8. -0.33EV. ISO 200.

© 2010

Bailey Bridge...

Today, I pay another visit to Stanpit Marsh, near the confluence of the Hampshire Avon and Dorset Stour, to photograph one of the last remaining WW II Bailey bridges, and certainly the oldest. In the picture a marsh pony begins to cross the prototype bridge which still spans Mother Sillers Channel.

Designed by Donald Bailey,  it was developed and built at the Military Engineering Experimental Establishment (MEXE - now long gone) at nearby Christchurch. Over 400 miles of this modular bridge design have been built and used world wide, and bridge elements are small and light enough to be transported by trucks, but strong enough to carry tanks.

Although I can find no date that this particular span was built, Bailey Bridges first went into service in North Africa in 1942.

12-24 mm f/4D Nikkor. 1/320 second at f/11. ISO 200

© 2010

Lacking inspiration (even for a title)...

The first week of February and there is now a noticeable increase in daylight hours. Temperatures today are up to a heady 8º Celsius in the sunshine and the green shoots of daffodils are beginning to appear: Spring is not far off. Darting around the county on a mountain bike is becoming less arduous  -  those cold winds and early starts in recent weeks were beginning to take a toll - but the rewards are worth it. That smugly superior feeling, knowing I have captured images most people miss because they are still in bed, or find it too cold to venture out - or both, keeps me going.

But today I'm struggling. I'm not inspired. Sure, I take the usual token shots, just to get the creative process flowing, but there's nothing of any real merit. But, as is often the case, it's on my way home that a photographic opportunity presents itself: in this case two paragliders from the Wessex Hang Gliding and Paragliders Club, flying east over Fisherman's Walk, Southbourne, during late afternoon. Shooting into the light, plus the haze created by sea spray adds to the overall effect.

24-70 f/2.8 EX DG Sigma lens. 1/160 second at f/8. ISO 200.

© 2010