57 minutes of autumn...

It's autumn: ever since 14.49 this afternoon. Well, that is the time the sun appeared directly over the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, today. From that moment on we have more darkness than light during the day for the next six months. Whilst this can be less than welcome for most people, it is a boon to my photography. For one thing, I don't have to up early or out late to get good light, and another is that there is visible change in the season and I can shoot at any time of the day.

Fired up by this knowledge (a bit prematurely, as it is still far too early to see any real difference), I am out for a walk with my camera, looking for something to inspire me. But as I said, no real distinction as yet, and in the end I only take seven photographs - five of which are very similar to the one here.

I'm going through a minimalistic phase, it seems, but quite why I have no idea. I do like images that have very little information as much as those that can be a veritable riot of detail and colour, but for now, the less the better. Maybe I'm doing it subconsciously, so I can refer to later phases of my work as post-minimalist. I'm sure all artists and creative people benefit from such catergorisation when their work becomes evaluated at some point. It lends a certain gravitas to it all. Who am I to argue?

Anyway, one of the seven photos taken this afternoon: A cloud over the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset... some 57 minutes after summer came to an end.


24-70mm f/2.8G AF-S Nikkor. 1/6400 second at f/5.6. + 0.33 EV compensation. ISO 400


© 2012

In my favour...

As far as I am concerned, today is the last day of summer in the Northern Hemisphere; well, tomorrow is the autumn equinox, and traditionally the start of said season, so we must still be in summer. Whatever the thinking behind it all, it is a  day of brightness and grey, with a watery sun peering through the cloud blanket over the lower part of the UK. It is also windless.

It is one of those days that produces good light and leaden skies, and it is working in my favour. I am walking the beaches of Poole Bay, Dorset, by mid-afternoon; a macro lens on my camera, and looking for small subjects and detail to make photographs of. After an hour or so of wandering I decide to sit on a seafront bench and photograph whatever passes by, and it's a small yacht on the horizon that eventually becomes the subject of today's post.

The fact that I am using a lens designed to give its best performance when used in close in neither here nor there - it can still be pressed into use as a short telephoto for general shooting. I often use lenses that are designed for one application as something else: an ultra-wide for portraits, or a super-telephoto for landscapes (or even panoramas stitched-together in Photoshop), for example. No hard and fast rules.

There is a minimalistic feel to the picture - I always shoot such scenes when I come across them - and I use the different tone bands of the sea and distant clouds as part of the composition. The yacht is merely the focal point: very small in the frame, but once the eye sees the boat it is drawn to it time and time again.


105mm f/2.8D EX Sigma macro lens. 1/800 second at f/8. + 0.33 EV compensation. ISO 400


© 2012

Intimate seascapes...

During the summer months - and particularly during the holiday season of a seaside town - it is next to impossible to get shots like this. There is far too much human traffic on the sands of Poole Bay, Dorset, to allow time for wind-blown sand to make interesting patterns, even if I did shoot at either end of the day. The fact that these beaches are now largely deserted is a boon from my point of view.

A medium focal length macro lens is a useful asset for such photography, as I can fill the frame with small subjects but still keep a respectful distance (read: not grovelling around on my knees), or grovelling around on my knees (as I did for this shot) to get in close and exclude unwanted elements. It also still pleasantly warm, making the photography a relaxing and therapeutic exercise.

Such photography has been described as the 'intimate landscape', where instead of trying to fill the frame with as much information as possible with a wide angle lens, the idea is to isolate small features within the vista presented by nature, more often than not overlooked by the vast majority of people (and photographers).

With today's photograph I'm taken by the weathered feather and the undulations of the sand thrown into relief by the late afternoon sun, and although there are hundreds of such little still life shots in situ to be had, each one is unique, and therefore worth capturing.


105mm f/2.8D EX Macro Sigma lens. 1/320 second at f/11. ISO 320


© 2012

Almost there...

There are spring tides this week in Poole Bay, Dorset, and I'm out with my camera during late afternoon, looking for shots when they are at their lowest. It is something of a favourite subject of mine, as the retreating sea leaves behind pristine sand, and the opportunity to photograph all sorts of textures, objects, and reflections in tide pools. I have to time my arrival well as the smooth areas of the exposed shore can soon be marred by others walking the area, and arrive at Boscombe beach at low water (17.14 hours).

I'm blessed not only with a good beach, but also a good sky, and I use a polarising filter to accentuate the cirrus clouds.  Composing the shot so that the late afternoon sun is just out of frame, I use the reflection of the groyne marker and the lengthening shadows to my advantage, and start making photographs.

There is already a noticeable difference in the quality of light at this time of year: autumn starts this weekend (the equinox is this coming Saturday). My photographic season starts then. Can't wait.


12-24mm f/4G AF-S Nikkor. 1/250 second at f/11. + 0.33 EV compensation. ISO 400. Polarising filter


© 2012

One shot and move on...

I'm back on the beaches again, working myself up for the low spring tides predicted for Poole Bay early next week, shooting anything I like the look of. At this time of year they are largely deserted, despite the good weather, as kids have returned to school and the holiday season is all but over. It won't be long until I get the place to myself again.

As yesterday, I am working to a specific brief that I have set myself, and this is based on the work ethic of American photographer William Eggleston: ordinary subject-matter, and only one shot of that subject before moving on to the next. My usual approach is to take a series of photographs of any given thing (assuming that opportunity exists) - 'working the scene' - as it is known. It has the obvious advantage of being able to select the shot that works best when the files are opened on my computer screen, but that alone has its drawbacks. I am sometimes faced with a sequence so similar in characteristics that it becomes quite difficult to select just the one. It is rather liberating to take a different approach once in a while, and work quickly.

This was, once again, brought home this morning as I began one of my ruthless edits of unused RAW files residing on my hard drive - languishing there since May. I deleted nearly a thousand pictures into the trash, and I am still roughly half way through the process. It is a tiresome business that is best avoided by good housekeeping, but with me that is easier said than done. I would rather be out taking photographs that stuck in front of my iMac.


24-70mmf/2.8G AF-S Nikkor. 1/400 second at f/8. + 0.33 EV compensation. ISO 400


© 2012

Overdone...

I don't use filters in front of the lens very often, these days. Instead, I opt to add any sort of graduated or warm-up filters in Adobe Photoshop during post production. It saves a lot of time doing it this way, and I can always opt to undo the filter effect before saving the finished file should I judge it to be unsuitable for the image I am working on. This way I can tweak away until I am satisfied I have what I'm after on the computer screen.

There is one exception to this approach, and that is the use of the polarising filter. As yet, editing software cannot reproduce the effects of this filter in its entirety, since it has many and varied uses: darkening blue skies and increasing contrast between that and clouds; removing reflections from non-metalic surfaces, such as water, glass, paintwork and foliage (useful for shooting landscapes), and as a neutral density filter, since it blocks the light of all colours of the visible spectrum.

For all the benefits, it does have it's drawbacks (isn't that always the case?), as it sucks up to two stops of light entering the camera, and it can look quirky when used with ultra-wide angle lenses, since one side of the frame can be polarised whilst the other side is not. The filter can also impart a cool feel to the image, and some warming may be necessary to create a more pleasing photograph to the eye.

Therefore it is necessary to use this filter carefully, as too much can ruin a shot completely. However, today I am out in the bright, clear sunshine of late summer/early autumn, armed with the filter in question, and determined to do just that: overdo it. I am trying to produce over-saturated colours - by no means natural - purely for pictorial effect, and I achieve that with this image of a beach hut on the seafront of Poole Bay, Dorset. I rotated the polariser for maximum effect, and managed to turn the blue sky an inky black, which shows how easily it is to create something that cannot be undone at a later stage.


24-70mm f/2.8G AF-S Nikkor. 1/640 second at f/5.6. + 0.67 EV compensation. ISO 320. Polarising filter


© 2012

Enamel signs and Bulleid Pacifics...

I must be getting cranky about photography, because unless there are adverse conditions to inspire me I am just not happy. Today is a fine example: the Swanage Steam Gala. Run over three days, the 6 mile-long heritage railway run as much steam as possible - occasionally borrowing engines from other railways for the event. The weekend is set to have warm, sunny weather - ideal from their perspective for attracting large crowds to help swell the coffers - but it does little to produce images with a bit of grit to them.

I photograph a number of trains as they pull fare paying passengers up and down the line, but it is the advertising signs that adorn the platforms of Corfe Castle station that interest me more than any of the engines and rolling stock on display.

There are, of course, the ever-present multitudes of rail enthusiasts chasing everything that moves with both still and video cameras, as well as those that persist in leaning out of the carriages to record their journey for posterity, but sadly today I am not one of them. I could do with a bit of rail or hail to spice it all up a bit.

So, back to the colourful enamel signs: From a bygone age (in keeping with other paraphernalia that adds atmosphere to the platforms) - and in at least in one instance, potentially illegal (the cigarette advertisement; but since the brand name with "wild" in it only exists in Australia then maybe it's okay), I begin to wonder if they are, in fact, authentic.

Whilst shooting each one, I engage in a conversation with a fellow snapper, and debate whether or not they are original. He thinks they are the genuine article, based on the thickness of the metal they are painted on, but if that is the case then surely they are of value - at least to collectors? I suggest that they might be targets for unscrupulous souls that might "liberate" them to make a quick buck. We acknowledge each other's opinion, agree that they are rather splendid, and leave it at that.

I particularly like the starch sign (right), that not only demands you use this brand to the exclusion of all others, but it reinforces the fact that it is sold in cardboard boxes. Whether that had any bearing on the properties of the product - shelf life-wise or performance-wise - I have no idea, but so long as it  "gives sparkling crispness to linens, cottons and lace" (company claim), what more could you ask for? Nothing, that's what. Buy some today!

Oh yes, the train! It turned out to be the best shot of the day (left), so I thought I should include it here. The SR 4-6-2 "Battle of Britain" Class No. 34070 Manston, it ran on the Kent Coast line during the 1950s before being moved to Dover in 1955, where it was used on the Continental boat trains. After the electrification of the line in 1961, Manston no longer had work for it, and it finally ended up at Exmouth Junction, where it was operated by Southern Railway until its withdrawal from service in 1964. It was rescued from the scrapyard in 1978.

Thought you might like to know that - (all gleaned from the Swanage Railway web site. You didn't think I walked around with all that in my head, did you?).




Enamel signs: 24-70mm f/2.8G AF-S Nikkor.
Manston: 300mm f/2.8 AF-S VR Nikkor


© 2012

No, not yet...

I've heard it several times already: It's autumn. The end of summer comes on the last day of August, yet nature still shows no sign of the colour yet to come. In fact you could be forgiven for thinking it was the height of summer in the southern part of the UK this week, with clear skies expected and temperatures touching 27ºC (81ºF) by the weekend.

Even so, I'm out on my bike in search of the early signs of my favourite time of the year, with all its colours, smells and stunning light. I pay a visit to the Stour Valley Nature Reserve, and although there is a vague tint of yellow on some trees it is definitely not happening yet - nor do I expect it to - not until next month, at the least.

Instead I point my camera at the river to shoot reflections, and the more abstract they are, the better. Life-like reflections have their place, but occasionally it can be fun to attempt to come up with something more impressionistic with just the camera alone. I do toy with the idea of fitting a polariser and reducing the amount of reflection I get, but what would be the point? It does make it onto the end of my lens - where it remains during the shoot - but rotated so it has little to no effect. This, of course, is pointless, as it only reduces the amount of light reaching the sensor - nothing else - but since I was not shooting hand-held it didn't bother me unduly. However, it is not recommended. What I did do to achieve something different than what the camera recorded, was to turn one of the images here upside down, just for the fun of it.


70-200mm f/2.8D Apo Sigma lens.
Top left: 1/100 second at f/6.3. - 0.33 EV compensation
Right: 1/160 second at f/5.6.  - 0.33 EV compensation
ISO 500


© 2012

The Few...

Day four: Although there may seem madness in the method, there is at least method. Today, we are back in Kent, visiting the Battle of Britain Memorial: the National Memorial to the Few - who fought in the skies overhead in 1940. The site is situated at Capel-le-Ferne, above the famous White Cliffs, between Folkstone and Dover, on the South coast of the UK, and was chosen as it played a part in both World Wars of the 20th Century.

Behind the seated airman, forever gazing out to sea, is a wall containing all the names of nearly 3,000 aircrew who fought in the battle. Opened in 1993, the area is circled by high grassy banks, and is designed on the form of an aircraft propellor with the pilot at its centre. There are also replicas of a Vickers-Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane aircraft - both so crucial to the outcome of the fight to prevent invasion - and the Battle of Britain Trust is currently raising money for a new visitor centre, which will be in the shape of a Spitfire wing, echoing the two stone signs at the entrance to the area.


12-24mm f/4G AF-S Nikkor. 1/200 second at f/11. + 0.67 EV compensation. ISO 400. Monopod.


© 2012

Afterburner...

Today, Nic and I are back in the Dorset town of Bournemouth, for the last day of the annual, award winning, Air Festival: Free, and by the sea. As always, these events are at the mercy of the weather, but the fact that it is spread over four days gives spectators a fighting chance of at least one day of favourable conditions.

Unfortunately, on the day we visit the light is not co-operating, making it difficult to get good images. Difficult, yes; but not impossible. Despite the grey skies, I see the opportunity to capture a bit of colour and drama during the display of two RAF Tornado jets (the penultimate performance of the afternoon) by concentrating on the after-burners and the condensation forming over the wings during tight turns. To maximise this effect, I deliberately under expose, and choose my time carefully to fire a short burst of frames to get the results I am after.


300mm f/2.8 AF-S VR Nikkor with TC-14EII converter. 1/1600 second at f/6.3. - 0.33 EV compensation. ISO 500. Monopod.


© 2012

Oare Marshes...

Over the next few days I am staying with my friend and fellow photographer, Nic, and the time will be split between Dorset and Kent - photographing this; watching that - and generally having a good time of it all.

First off, it is an early evening trip to Oare Marshes, on the south bank of the Swale Sea Channel, near Faversham, Kent. The site is an internationally important nature reserve, but there is also a history of the manufacture of gunpowder and boat building, although the former is long gone and there is scant evidence of the latter, these days.

The photograph shows the joining of the Faversham (left) and Oare Creek (foreground) at Hollowpoint. The tide is clearly out at the time of shooting, but the creeks and channels are open for navigation when the water returns at this remote and tranquil area.


24-70mm f/2.8 AF-S Nikkor. 1/125 second at f/8. ISO 640


© 2012

Bournemouth Air Festival, 2012...

The first day of the annual Bournemouth Air Festival 2012, Dorset, and it is opened in style by the emotional return of the Red Arrows, at 3pm. As is to be expected, the close formation flying and "synchro pair" are of the highest standard, but their usual number is reduced by two, owing to one of its pilots transferring to a ground based role, and as a result a second aircraft being removed from the team to preserve the symmetry of the formation.

The nice thing about this particular air festival is that it is a four day event, and I can opt to experiment with camera angles and locations, as I did today. Instead of positioning myself at the centre of the action I decide to shoot at a distance of around two miles, using a telephoto lens. It can be a risk as I am having to deal with atmospheric turbulence at such a range, but I still manage a number of useable images. However, I conclude that is little to be gained - if anything - by doing this, so in future I will endeavour to get into the thick of it as frequently as possible.

However (there's always one of those, isn't there?) I do benefit from being outside of the designated display area with the faster display jets, such as   with the Hawker Hunter "Miss Demeanour" (right), painted in its unique colour scheme for no other reason than to make it a work of art. The pilot is making his turns overhead and I am able to get some photographs other than just profile pictures.


300mm f/2.8 AF-S VR Nikkor

Top: 1/4000 second at f/5.5. + 0.33 EV compensation
Right: 1/1250 second at f/5.6. + 0.33 EV compensation
ISO 400


© 2012

Always follow your dreams...

Having been designed by local school children, the 5 metre-high permanent memorial to Flt. Lt. Jon Egging - "Eggman"- Red 4, went on display on Bournemouth's East Cliff this afternoon during a private ceremony, attended by members of The Red Arrows and the former pilots wife. It was Dr Egging that chose the winning entry for the design from entries following a competition amongst local schools in the town.

The three aircraft are made of glass, with stainless steel contrails, each one containing 60 glass beads in the team's traditional colours of red, white and blue. The whole thing weighs-in at one tonne. There is also a plaque set into stone in front of the sculpture, with the inscription:


                                  Always follow your dreams
                                               Blue skies

Memorial to Flt. Lt. Jon Egging - Eggman - Red 4
who tragically died when his Hawk aeroplane crashed after displaying at the Bournemouth Air Festival on 20 August 2011

Memorial unveiled on 29 August 2012 by:

The Worship The Mayor of Bournemouth Cllr Phil Stanley-Watts, Dr Emma Egging (Jon's wife),
Dawn Egging (Jon's mother), Flt. Lt. Ben Plank (Red 6) of the RAF Red Arrows and James Godley (Jon's childhood friend).

Design based on an original idea by pupils from Kinson Primary School, Bournemouth.
Bournemouth Borough Council commissioned artist Tim Ward of Circling the Square to create this Memorial



© 2012

Big sky...

Although I've been told that the subject is taboo until the month of September, I'm going to say it anyway: today I got the first hint of autumn light. It is still warm enough - and will, hopefully, continue to be so - for a good while yet, but it is definitely there.

I had planned on a walk along the sea front - keeping an eye out for the local kestrel - but got no further than the cliff tops of Southbourne. It is a clear day with a brisk southern breeze, and the cloud formations alone were deserving the attentions of my lens, this afternoon.

It is odd that I seem to be taking so many photographs from one particular spot at the moment, but it does afford me a sweeping vista of Poole Bay, Dorset; the Isle of Wight and the distant hills of the Isle of Purbeck. Maybe I chose the location instinctively, as a starting-off point, and whilst writing this it has given me the idea for an ongoing project.

Anyway, back on topic; the upper and lower level clouds are moving across the sky at different speeds, and the wind shear in the upper atmosphere is producing some spectacular results, as with today's image, taken from the same place as this shot, except with a wide angle lens as opposed to a super-telephoto. I have the sun in the shot, so I need to be careful I don't end up with a grossly underexposed photograph. Even so, using Aperture Priority mode, I only need to add ⅔ of a stop extra to the camera's suggested exposure to produce a workable RAW file.


12-24mm f/4G AF-S Nikkor. 1/1250 second at f/8. + 0.67 EV compensation. ISO 200


© 2012

Once in a while...

Whenever questioned about digital photography, and whether or not it is a better medium than film, I alway clearly and emphatically state that yes, it is, and from my perspective there will be no turning back. However, there is the occasional (and rare) moment when I would like to wheel-out one of my film cameras, just to take images like the one here.

At one time I was able to kick-start a barren period of photography by using a specialist emulsion, such as infrared - something not so easy to do with a digital SLR. There are ways, of course, as it is perfectly feasible to have a body converted (at a price) solely for infra-red shooting, but the modification is permanent. Doing this would deprive me of my back up camera; something I am not prepared to sacrifice.

The thing is, that this type of photography is fun, inasmuch as that it is somewhat unpredictable. The photograph of St. John the Evangelist church at Holdenhurst Village, Dorset, was the very first exposure made by me on such film, and although I had read articles on the subject beforehand, it was still largely guesswork. For one, I had to manually focus the lens onto the special infrared index mark on the lens barrel, as the unseen rays are longer than visible light. I also needed a deep red filter over the lens to block most of the visible spectrum. Having done all this; and set up on a tripod due to long shutter speeds, I had to guess at exposure since the camera's meter didn't respond to infrared radiation. All rather jolly.

The resulting negatives were rather dense - despite some serious bracketing at the shooting stage - and the best of them required a basic exposure of five minutes at f/8 in the enlarger! Of course, now I am able to scan the negative and work on the image in Adobe Photoshop, which gives me far greater control, but not quite such fun when something pleasing comes up in the developer. Those were the days!



24mm f/2.8 Zuiko lens. Kodak Wratten 25 filter. Kodak High-Speed Infrared film (HIE), rated at ISO 50. Tripod and cable release. July 6th, 1986


©  1986-2012

Not text book material...

I have preached the idea in the past, so today I take a slice of my own advice and shoot wildlife on my doorstep. There is plenty to be found in your garden if you look, or, should you not have one of your own, the local park, or as in this case, the local golf course.

I'm after dragonfly - nature's little helicopters - and they can be surprisingly easy to photograph, purely because they so are fiercely territorial. An individual, such as this Common Darter (Sympertrum striolatum), will usually have a favourite perch over water, such as a small branch or reeds, and will repeatedly return to its chosen spot after flying off to hunt, or patrol its area and ward-off would be threats (such as other dragonflies). All the photographer has to do is focus on that spot; wait, and fire the shutter at the appropriate moment. Easy-peasey.

Well, maybe not that simple, as successful images do require suitable lighting and positioning of the camera, which is not always feasible. In my book the wings and body should be parallel with the plane of focus, unlike here, where I am forced to focus on the eye and stop the lens down to get a bit of depth of field happening. The alternative is to get wet feet, and risk driving off my subject, and in wildlife photography that is a no-no. Still, I'm not shooting for text book illustrations, so I'm not too worried. At this time of year I am just pleased to be shooting anything.


300mm f/4 AF-S Nikkor with TC-14EII converter. 1/800 second at f/8. ISO 640. Monopod


© 2012

A year ago today...

It was a year ago today that Red 4, of the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team - otherwise more popularly known simply as The Red Arrows - crashed into fields near the village of Throop, after returning to Bournemouth International Airport, having just displayed in front of an estimated crowd of 300,000 on the town's seafront. The pilot was killed. I had photographed the performance, and found it difficult to comprehend as the news of the disaster began to filter through the crowds. After all, these guys don't make mistakes, do they?

Although pilot error is not suspected at all, I am still having difficulty in finding any report of the MOD's findings into the incident, and therefore assume their investigations are still ongoing.

The site itself (right) has started to become overgrown as the summer grasses take a hold and nature heals the scar, but at the time of my visit several kind souls have visited the little stone cairn that marks the spot, and have left fresh-cut flowers and a message as a tribute.

Hand written, the message on the card reads:

One year ago today, on 20 Aug. 2011, you lost your life, and we remember you, every time we pass this monument.

A Throop resident

A permanent memorial to Flt Lt Jon Egging, designed by local school children, is due to be unveiled on Bournemouth's East Cliff to coincide with the opening of this years Air Festival at the end of the month.


12-24mm f/4G AF-S Nikkor. 1/250 second at f/8. - 0.67 EV compensation. ISO 200


© 2012

Next time...

After last week's experiment of shooting a firework display at a distance, I opt this week to get in somewhat closer for what might be considered a more sensible approach. Initially, I had ideas about being under the display, so to speak, shooting upwards. Why, I even entertained the idea of shooting with a fisheye lens (there was one in my bag tonight), but I eventually settle on an elevated position, 750 yards (686 metres) from my subject.

I wait in the heat of the summer night, while the mosquitos have a field day. If last week was anything to go by, I will have a few lumps here and there come morning. The hour comes; the display starts, but it is immediately obvious that I have the wrong lens for the job on the camera - a wide zoom. Even at its longest setting it is giving me woefully small images, so I and forced to make the change to rescue the shoot, and fit a standard zoom lens.

By the time I make this decision the display was probably half over, but having fumbled about in the dark (yes, I did have a torch with me, but it was effectively useless, as there was no way to hold it and mount the lens at the same time), and achieved framing and focus, the pyrotechnics were beginning to reach their peak. The best is always saved until last with such events. Even so, out the 28 frames I exposed I only came away with two useable images, one of which you see here, with Bournemouth Pier dwarfed beneath multiple bursts. I breath a sigh of relief: it could have been far worse. I'm already thinking about next week.


24-70mm f/2.8G Nikkor. Bulb exposure. f/5.6. ISO 400. Tripod and remote release. Mirror lockup.


© 2012

Back to normal...

The London 2012 Olympics has come and gone; the weather improved from unpredictable wind and rain to what most would consider summer conditions for the occasion, and then, as if cued-in by some unseen higher force, the real British summer returns and everything is back to normal.

In fact, it was a day of two halves (to borrow a cliché from football pundits), with all morning having rain before the sun appeared in all its glory for the rest of the day, from early afternoon onwards. Photographic conditions!

I'm back along the seafront of Poole Bay, Dorset, in the driving rain, looking for things to poke my lens at, and once again looking for detail in the sand. The rain can be challenging as it is difficult to keep the front element of the lens free from water droplets, but it is always worth the effort as there is something special about flat light. Of course, the same light can be had when it is not raining and only overcast, but the wet keeps the beaches largely empty, and I can work undisturbed.

85mm f/1.4D AF Nikkor. 1/100 second at f/4. + 0.33 EV compensation. ISO 640


© 2012

Experience and guesswork...

It has been a funny old week. At this time of year I usually find myself in the photographic doldrums: no real inspiration or motivation. In fact, I have been out shooting during the past two days and deleted everything. Instead, I find myself wanting for that glorious autumn light more and more. I do have one or two projects to shoot before all that happens: the annual Bournemouth Air Festival at the end of the month, for example, but otherwise my camera may just as well stay in the bag.

I do, however, have a moment of clarity through it all, as I consign this morning's early (and fruitless) set of images to the trash on my computer; and that is to photograph the fireworks display - held every Friday during August - on Bournemouth pier. I quickly dismiss the idea of rubbing shoulders with the multitudes that will gather near the event, and opt to work from a distance: a much greater distance.

A bit of an experiment, actually, as I want to use a super-telephoto lens for the job, and shoot over water, as it will have the added benefit of producing reflections for the foreground of the picture. This can have its drawbacks, especially with long exposures needed to capture several bursts on one frame. The slightest vibration will ruin the photograph. I'm lucky. There is very little wind - if any - on the cliff tops of Southbourne, where I set up, and visibility is excellent. I can see the white flash of the lighthouse at St. Catherine's Point on the southern tip of the Isle of Wight, some 24 miles away, so I know the 2.8 miles between me and my subject will cause no problems at all. The fireworks are launched at 10pm, and I start making exposures based on experience and guesswork. No other way to do it.


300mm f/2.8 AF-S VR Nikkor (VR off). 3½ seconds at f/8. ISO 200. Bulb exposure and remote release. Tripod


© 2012