Early last Saturday, Ben, Vince and I found ourselves in Richmond Park. The ground was thick with frost and the sun was just beginning to poke above the tree line as we started snapping away.
Ben took great interest in the frosted fauna, getting out his tripod and Macro lens to capture the delicate patterns of ice crystals on ferns and fences (see here). I took a broader approach, enjoying the patterns of light and shadow made by the trees and streams.
After several hours of walking around the park we headed off to central London, but not before a sausage or bacon sandwich. Hungry business capturing light.
We arrived at Portobello market just before lunch. The place was thronged with shoppers and it was a little perturbing. All three of us struggled to find inspiration in the masses. The light had flattened as the clouds had come in. The tall surrounding buildings screened the remaining light. Form and colour became the strongest elements. There were some eclectic objects and people, but just not enough space to capture them. I was pleased with a shot of some entertaining old metal adverts that had been pinned together – have a look!. They reminded me of fish scales. It would be a very curious catch.
After abandoning the market to the crowds, we headed East to Canary Wharf for lunch. By now it was 3pm and Vince had been up far longer than was reasonable for a Saturday. We indulged in some gourmet burgers and carried on down the isle of dogs to Greenwich, via the foot tunnel.
Our last location of the day was at the top of Greenwich Park, looking back at the modern megaliths of Canary Wharf. Unfortunately, light was no longer on the side of day-tripping photographers and the late afternoon – evening sunset was disappointing. And as the loud speaker declared the park shut, tiredness crept into our legs. It had been a long day.
On reflection, though we may not have taken many photos that we were happy with, we learnt a lot about how we each shoot and how to go about organising such a day.
It was clear that each of us was looking for something different. Ben and I are looking for more graphic images with form, colour and light, whilst Vince is inspired by stories and capturing human elements . In our last meeting, we all agreed that next time we should slow down, do less, but work harder at getting each photo. We will certainly visit only one or two locations in a day.
I will update the blog as we add more of the photos from the shoot to the website.
And to just to keep you watching…look out soon for a whole new website design…beyond photium!
