Cloudy Dawn | Weekly Photo #52
I started these weekly photoblogs for a few reasons. Firstly, I wanted to limit the number of photos I would be posting online which helped to take the pressure off how many I needed to go out and take. One photo each week seemed an achievable number. Next, I wanted to write more. I felt that if I could write a bit of a story to accompany each image, be it behind the scenes, some useful tips or just some additional context, bit by bit, my creative writing might improve. Lastly, I wanted to drive more traffic to my blog by producing content people would enjoy as I absolutely love having my own corner of the internet, untouched by social media algorithms where I can share my best work to whoever wants to see it. With my readership steadily growing and my photography improving, I’m really pleased with how the Weekly Photo series is going and ecstatic that I’ve managed to release this, my 52nd post in a row without skipping a single week. That’s right, a full year! Where has the time gone?
At times, it’s not been easy. I’ve suffered writer’s block, wrestled with a busy schedule and on occasion got stuck thinking of a title for the post, but by giving myself a deadline each week, it meant I had to get the post finished, by hook or by crook
Who knows, I may even write about the experience in an upcoming blog post. We’ll have to see about that. but for now, I’m just please I’m still going and continue to enjoy the experience.
Fujifilm X-T10 | XF18-55mm | 18mm | 1/3 Sec | f/10 | ISO200
Back to this week’s photo.
When I left my house, early on this particular morning, my objective above all else was to capture this composition of Tower Bridge from beside the Thames and right in front of the Tower of London. I had tried and failed to capture this scene on a previous visit but the weather wasn’t ideal at the time so with only a limited amount of time before work, I marched straight from London Bridge Station, across the river to this spot.
On the previous visit, it was toward the end of the day with plenty of people still around and the sky lacked interest so when I was greeted with the scene free of people on this cloudy, wet morning, I knew right away I had a better chance of coming away with an image this time.
I arrived, I set my camera up onto the tripod and composed. Looking through the viewfinder, I knew there was a shot to be had here. The ground was wet, adding texture to the cobbles, there was a touch of colour from the sunrise piercing through the clouds and the lamp was still on. I love the ornate lamps that line London’s streets and I think the lamp being on in this image adds a touch of mood and makes all of the difference.
Short of time, I dialled in the settings (18mm | 1/3 Sec | f/10 | ISO200), tweaked the composition and took the shot. I was incredibly lucky as after only a few minutes, the lamp turned off and that meant the shoot was over but I had the shot in the bag so I headed off to work.
The photo is processed in Adobe Lightroom. Apart from some of the usual tonal adjustments, I added some clarity to the cobbled road and tried to bring out a bit of the drama in the cloudy sky. In Photoshop I removed some of the discarded chewing gum from the path in the foreground and finished up with the high-pass filter to sharpen the image a little.
The Weekly Photo series is still going strong and I have plenty more photos to take and share so, here’s to the next 52 Weekly Photo posts!
Until next week.
Trevor
This post is featured in my Weekly Photo series where I post a new photo every Monday. To have this delivered directly to your inbox, you can subscribe to the mailing list here.