Translucent Tower | Weekly Photo #54
Not too long ago, I was guilty of being a bit of a fair-weather photographer. If the weather didn’t show a significant chance of good light, I probably wouldn’t head out with the camera. To me, grey cloudy days were boring and uninspiring and I was pretty confident that if I went out and the light didn’t improve, then I would be sure to come home with nothing. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
These days, things have changed. I look back on that time with a touch of regret due to all of those missed opportunities as I realize that it wasn’t the light or the conditions that were the problem, it was me. Back then, I was an impatient photographer with unrealistically high expectations. If I didn’t get at least one good shot while out on a shoot, I thought the time was wasted and if the light was good and I didn’t capture a great photo, I had somehow failed.
Fujifilm XT2 | XF55-200mm | 74mm | 1/1600 Sec | f/3.7 | ISO200
As I have matured as a photographer, my whole approach has changed. First off, I no longer think that getting a photo is the be-all and end-all. Yes, of course, there is still no better feeling of heading home after a shoot knowing you have a potential banger saved on the memory card but the sooner we landscape photographers realise that getting a portfolio worthy photo every time we head out is just not going to happen, the sooner that pressure is lifted. We can relax and just enjoy taking photos, letting the conditions and subjects guide us rather than forcing our own preconceived ideas onto the landscape. We can decide the subject we shoot, the composition we create but the conditions we shoot in are down to mother nature herself.
The other change in my style is that I now shoot in pretty much any weather. I’m no longer confined to the golden hour at either end of the day. These days, when there’s plenty of cloud cover, I see an opportunity to photograph throughout the day as long as I can find the right subject for the conditions I find myself in. I still try to avoid bright, sunny, middle of the day shoots as I struggle to be inspired by the harsh light but who knows, this might be another change to my photography that is yet to come.
This is a photo I took on my very last trip to London before the world went into hiding. I knew before I set out that this was probably going to be my last visit before we would have to stay in our homes so I decided to head up into town early on a Sunday morning knowing the city would be quiet and social distancing would not be too difficult. After wandering the city for a while, I found myself across the river up at the Tate Modern viewing gallery which provides some great views of London. What struck me was how the newest addition to the city skyline, 22 Bishopsgate stood out amongst its neighbours and how the glass, which was reflecting the sky made the building appear translucent.
For more rooftop photography suggestions, check out my recent post MY TOP 5 FREE ROOFTOP LOCATIONS TO PHOTOGRAPH LONDON
With my 55-200 telephoto lens on the Fujifilm XT2, I positioned the building centrally in the frame, flanked by the smaller, darker buildings on each side. I kept some of the small buildings in the foreground as it helped anchor the composition and provides some scale to the overall image. Shooting handheld, I needed to keep the shutter speed high so I chose a wide aperture. Without anything in the immediate foreground, I knew there wouldn’t be any depth of field issues and it allowed me to keep my ISO low. With the settings dialled in (1/1600sec, f3.7, ISO200) and the image composed, I took the shot.
I’m really pleased with how this photo turned out and even happier that I now embrace conditions like this as it means many more photo opportunities are to be had going forward.
Talk to you 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.