13 from 2015 : The year in review

You’ll have seen many yearly review posts by now , with it being the end of 2015  , so here’s my highlights reel from 2015 to follow:

I’d say it’s been a relatively good year for me – in which I got myself back on track after finding things challenging in 2013 and 2014. Got to see some lovely things and good progress and putting down foundations for the future having completed business coaching from the Real Creative Futures team at the New Arts Exchange. I had a couple of useful client projects come through and hope to have some more this year (one new client very shortly!). Calendar project was a successful test and am planning more for the 2017 project. It’s still the beginning but things are looking up!

In terms of the photography , here’s my best moments :

1/ Lunarescent

This shows the magic of 85mm and f/1.4 at night  , shot through some hedgerows for spooky bokeh to nicely frame the actors in a rather spooky bit of night-time open street theatre during Nottingham’s Light Night , an excellent once-yearly celebration of all things light-night related.

2/ Silhouettes of the Rock Cemetery at dusk

Sometimes I have strong feelings which I sometimes lean on in the production of my personal work as a photographer and this was one such occasion .The cemetery was closed by dusk so I needed to really scour through the fences to find a clear set of headstones which silhouetted against the sky . When I did everything came together. Exposure was over 3 minutes with an ND filter.

3 – Shima

An intimate moment seen while on commission covering a gathering for the Jewish Purim as eyes were covered for the Shima prayer , taken around a set of candles to soon be blown out…

4/ The Rush of Camden

An image from my entry into the Advanced Photographer Magazine Photo24 challenge based in London , on our first visit to Camden Market .Was an insanely busy market – barely room to move around even , thus for the most part I stuck to the top deck. A flash of inspiration got me to take out my ND filter for long exposures and press camera against an overhead mesh awning (hence the gridlines).

5/The Battle of Britain

A spectacular homage to the Battle of Britain , captured later in the Photo24 London challenge and wonderfully designed by Paul Day , with a late evening rain shower and stormy skies to finish off the drama. Included here as one of the most detailed pieces I’ve ever seen and had the pleasure to photograph.

6/River Trent Lights – Nottingham

A simple photograph but another cathartic piece. Was feeling under the weather for various reasons and a bit stressed at the time I shot this. I did just about manage to persuade myself to go out and shoot something to clear the fog a bit and brought this back which was more then worth the effort.

7/ Ghost train , Riverside Festival

A fun lighting scheme on this fairground ride with the blue and green floodlighting were what drew me into photographing this scene initially , but the facial expressions that were frozen really hammer home the hauntedness of that train! I seek out the night purely because of these kind of colourful scenes.

8/How do you want to see through the window?

Watching people watching over an courtyard of the Adams Building , Nottingham during a Heritage Open Days tour , in a Victorian building but with modern technology. Tried a more stark monochrome edit then I usually go for here , which paid off handsomely.

9/ the end of the danceathon

Managed to jump in to see the joyous end of a 25-hour continuous dancing challenge – all to raise funds for a successful relocation and expansion of premises for Dance4 , a local dance and theature company. The challenge was set in the grand surroundings of Der Spiegel Tent , which popped up in Nottingham in early October!

10/ As the fog clears…

Included this image as I found it as it sums up how I’ve been over the past 12 months – as I’ve gradually overcome some personal issues I’ve had new realisations about myself , and now new possibilities are beginning to open up.

This image is of Gedling Country Park , Nottinghamshire in a day which started out with dense thick fog at 8am , but the mist cleared up and opened up some new possibilities photographically – it was a magic feeling to be there as this happened.

11/ Colours of autumn…

Taken later the same day as the previous image as the fog cleared very nicely to reveal one of the most colourful autumn scenes I’ve had the pleasure to come across about half an hour later that morning!

12/ Arnold Lane

I include this , not just for the view itself but the sheer amount of work involved in getting to the vantage point here. First I had to cross a very slippery muddy entrance path in Gedling Country Park , then climb up a steep hill weighed down with tripod in near pitch-darkness and cross a few paths to scope out this view from Wicketwood Hill.  One of the most thrilling experiences I’ve had even if the wind did try it’s hardest to sabotage my telephoto images.

13/ (bonus!) Beauty from chaos…

After I shot this it reminded me why I took up photography in the first place , and what I find so captivating about the medium. This was seen last month within Colwick woods as a branch was highlighted and thrown into stark relief with direct sunlight.