2017 in eight images , a photographic look back! , part 1

Here is  the first part of my look back of 2017 photographically . From the top:

1/ – “Taking a Dip” – Old Market Square fountains – August 2017

In all truth , this came about as a bit of a torture test exploring the limits of a Nikon D4 with an ultrawide 14-24mm lens which I’d purchased two weeks prior! I’d spent quite a few evenings playing around taking advantage of the increased low light sensitivity of the new camera! The idea behind this came the previous evening when I was with the camera but at that time I was too late as the colour in the sky had dimmed down dramatically.  At the time I took a few test images , being very intentional about how I held the camera under the fountain , making sure the water streams did not directly hit the camera , or the front element of the lens. Needed to take quite a few frames of this as I couldn’t directly “see” this image via the camera as a result. The idea worked well enough. Then it was a case of coming back the next evening with the sky in place.

2/ As the lights come on – view back from Corporation Oaks , Nottingham

A happy coincidence led to a very unusual photograph content wise – and one which generated a lot of discussion when I’d shown it as part of my Visions of Nottingham mini exhibition a couple of weeks back.  The image came about as soon as I was framing up a view looking back towards Cranmer Street of Nottingham City Centre , when suddenly the lighting switched on. With the lights being cold , it altered the wavelength of light emitted – momentarily green – which really nicely contrasted with the red skies of the evening. Needed to move quickly to make this photograph – 30 seconds later the lights would take on their familiar whitish hue.

3 / St Michael Le Belfrey / York Minster by dawn… , July 2017

Similar to the last image – a case of being in the right place at the right time to make a unique photograph – and this is also another favourite coincidence of mine , but perhaps I’m more proud of this because these subjects have been extensively photographed. Didn’t sleep particularly well on the night before – so I took the opportunity to see how the morning sun would light up the York streets. I wasn’t disappointed with this light show through the St Michael Le Belfrey Church at around 8am , and was quite careful to line up the sun shining through the windows .A wide angle lens to give some the context , with the sun also hitting the towers of the York Minster.

4/ Happy birthday Estelle! – pulling back

A crazy fun evening – a surprise birthday party hosted for a friend and fellow entrepreneur Estelle – which I photographed testing out my D4 in an event context (so I knew what it could do fully before I used it in my commercial client projects).  This photograph sums up the evening very well – good fun and lots of craziness going on. So much went on , I can’t remember the context fully behind Estelle (left) pulling Lyndsey back but I’m lucky enough to be able to frame it and nail the moment. Kind people , and fun time and I’m lucky to have met these good people.

A round of thanks goes to New Art Exchange , Chilwell Olympia Karate School , Row2k , Louise White Theatrician , Mendy Lent (Notts Chabad) , Guerilla Art Lab , Pint of Science , Hannah Williams , Steve and Ruth Goodings , Framework Housing Association , amongst others who I’ve been fortunate to work with this year. Special thanks goes to the Princes’ Trust for supporting my efforts as I develop my business.

In the next part of the series I’ll be giving commentary of four more of my favourite images in this year – you can read this here.

I’ll be talking more about my initial experience working with them and the single most important thing I’ve learnt since having a business mentor next time round…. Happy holidays!