Tag Archives: clifton suspension bridge

The Best of 2010 – Light Trails


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As the year is drawing to a close, I thought I’d put together a short list of what I consider my  most memorable shots of the year. The selection is based on both viewer feedback and my own attachment to a particular shot. For behind each photograph is a story to tell, a little something for me to remember them by, and some have proven to be more memorable than others. If you have not followed my work on Flickr, this is a good sampling of my work.

I’ve decided to categorize them into such : (1) REFLECTIONS (2) BRIDGES (3) FOUNTAINS (4) LIGHT TRAILS and  (5) MY PERSONAL FAVORITES.

#4 MOST MEMORABLE LIGHT TRAILS

It’s no secret that successful photographs are the products of perfect light and perfect timing. Capturing great light trails definitely needs perfect timing, and obviously, it helps to be in a location with a good flow of traffic, but not necessarily. Sometimes, all it takes is one bus to come at the right time. But there are other factors to a successful light trail shot other than perfect time – and those are – lots of patience and being on the safe side of the road.

My Top Ten Most Memorable Light Trails of 2010:

VALENCIA, SPAIN - Torres de Serranos. The flow of traffic was not ideal on this night so I had to wait quite a bit; in the meantime, the light in the sky was changing fast. I knew that buses, instead of cars, would complete my vision here, and fortunately 2 buses came to a halt just when the last bit of blue hour light was fading away.

[...Click for the rest of my Top Ten Light Trails...]


The Best of 2010 – Bridges


Posted by

As the year is drawing to a close, I thought I’d put together a short list of what I consider my  most memorable shots of the year. The selection is based on both viewer feedback and my own attachment to a particular shot. For behind each photograph is a story to tell, a little something for me to remember them by, and some have proven to be more memorable than others. If you have not followed my work on Flickr, this is a good sampling of my work.

I’ve decided to categorize them into such : (1) REFLECTIONS (2) BRIDGES (3) FOUNTAINS (4) LIGHT TRAILS and  (5) MY PERSONAL FAVORITES.

#2 MOST MEMORABLE BRIDGES of 2010

Where there’s a body of water, there’s usually a bridge somewhere. And in Europe there is a plethora of beautiful bridges, all filled with rich history and character. There are big-city modern bridges and small-town old-fashioned bridges. The bridge list is endless – suspension bridge, cable-stayed bridge, drawbridge, pedestrian footbridge, even bridges with built-in houses, shops, and a city hall.

Here are my Top Ten Most Memorable Bridges of this year.

MAINZ, GERMANY - Theodor Heuss Bridge. I had to visit this location a second time because I ran out of light the first time before I could go under the bridge. The second time I went, the river level was high so I can't go down. Wanting to be dead-center under the bridge so I can get all 4 starbursts in, I had to squeeze myself and my tripod in between a tiny spot in front of a car parked behind me and the edge of the embankment. I barely managed without falling off, but I got my shot.

[...Click for the rest of my Top Ten Bridges...]


The Bridges of Avon River


Posted by Yen Baet

I have just found out the name Avon is of Welsh origin and means “river”, so the River Avon literally means “River River”, that explains why many English rivers are named Avon. The Avon river that runs in Southwest England crosses the cities of Bristol, Bath and Bradford-on-Avon, which I’ve had the pleasure of visiting this past weekend.

Don’t let the blue skies fool you, because it actually rained a lot during my time there. I was merely lucky I had some “divine intervention” during twilight – that 20 to 30-minute window of clear skies was all I needed to do my shots. What can I say? I have friends in high places. :-)

BRISTOL - Clifton Suspension Bridge, taken from the Leigh Woods Observatory. What a view! not only do you get the Avon river, but also the gorge and a sweeping view of the city.

BATH - The three-arched Palladian Pulteney Bridge of Roman origins can be seen just down the river. According to Wikipedia, it is one of only surviving 4 bridges that has shops spanning the whole bridge. I've been to 3 of them: the Pulteney bridge in Bath, the Rialto in Venice, and Ponte Vecchio in Florence. I don't know what the other bridge is, do you?

BRADFORD ON AVON - The Town Bridge of Bradford on Avon. It was actually a sunny afternoon during my visit here.The city was named so because it crosses the "broad ford" of the river Avon. It's interesting to note that the small house at the end of the bridge used to be a prison for town drunks and troublemakers during the 18th century.

BRISTOL - Down Bristol Harbour is where one will find Pero's bridge, also known as the Horny bridge. It was named after Pero Jones, a merchant's slave who lived and died in Bristol. Bristol was built, in large part, on the slave and tobacco trade during the early centuries.


Dolphin Rider


Posted by Yen Baet

Here are two variations of the sculpture Girl with a Dolphin. I had posted the first one on Flickr, but I wasn’t sure which one I prefer. The bridge gets plenty of attention already I think, and I wanted to show more of the sculpture, which explains the first image.

As a side note, I had not planned on placing the dolphin in-between the two starbursts – that’s purely by accident. A nice accident!

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Dusk at Tower Bridge


Posted by Yen Baet

We just turned our clocks an hour back this past Sunday, and that only means one thing to night photographers like me – I get to to go home an hour earlier ! In fact, how’s 5:00 p.m. for civil twilight? Yes, it gets dark early in this part of the globe, and for convenience reasons (photographically speaking), that’s a good thing for me. The only downside I could see to that is it’s rush hour in London around that time, so the trains are packed and the volume of people on the streets is more than normal.

By 5:20 p.m., my gear’s all stowed away and I was done for the day, after squeezing in every bit of that blue light I could get from the sky. I had finished off on the bridge where both foot and vehicular traffic were busy, which equates to lots of unwanted movement. I think I still got decent shots though – it’s just all about timing!

I had been wanting to go to St. Katharine Docks since moving to England. The first time I was there, the side of the bridge facing the pier was undergoing renovations and had unsightly scaffolding and wrappings. This time, everything was clear and ready for some photography, so there’s really nothing to gripe about (well except maybe the overcast skies, but that’s normal around here.) :-)

Hope you like them!

Designed by Wendy Taylor in 1973, this massive sundial measures over 3 meters in diameter. It's made of stainless steel ring supported by 3 chain link cables. I haven't seen many photos of this sundial in Flickr or elsewhere, and I thought it makes an interesting subject although a bit challenging to compose. The curved building in between the towers is the London City Hall.

Another subject that I found challenging composition-wise - there's just so many points of interest in the surrounding area. This sculpture, Girl with a Dolphin by David Wynne, can be found at the north side of St. Katharine Docks. A little hard to see but there's water spurting from its pool which I would have preferred not be there. It was windy that night and was blowing in my direction. As a result, I got several water spots on my lens and my photos which I had to clean up in post-processing.

This clock tower or Ivory House in St. Katharine Docks got its name from the amount of ivory passing through it during the 19th century. Today its been converted into apartments, restaurants and shops.

 

London's most recognized bridge (by sight and not by name apparently), the Tower Bridge, is often mistakenly called London Bridge. Unlike the Tower Bridge though, London Bridge is not as majestic or even beautiful. You can actually see some of it on this image - it's that red strip of light in the far right.

My last shot of the day. My 14mm prime worked perfectly for this tight scene, but for the last few shots I switched to my 24-70mm which I used for this particular shot. I could not quite fit the scene in the frame, hence this angle. I still quite like this shot though - it looks very dynamic and the jagged edges on the top red trails are quite interesting.


Scenes Across the Bridge


Posted by Yen Baet

A few of my photos from St. Paul’s Cathedral and the Millennium Bridge.

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Night in St. Paul’s


Posted by Yen Baet

I still can’t believe I live so close to London.

It had rained most of the day so it was not the best night to take photos. I still liked how most of my shots turned out though, and I’ll be posting my twilight (or what’s supposed to be twilight) shots later on, including those of the Millennium bridge – a very challenging bridge to shoot because it moves all the time – it is in fact also nicknamed the Wobbly Bridge.

Meanwhile, here’s some night shots I’ve taken of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Light trails is a popular subject for night photographers, one that I love taking shots of as well. The exposure can be tricky at times, but with practice as with most everything else, it can be perfected. I think I have found my comfort zone as far as exposure time is concerned, but what I think makes a light trail image successful is perfect timing. Buses make nice light trails, but since their light streaks extend higher than regular cars, I try not to overwhelm the scene with the streaks and give ample window to still see the subject behind them, as what I did with these St. Paul’s images. It definitely takes some patience, and sometimes luck, but it’s always fun to do especially in London where double-deckers are all over the place – that’s twice the fun!

I was happy to see how the first image below turned out. It was my last shot of the day, and was talking on the phone while I took the shot – one hand on the trigger, one holding the phone – who say’s you can’t multi-task while doing long exposures? I especially liked the image when I realized that the bus with the trails is a number 26 bus, which incidentally is the same number of the bus I took a photo of while in Valencia, Spain earlier this year. Number 26 seems to be a fortuitous number for me, so now I’m looking forward to shooting more number 26 buses, by accident.

This was my last shot of the day. I took 10 shots of this scene, strategically positioned myself a few feet from the bus stop at the end of the curb. Not bad of a shot, I think, considering I was talking on the phone as I took this shot. I also liked how I was able to include another bus on the other side of the street, and nicely placed in the scene too! Sometimes you just get lucky. I just wished I had done this at blue hour, but that's for next time.

More light trails. Fun fact about St. Paul's Cathedral: Prince Charles married the late Princess Diana here, and more recently, the Queen celebrated the Golden Jubilee and her 80th birthday with thanksgiving services in this place of worship.

Almost wrapping it up after a shoot at the Millennium bridge, I stopped to take a shot before crossing this street to the cathedral. I think it's pretty cool how I got both red and green crossing lights in one exposure.


View of the Thames, Vertical


Posted by Yen Baet

Just wanted to post this vertical version of the same scene I had posted on Flickr. I’m still amazed how I was able to still take sharp photos considering how windy it was on the bridge that night. There’s some motion blur on the spinning wheel and the bobbing boat on the foreground, but the rest of the scene stayed sharp.

While shooting that night, I was talking to this other photographer who said he had vertigo and was having a tough time looking over the bridge and was paranoid about someone pushing him over anytime. It reminded me of the frightening experience I had  in Stockholm when some odd woman stood beside me while I was on the bridge in the dark by myself. I did not have such feelings while shooting from Waterloo Bridge because there were a lot of people around. I guess that’s one thing good about touristy London – there’s safety and comfort in numbers.

LONDON EYE TRIVIA: The London Eye is a 443-ft tall Ferris wheel on the banks of the River Thames. It is the tallest Ferris wheel in Europe, and the most popular paid tourist attraction in the United Kingdom, visited by over 3.5 million people annually. When erected in 1999, it was the tallest Ferris wheel in the world, until surpassed first by the 520-ft Star of Nanchang in 2006, and then the 541-ft Singapore Flyer in 2008. It is still described by its operators as "the world's tallest cantilevered observation wheel" as the wheel is supported by an A-frame on one side only, unlike the Nanchang and Singapore wheels.