On Monday 28th October 80-90 mile per hour winds rocked the south coast of england, felling hundreds of trees, causing several deaths, knocking out power for half a million homes, massively disrupting transport services (causing the cancellation of the Photography and Digital Media London trips) and generally causing havoc with the rigidly structured systems we humans operate within. I went out with my camera to see whether there was any damage nearby my house in Sevendials and see whether the storm had altered the old Brighton Pier wreck.
It was a great day for photography with an initial light cloud/sunny breaks and an interesting situation, to a high light and lovely autumn beach atmosphere; a fantastic day for experiments with exposure, aperture, speed and iso settings. All the photographs were taken in manual mode with a Nikon D5000, with some minor exposure and colour balance adjustments on the computer.
It was a great day for photography with an initial light cloud/sunny breaks and an interesting situation, to a high light and lovely autumn beach atmosphere; a fantastic day for experiments with exposure, aperture, speed and iso settings. All the photographs were taken in manual mode with a Nikon D5000, with some minor exposure and colour balance adjustments on the computer.
Two streets away I found a crowd of children and their parents around a massive fallen tree which had obstructed the main road by St Anne's Well Gardens. Beneath the tree was a Brighton and Hove taxi, and the topmost branches were touching the sides of houses and parked cars on the other side of the street. I took this opportunity to photograph the damage and comparative chaos juxtaposed to the straight roads and manicured lawns of St Anne's Well Gardens.
I also found it very interesting to observe the children playing with the "FIRE DO NOT CROSS" tape used to cordon off the area, portraying their innocence and playfulness despite the chainsaws and working men attempting to restore order. The whole scene captivated me because of its stark contrasts and unusual situation in a quiet town like Hove.
The massive winds also inspired me to go to the beach to see the waves and whether the old rusty wreck of the Old Pier had survived the storm. As I arrived at the beach the dark grey clouds had begun to move to the East and a wonderful sunlight came out over the beach illuminating the white froth and giving the wet rocks, concrete groynes and water surface an almost metallic sheen. One of my favourite pictures from this session is the photograph of two people, their shadows and a slightly overexposed silhouette of the old pier in the background. The high amount of light and consequent high contrasts between light and shadow, together with a slightly misted over lens give the image a dreamy cinematic look.
I also found it very interesting to observe the children playing with the "FIRE DO NOT CROSS" tape used to cordon off the area, portraying their innocence and playfulness despite the chainsaws and working men attempting to restore order. The whole scene captivated me because of its stark contrasts and unusual situation in a quiet town like Hove.
The massive winds also inspired me to go to the beach to see the waves and whether the old rusty wreck of the Old Pier had survived the storm. As I arrived at the beach the dark grey clouds had begun to move to the East and a wonderful sunlight came out over the beach illuminating the white froth and giving the wet rocks, concrete groynes and water surface an almost metallic sheen. One of my favourite pictures from this session is the photograph of two people, their shadows and a slightly overexposed silhouette of the old pier in the background. The high amount of light and consequent high contrasts between light and shadow, together with a slightly misted over lens give the image a dreamy cinematic look.