Always look both ways when taking photos

I was taking photos of the Forth road bridge and didn’t take make notice of the Forth rail bridge. It’s been taken to death BUT when I turned around I got this image.

I loaded it up on Viewbug and got into that month’s featured photos.
My best results so far on a single image. 50 peer awards and 120 likes as well as having 6 Photo Trifecta awards.

The actual image I was there for that night was this one.
I took a walk on top of the road brigde to see the sunset and new bridge.

Thanks for the visit.
Jacques le Roux

North Queensferry revisit

Doesn’t matter how many times you visit the same site you are surprised by the different results you get.

Jacques le Roux

From planning to execution and then …

You see a great photo and you think to yourself: I would like to visit this spot and get my own photo of the view.

St.Monans in Scotland is one of these places. It has a beautiful harbour wall jutting out towards open water. Best time to visit is during bad weather when water will splash over the wall and create a great effect. I have been planning a visit for a long time and used the Blood Moon at the end of September as my recce.

You can plan every detail of your visit months in advance. Using satellite photos and Google street view you can look at the place from every angles and decide on places to get good photos from. You can use The Photographer’s Ephemeris to see where the sun with set and where the moon will come up. You can use Time and Date to see the moon direction and height it should reach. With the Leith tide times you can plan to get the date to align with either low or high tide. You can use the MetOffice and multiple other weather website to try and keep a eye on the weather to not waste your time closer to the date as you normal have a 3 days window with moon cycles.

BUT you can do nothing when a curve ball hits you. The Forth road bridge being closed came at the worse possible time. I ended up taking a detour which took a 1h45min drive to 3 hours and we ended up arriving late thanks to the SatNav and the detour. Sunset was at 1530, we arrived at 1600. We walked to the spot and it was pouring with rain, not light misty rain but torrential rain and wind. The heavens opened up and soaked us through all our layers in minutes. After every photo we have to wipe the lenses (I used 2 cameras) before taking another one. My one cameras on a light tripod got blown over by the wind and after 5 minutes we called it. Went and stood under a roof and eventually gave up and walked to the car. Of course our bad luck wasn’t done just yet as the car wouldn’t unlock, water must have gotten into the key. A bit of blowing and rubbing the the key dry we got in. Soaked photographer, soaked bags and soaked equipment. We sat and decided what to do next and decided on Fish and Chips supper. As we drove away it stopped raining and as the sunset and the blue hour was gone so we kept driving.The stars came out and it stayed out for the 3 hours drive home and we cursed our luck all the way home.

Why do we do this hobby called photography you have to ask yourself? My answer is: If there is a slight possibility to get that 1 photo that’s a keeper then driving for 7 hours, getting soaked to the skin and have a long planned trip fail; it’s always worth it!

Below are the only 2 photos that was usable, they all had water drops on them but with some Photoshop work 2 photos became one and 3 photos became 1.

Jacques le Roux …

Taking a walk under the blue moon

Beginning of August there was a blue moon and I thought I might as well try and capture it. I planned a walk down the Forth to take a few photos at sunset of the Forth bridges.

I walked a good distance and came to a point I could see Crammond island and it’s WW2 submarine defenses in the near distance. While I was taking the photos of the ship moored I looked around to see a huge moon rising. Almost totally missed as I expected it to rise 2 hours later. The size of the moon as it rises is by far the best due to the atmosphere and the way light plays tricks on our eyes.

To be honest the moon photos are nothing to write home about but it did give me a glimpse into the possibility of better photos in the future. As long as I plan it better of course.

I found 2 indispensable website for sunrise/moonrise photos.
http://suncalc.net = sunrises and sunsets
http://www.timeanddate.com = moon rise and moon phases

Here’s some of the photos I took as I was walking up and down the Forth.

I visited North Queensferry for a last attempt to get a nice moon lit photo. I think this one made it worth while.

Photographs by Jacques …

Forth bridges at sundown

Another visit to the remarkable Forth and the bridges crossing it.

Joined the photography club in the outing and as usual found it to be a fun and rewarding experience. Found a area I’m lacking experience and will have to work on.

I prefer the black&white image over the colour one

One of the club members played as a model for this shot.

A bit of steel wool play at the end to top the night off.

Photographs by Jacques …

Crammond island at sunset

Visited Crammond island with it’s WW2 submarine defense. This small island is situated in the Forth just outside Edinburgh.

Photographs by Jacques …

Playing with fire

I have joined a photography club after meeting a member by chance while taking photos of the eclipse earlier this year. It’s been a very interesting experience so far and I would recommend it.

The club I have joined does 1 meeting a month as a sit down and the rest you are out taking photos and learning in the process. Best way to do it in my opinion and it’s so nice to be able to talk about photography with people that share the same interest.

So go out there and see what’s available in your area. Here’s one thing we tried at our 2nd meet up.

Photographs by Jacques …

Sunsets in Cape Town

I spent two weeks over October and November in Cape Town, I forgot how beautiful the sunsets are.

The first sunset was taken in Paarl about 60km/40miles from Cape Town. I was chasing the sun from one side of the valley to the other to capture these images.

It started like this.

And before I knew it was in the car trying to get a better angle of the mountain range and chasing the sun. I started with the North side of the valley.

Then moved over to the south side where I captured the Afrikaans language monument.

Then drove up the mountain and captured Table Mountain from a distance.

My last night in Cape Town and this is the sunset I was gifted. I haven’t seen this for a few years and reminded me how much I miss Cape Town.

Photographs by Jacques …