D1842

D1842, a photo by [Nocturne] on Flickr.

Another shot from the permission shoot I organised for me and my buddies. Seen as it was a train place I did actually shoot many trains, there was a lot of interesting stuff in there that i've not shot before, where as I've shot trains a fair bit. I've not shot one of these in a while so I jumpd at the chance. Most of the trains were quite cramed together on the track so this is the best angle I could get, which does work quite well. I used a blue gel to light paint the cab, as it contrasted with the yellow and black exterior and also would have contrasted with how orange the sky came out.

www.noctography.co.uk

www.lightpaintingphotography.co.uk

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To The Trains!

To The Trains!, a photo by [Nocturne] on Flickr.

Found this quite interesting, an old british red phonebox quite obscurly placed next to a sign saying "To The Trains" It was quite easy to light paint, I just had to adjust my composition a few times to not get my flash head in. What does annoy me is the white light reflecting off the front about half way down, it was one of the spot lights across the yard and it showed up no matter what angle I shot from. I still think the images as a whole works quite nicely, the Orange sky sort of looks alright because it is such a contrast from the other colours in the shot, I also got a bit of Phil's light painting in the bus in the background. Shame it was cloudy because it was full moon, did get some alright cloud trails though. Unedited as always.

www.noctography.co.uk

Crewe Station A

Crewe Station A, a photo by [Nocturne] on Flickr.

I managed to get permission for me and my good buddies to go and photograph some trains and busses. Was a really greay place with lots to do. Thanks to Glynne for letting us shoot there and stay out with us until 3am.

I've always liked this signal box and remember my uncle taking me up there as a child and showing me how the levers worked. (He used to work here)

The clouds look so awesome on this, but I actuall came up with the idea because Phil was shooting on my left and when he flashed it created those nice shadows coming through the fence and all on the trees, so thanks to Phil for lighting that side, then I did a bit of painting at the right and flashed a few times at the front.

So thanks to Phil, Fran, Andy and Rhys for coming out and having a laugh, it's not often I get to relax while shooting and chil with mates and have a laugh in the process, it's usually quite serious and sometimes boring, much better with mates.

www.noctography.co.uk

Let there be light!

Let there be light!, a photo by [Nocturne] on Flickr.

I bet that most of the UFO/alien sightings can be put down to light painting. In this instance you would see some sucker on the news saying "I was driving down the road then this giant green portal to another dimention opened up swirling around, as I got closer It just dissapeared" Yeah this was two guys lighting painting in the middle of the road, then ran out the way before you ran them over. haha

I'm not really in to orbs mainly because I really suck at them, I'd rather not do any than make bad ones. It would be like Pablo Picasso going from being a painter to being a professional christmas present wrapper. If you are good at something stick at it, all I can say. Orbs are either something you are good at or you suck at, and I suck at them! Luckily Fran is awesome at them, on this night Fran tried his first orbs and the first one came out near perfect, and this one must have been like his tenth one and is still pretty damn good. In good spirit as usual when something happens a lot if I do it I will try to step up my game to be impressive and not just blend in to everything else.

I'll be a keeping a bit of the work I am doing recently a bit hush for about a month but it will come out and be worth the wait.

This picture came about by me and Fran being stood around talking, and I believe I said something along the lines of "Hey when we get back to the car you should stand do an orb in the middle of the road" he then replied with it being a good idea, so when we go back to the car, we set up our cameras at the side of the road and Fran makes an orb in the middle of the road, it looked nice but didn't quite have the edge we we're after. I then said "lets move our cameras in to the middle of the road looking right down it, and do the orb between the two signs" again Fran agreed this was a good idea, and we would help each other out incase a car would happen to come. So I think I went first and set up my camera and stood with it while Fran did his orb. Then Frans turn came, and we set his camera up, then again crazy ideas were flowing so I said I would lay face down in the middle of the road while Fran did an orb behind me, and thank god a car didn't come because we would both be a bit buggered.

This isn't the first time I have taken a highly calcuated risk for a photo, and will not be the last.
Either one of two things can happen when you take such a risk for a photo, it will either look rubbish and you will get a lot of stick, or it will look amazing and you will get a lot of credit and respect.

www.noctography.co.uk

Would you walk with me alone into the night

Would you walk with me alone into the night, a photo by [Nocturne] on Flickr.

I have been getting in touch with my roots a lot recently, which is one of the reasons why I visited this place. This is a place where I spent a lot of my childhood playing, and where my Grandpa spent a lot of his life, playing cricket, enjoying the scenary and taking some photos and videos.

I don't really know what to call this, Recreative Memories Photography?

I don't really beleive in ghosts or spirts or anything like that but if they existed, and I was discussing this with my mum ealier then my Grandpa would be stood right behind me with a camera.

The image itself (Me, the score hut and the star trail) Is pretty unedited, just converted it on black and white in photoshop. Then got an old image I have of my Grandpa, scanned it in, and blended it together in photoshop. I'm not usually in to photoshop but i've only made this for my own enjoyment and happiness.

The title comes from one of my favourite songs from my favourite band. The songs name is Sunny Moon by The Cat Empire.

I climb the ladder of those black and white keys
They take me out and into places some are real some are imaginary
And though she sways between a mystery and light
She walks with me, she walks with me alone into the night

Tonight I see the sunny moon is rising again
Three seasons passed since you were here then disappeared a friend
Yet now exploded from its dream back in that place oh how it beams
And I see that you were glowing in the shadows
And you've been here all along
Ah you never left my side and now I feel my arms grow
Stronger

You may forget the details and you can forget the dates but never
Forget the moment when the light revealed her face
To be poor by lack of money but by god be rich in prize
I found my youths desire dark within her eyes
And the tent kept breathing something and then she cried -
'Hold on we're going somewhere else tonight'
We're going somewhere else tonight baby yeh!

And my friends they are the heroes of the loneliness that's life
And though everyone has a weakness only some they are defiant
While most of us can see only a few have the gift of sight
Would you walk with me
Would you walk with me alone into the night
The sun is set...

www.noctography.co.uk

Amateur Photographer of the year 2011

Amateur Photographer of the year 2011, a photo by [Nocturne] on Flickr.

It wasn't until a month or two after that I found out I was in the top 50 finalists for round 1 of APOY 2011. Was quite impressed and wanted to see it, so I got on to the back issues team at the mag and had a copy sent over, pretty good seen as it's a terrible picture, it was meant to be portrait with a big north star trail but it clouded over after I did the lighting and had to cut it short, I was left with a ton of negative space and it looked rubbish so I cropped it in to a landscape which Is still good quallity when you shoot on a 5dmkii. Doing this made the image incredibly flat but was the only image I had taken this year that was elible for that round so I put it in and did alright. :)

www.noctography.co.uk

Goodnight Old Friend

Goodnight Old Friend, a photo by [Nocturne] on Flickr.

Another picture from the last time I went to my favourite plane graveyard to say good bye to my old friend the shackleton.

All the planes at this graveyard have been scrapped off now, apart from the shackleton, a whirlwind raf rescue helecopter, a sea prince, and some other plane I can't figure what it is. Is this was for sale, I would get me and all my buddies to buy it and transport it closer to home, haha, dream on! If I won the lottery, which would never happen! I would buy all of the abandoned planes around the country, buy a house with a ot of land and dump them all outside my house so me and my light painting mates can shoot them all the time.

Converted to B&W

R.I.P The Shackleton

On The Tracks

On The Tracks, a photo by [Nocturne] on Flickr.

This is the most dangerous picture i have ever taken, I risked my life to get it. I climbed down the side of a bridge in the middle of the countryside, I set up my camera about 2/3 ft away from the track and started doing my light painting and star trail. I did not know a train would be along soon let alone 4. after I had risked my life light painting the inside and outside of the tunnel I sat back on the hill clutching my tripod as trains roared past extremely fast, was quite scary and I do not fancy doing it again. So its a good job it came out good. Enjoy

www.noctography.co.uk

The Green Mile

The Green Mile, a photo by [Nocturne] on Flickr.

Me and Phil took a trip up Solomon's Temple along with other places, Just a bit of fun with lighting on the stairs while Phil got a nice star trail.

Unedited

www.noctography.co.uk

The Story Corner

The Story Corner, a photo by [Nocturne] on Flickr.

All of these place I shoot all have a story to go with them, the story of this place sees some what as a suicide house, but obviously it would not have always been such a negative place.

Everyone who has every shot at this house always comes to this corner, low angle with a wide angle lens, we now call it the universal angle. This house has so much more to offer but this is such a pleasing angle, which after shooting here for 5 years I have seen the decay happen before my very eyes, when I first shot here this wall was right up at the roof, now it is near the floor, this place won't last another 10 years, which means I'll have to find another house to shoot at locally.

I didn't even light this as I much preferred it this way, there was a full moon with a nice amount of clouds, so I went for a short exposure with no lighting, it has worked out well, some may say it could have done with some lighting inside, but I feel the darkness we can see in the hole still holds that mysterious what lies beyond sort of feeling, which in today's society doesn't happen to much any more, everyone is so de-sensitized to everything now things are almost predictable if not boring.

The title is simple, It is not a story corner, I've never told or heard stories here, apart from the fact when me and my buddies are shooting we just stand exchanging stories. As a child I never was in to books at all, to be honest I've never actually read a whole book in my life, but my son is now at that age where stories are very interesting and imagination is the key to life, I often read him stories of many contexts which I guess has ignited something in my life that I have never really done before. In these stories everything is quite rhyming and has some form of moral at the end of it. I don't really remember any specific stories from when I was a child so I found a nice poem online about an abandoned house and I feel it quite fitting so I have included it below.

Who built it, who owned it, who grew up inside?
Who painted and fixed it, and lived there with pride?

The place now deserted just left to fall down.
Except for the wind chime there’s nary a sound.

A great many stories this old house might tell,
With its squeaking wood stairs and musty old smell.

If the walls could converse somehow with the ceiling,
And we might interrupt with words what they’re feeling,

Whose secrets are buried and gossip lay hidden.
With thoughts left unsaid and others forbidden.

What joy and deep sorrow has transpired within?
Where a life was completed before it begin.

Where children grew up leaving only their dreams,
To this house they abandoned with its wide-open beams.

Now tattered and aged with its rooms left undressed,
As they stripped all the carpet that it once possessed.

The bricks have collapsed from a chimney so high,
They’ve toppled to rubble barely reaching the thigh.

This house will be gone in its place you may find,
A big shopping mall with its stores all combined.

Remember with time if your memory should fail,
The "home" that once stood here, was never for sale.

A really nice poem.

I will be doing a very interesting photo here quite soon which I hope will not be seen as distasteful.

www.noctography.co.uk

R.I.P - Mike Trevor (1938 - 2008)

R.I.P - Mike Trevor (1938 - 2008), a photo by [Nocturne] on Flickr.

Quite a sad story really, but also very touching and respectable. Mike has always owned the Cricket Club for as far back as I can remember, my Nan and Grandpa used to come here, My Grandpa used to play cricket on this field. Me and my Wife even had our wedding reception here. I did much prefer the old style score board rather than this digital one but it has progressed with technology I guess. When Mike died, they made a lovely picket fence, and cut out little cricket bats and wickets for the fence, you may be able to see this if you look closely. The nicest thing though, although a bit weird, Mike is actually buried here for all time to watch over the pub he owned and loved, watching cricket matches for all eternity, at the bottom of the frame, under those stones and where the flowers lie. A beautiful memorial to a good man, my Nan actually went to his funeral here. There is also a lovely picture and a poem on the wall, which will not be visible from here. How many people can be buried somewhere they love and spent their life rather than at a cemetery where over time they will be forgotten. This way you can be apart of your life as it was and be near all those who loved you.

www.noctography.co.uk

Lockup = Facedown!

Lockup = Facedown!, a photo by [Nocturne] on Flickr.

I've seen a few of these knocking around and I personally find them absolutly hilarious. So I would like to thank my inspirations for this. Trevor Williams, and Andrew Whyte, you have both made my day several times with your hilarious face downs and inspired me to do one myself with my own spin.

I have now been skateboarding for well over 10 years and have spent many happy occasion on this ramp, and a few unhappy ones where injuries have forced me to hobble back to my car and drove home some what battered and bruised.

Locking up is where you do a trick on a ramp and you board catches on the copin (the top bit) your board then stays there and you fall literally flat on your face!

When you fall over so hard you have 2 choices, get up as quickly as possible and walk it off, or lay there for an indefinate period of time until you feel good enough to join the rest of the world vertically again. This is to show the second choice of laying there face down in the ramp, the stars show the amount of time passing while this is occouring.

Hope everyone likes it!

www.noctography.co.uk

El Wire Tutorial

El Wire Tutorial, a photo by [Nocturne] on Flickr.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VIJHVj3vto

I've been busy again, making video tutorials and trying some what to impart some wizdom on to others.

Theres a link at the top to my youtube video tutorial on how to use El Wire. I stacked the image due to the mass amount of street lights right next to the tree.

Anyone who views this large, don't tell me it's out of focus because it's not, the tree is so unstable because it's been dead and rotton for the past 2 years it actually shakes and wobbles in the wind, making it quite hard to get any exposure on.

Other than that. Enjoy

www.noctography.co.uk

Loo With A View

Loo With A View, a photo by [Nocturne] on Flickr.

Me, My Wife and Son often come for picnics in this field, after the last one we went for a walk around the field and I found this on the edge. So a day or two later me and Fran came down and trailed it.

Lit with my Maglite, 30 min Trail.