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ANDSCAPEPHOTOGRAPHYIS ABROAD
church,andforme it encompassesurbanscenes
as well as the countryside. When I first got into
landscape photography I had not yet learned
to drive and I was limited to the cityscapes of
Birmingham. Although this was frustrating at first,
this period of geographical limitation evolved into some of the
most fruitful and exciting creative periods of my life. The work
that I created of Birmingham became my calling card and
resonated with people who felt
that the city’s skyline had been
much-maligned for too long. It also
gave me opportunity to apply the
te chniques I might adopt in a rural
setting to images of architecture.
In those first few years of
capturing urban landscape shots
I was obsessed with the colour
and drama that sunrise or sunsetcouldbringto an image,and
I was often guilty of leaning ontheSaturationslidera little
too hard for my current taste. Unfortunately,I quicklybecame
somewhat pigeon-holed as a ‘Birmingham photographer’ and
I’ve always been uncomfortable with labels. In the few years
after my unexpected success I distanced myself from capturing
the same Birmingham cityscapes, concentrating on travelling
to more pastoral parts of the country and diversifying my
portfolio. However, I never fell out of love with the place that
had offered me so many opportunities, I just needed to find a
different approach to capturing the architecture and ambiance,
to find a new sense of creativity and the excitement I once felt.
This involved moving away from shooting during the golden
hour and exploring other times of the day, especially the blue
hour, when the city descends into the evening. Much like
photographingduringgoldenhour,there’s a limited window of
timewhenciviltwilightprovidesoptimalshooting conditions
until night falls and the scene loses some of its magic. It’s the
perfect time for long exposures and, in urban environments,
there are always opportunities for light trails to add interest.
Another bonus of shooting during the evening is that success
isn’t dependent on the weather. In capturing the relationship
between the absence of daylight and the abundance of artificial
light, cloudy skies can often be welcome.
When capturing architecture,
I’m drawn to a fine art approach,
employing a long exposure technique
to give interest to the sky. These
shoots take patience, often involving
waiting for several minutes for an
image to be captured then processed
by the camera. However, the results
can be satisfying, especially when
convertedto monoandedited to bring out the features of the
architecture.It’sthekindof creative endeavour that places
mefirmlyon a learningcurve, and that’s when I’m happiest.
It would have been easy to continue to shoot the same
material, but it made much more sense to step away from
cityscapes for a short while until I found a different angle to
explore. Returning to the streets of Birmingham with renewed
creativity has allowed me to ‘see’ the city through fresh eyes,
which has had a positive impact on the quality of my shots.
I STEPPED AWAY FROM
CITYSCAPES FOR A
WHILE UNTIL I FOUND
A DIFFERENT ANGLE
VERITY MILLIGAN
ADVENTURES OF A LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHER RETURN TO THE CITY
Verity Milligan is an award-winning landscape, architectural
and commercial photographer based in Birmingham. She
runs workshops and her clients include American Express,
Yorkshire Tea & Visit Britain. veritymilliganphotography.com
