subscribe 0330 333 1113 I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I 7 September 2019 17
ALL PICTURES © DAVE FIELDHOUSE
I
t’s the fourth Friday of June,
mid-afternoon, and I’m standing
on Platform 2 of Lichfield Trent
Valley railway station with the
first of what I know will be my many
cups of coffee over the next 24 hours.
I am grateful to see that for once the
train has included extra carriages with
plenty of spare seats, allowing me to
preserve my energy for what lies ahead.
This time of year – when the sun is at
its highest position in the sky and the
hours of sunrise and sunset are as far
apart as they get – is not the highlight
of most landscape photographers’
diaries. The weekend closest to the
Summer Solstice is the pinnacle of this
awkwardness, but ironically I have grown
to relish it. Rather than heading up a hill
or fell, I turn my attention to the bright
city lights to make the most of this
otherwise tricky time of the year.
I’m heading to the bright lights of
London for a day-night-day shoot. That’s
right! Shooting right through the night
and I’ll be heading back home sometime
tomorrow with sore feet and hopefully
a memory card full of very varied images.
I undertook the same exhausting and
creative challenge last year and am
hoping to get some great results to
add to my collection.Getting ready
The nearly 90-minute-long train journey
to London’s Euston station gives me ample
time to go through some final planning.
I can check up on the most up-to-date
weather forecasts, look out for any
disruption or scheduled maintenance on
the Underground, and see if any special
events or marches are taking place.
I try to break the time ahead into
manageable segments. Thinking of it as
a whole would be almost impossible, so
it’s two lots of daylight, golden and blue
hours, and four hours of night-time/
darkness. Effectively, it’s seven shoots
in a day, which sounds much more1.50am
Battersea Power
Station in London in
the middle of the night
Fujifilm X-T2 with 16-55mm lens,
0.6sec at f/8, ISO 500- 50am
The joy of cake!
A young girl stands
outside a delicious-
looking cake shop
Fujifilm X-Pro2 with 35mm lens,
1/420sec at f/6.4, ISO 200
A tired man travels up the
escalator with his head hung
Fujifilm X-Pro2 with 35mm lens, 1/50sec at f/4, ISO 1000Making use of the shadows
and shapes on the street
Fujifilm X-Pro2 with 35mm lens, 1/420sec at f/6.4, ISO 20011.30pm 9. 55am