Michael Hilton

This is a non-abstract sunset; the trees give a big clue that it’s in Tuscany. They make a great lead-in to the picture.

I will be one of many people that found this view of the poppies “Wave” visit to the Imperial War Museum Salford.  But that’s no reason not to publish the picture as the location and composition of the poppies cascading from the building is so powerful.

I do like pictures with clouds in, and this local sunset certainly has some spectacular ones!

It’s perhaps the opposite of landscape photography.  Everything’s moving very fast, there’s hardly any light, no time to check camera settings even if you could see them in the dark. It’s mostly down to the skill of the dancers and the ability to quickly take several hundred images to trawl later through and find the few that make worthwhile pictures.

For more pictures from this workshop, some even using daylight (!) see the new Nottingham Workshop dance gallery.

You just can’t beat poppies for a bold splash of colour – sometimes.  This is early in the day with the sun still low and behind the flowers, illuminating the petals; I tried another field of them around midday but the results were just so flat.

Sometimes the landscape takes on an almost abstract quality, helped by the early-morning mists.  I guess this is an example of ‘less is more’?  The 200mm lens helped to find and isolate uncluttered parts of the scene.

A recent post was the bridge at Queensferry.  I’m pleased that this picture has now been accepted for the 156th Edinburgh International Exhibition of Photography.  A very difficult photographic exhibition to be accepted for (I should know – I’ve only had one picture accepted previously).

I stuck with the title ‘The Bridge’ for the competition; calling it the Queensferry Bridge might have confused Edinburgh folks as they have their own Queensferry Bridge, which looks a little like an enlarged version of the new Queensferry Bridge, aka the Flintshire Bridge, over the Dee.

And now at the opposite end of the day, i.e. before sunrise, some more interesting light.

Sometimes it’s even better after sunset.  As long as there’s a bit of light in the skies.  And water helps to reflect the dying light.

The orange sun just managed to shine through below the clouds before sunset to light up the blue tones of the bridge over the River Dee at Queensferry.

Most of the pictures I made here involved standing in the centre road but this viewpoint is from the side, so there was more time to compose it carefully.

The interesting curves of the bridge are I hope enhanced by the camera movement during the exposure. This is the 120 year old Jubilee Bridge, not the more recent Flintshire Bridge.