I’ve not done as much nighttime shooting this past winter, I’m not really sure why. Perhaps a combination of workload and personal stuff has meant I’ve not really been feeling it in the evenings quite so much. In past years, I would go out a couple of times a week in the evenings. This year, judging by my Lightroom catalogue, it seems it’s been more like a few times a month. With late spring and summer rapidly approaching, night-time shoots are going to be a rare thing, so I probably don’t have much time left to get some night shots before it’s just daytime walkabouts in the sun (wishful thinking that we’ll get much sun I guess).
Anyway, Saturday just gone the opportunity came along to head to Margate late afternoon into the evening with Stewart McKeown and Aga McPherson. Sadly, golden hour wasn’t so much golden as…well…very grey. Nonetheless, you make do with what you have to work with, and so we set about trying to make the best of it. I found it a bit of a struggle to be honest. I don’t mind overcast days, but overcast as the light is fading can be quite tricky. Particularly on the beach. A few shots presented themselves, but not the kind of shots I usual go for in truth.
The evening was a little more promising. Although the temperature wasn’t low enough for the classic condensation shots that Margate often as to offer, there were still some possibilities. One place I spent a lot of time at was the Follow the Swirl Ice Cream Shop, which has a striking neon sign in the window. I’ve spotted it before, but struggled to find ways to make use of it in a composition. So I hung around, looking for potential, until I noticed a shop down the road was casting a light and creating silhouettes with passers-by. So I decided to try and use that as a way of making a shot work. Of course, as is always the way, people either passed in groups, or passed the shop in a way that wasn’t interesting (eg their legs weren’t far enough apart as they walked past the window), or just no-one walked past at all for a long time. I was on the verge of giving up and figuring I’ll try again another time, when a couple of passers-by gave me an option that might just work. It wasn’t perfect, but at least it’s a composition to explore further in the future.
There was also The Centre, which I hadn’t really explored before (certainly not at night) and hadn’t recognised as having potential (despite vaguely knowing the area from my time working at Boots in Cliftonville). There were definitely some good options there and I will definitely look to explore it more in future, both in the day and the evening. Even if I didn’t come away with many “bangers”, I at least discovered some new areas to explore on future visits.
At this point we just so happened to randomly bump into Peter Sladen, out celebrating his birthday. We had a good chat and talked a little about where we were on our photography journey…it was Peter that inspired me to visit some parts of the county I’d never visited before when I was shooting landscape scenes, and will always be grateful for that. I do miss getting out and shooting landscapes, particularly woodland scenes, but I really am enjoying street a lot at the moment. Largely because, as I often say to people, you know when you capture a street shot, no-one will capture the same shot. You may get similar types of composition, but a scene will be a scene for an instant and then gone forever. Landscapes you may get different colours in your sunrise/sunset, but it’s difficult to get a composition that no-one else will ever be able to replicate. But then, street has its drawbacks in terms of cliches…but anyway, that’s a big discussion for another blog post one day, perhaps.
Anyway, a few drinks, a disappointing pizza experience later and then we were off home. If you want to really get a feel for the day, do check out Aga’s Reel on Instagram. It really is phenomenal work, even if some of the models don’t quite cut the mustard…