I’ve not been out in the evenings quite as much this winter as I have done in previous years. I think it’s that feeling of getting home and just wanting to crash at the end of the week. With all the pressures of work and the emotional baggage of home life, sometimes it feels like the only thing I have energy for is laying on the bed and doom-scrolling on social media. Every now and then, though, self-awareness descends and self-care is prescribed. And so, there have been times when I’ve dragged myself out, not really feeling it, but knowing that the getting out will help with the feeling it.

When it comes to my set-up, I have three prime lenses to accompany my XT-3: the XF33mmF1.4 R LM WR, the XF 18mm f/1.4 R LM WR and the XF 50mm f/2 R WR (this being a fairly recent addition to my kit). I decided early on when I picked up the XT-3 that I was going to stick to prime lenses on the streets. I felt a zoom lens would make me too lazy and, well, you also can’t beat a 1.4 lens. Far and away my favourite lens is the 33mm. Whether it be for night shoots or during the day, it just seems to be the perfect focal length for me. I’ve been using the 50mm quite a lot lately (I put that down to new toy syndrome), and I have enjoyed using it, but the 33 just has the edge (I’ll probably write more about the 50mm in a future blog).

The past weekend I spent a bit of time in Margate and Whistable shooting, looking for low light shots, experimenting with reflections, and looking for abstract shots. The condensation window is, of course, my favourite, but I’m increasingly trying to look for other types of shot. That said, variety isn’t easy in a small town, so I make do with whatever I can find. We can’t all shoot every day on the streets of London, so sometimes you have to settle for making the best of the local streets. Although people may argue the streets of Whitstable aren’t quite as exciting as the streets of Soho, it doesn’t mean there aren’t shots to be had. You can find interesting compositions in any town or city at night. Sure London is vast with every street seemingly presenting an opportunity, but a bit of patience and you can find at least one composition that hits.

Quite often I go out and end up with around 100-200 photos on my SD card, but once I dig into them, there will be less than 4/5 that I’m pleased with. Sometimes I come back with nothing, sometimes with some I’m really pleased with. This last weekend was certainly no different. That said, I did manage to bag one I was really happy with…a shot through a window in Margate, with two figures sitting opposite each other at a table.

I think what I like most about this are the poses of the two individuals. One presumably looking down at a menu, one seemingly deep in thought. It seems to me there is some kind of story here, a feeling in a moment. What is the figure on the right thinking? Has something been said beforehand? Is there some tension? Who knows. The lighting in the background also really helps I think. The blue and the red seem quite a striking combination in the background.

That was definitely my favourite of the shots taken in the evening over the weekend. There were a few others that were ok, but I think this is the strongest of them all. I’ll post the rest below (both Whitstable and Margate), let me know what you think.

After a hot summer and a pretty mild autumn, it came as quite a shock when winter hit last week. Of course, we didn’t get snow in this part of the country, but we did have freezing conditions, fog and some good hard frost across the county. Fortunately for me, this cold snap hit on a week where I had a weekday off work - huzzah! A rarity for the conditions to suit my diary, so of course I grasped the opportunity with both hands.

Between Thursday and Sunday I managed to squeeze in four locations and a couple of evening street photography walks too. All in all, a pretty great week. And it all started, where else, but in Fairfield.

Fairfield

Now, I’ve not been to Fairfield since that epic day earlier in the year that had me giddy as a school child. It’s one of those locations that is easily overdone, and so I like to space out my visits (helped somewhat by the long drive to get there from our neck of the woods). Taking the opportunity of a weekday off, I checked the weather forecast, got excited about the potential for thick frost, packed my camera bag and prepared myself for an epic trip.

After a swift detour to pick up Aga McPherson (the famous girl in a yellow jacket), we headed down to Fairfield, wrapped up warm and eager to capture the wintery scene we had pictured in our minds the night before. And we weren’t disappointed. Sheep roamed the fields, the water was frozen, the grass thick with frost…you couldn’t ask for better conditions (well, I guess you could ask for fog…but then, you know, there’s always something isn’t there?). I tried to get a few different compositions, some worked, some didn’t. But then there’s no point driving all that way only to get the exact same composition as before, right?

Fairfield church with frosty grass either side of a frozen trench of water leading towards the church.

Of course, the photo above isn’t really a new composition, but there are a few in the gallery below. Just in case you doubted me!

Fairfield was great, it was freezing cold (as you’d expect in a relatively remote location this time of year), but it was fantastic. Sheep roamed around the church (which resulted in some very careful tripod placement!), and we were the only two photographers to enjoy the scene as the moon went down, the sun came up and the light caught the frozen grass. All in all, well worth the trip. And a brief nap awaited me on my return home before setting out into Canterbury and onwards to Folkestone for some street photography. Then it was all about planning for the weekend and considering where would be best to make the most of the freezing conditions.

Hothfield Common

On Saturday I had planned to go to Wye. But the roads were all closed, it looked like a horrorshow to get to the top of the Downs, and so I changed my plans and instead headed towards Hothfield Common. It’s only relatively recently I’ve “discovered” Hothfield. I had never been before last year, but there’s something about the place that’s quite captivating. Whether it’s the Highland Cows, the Konik ponies, the heather or just the unusual nature of the landscape, there’s something about it that makes you feel you are not in Kent at all, that you’ve been transported to another place altogether (at least until the dog walkers arrive and you hear the familiar East Kent accent).

Anyway, I’d not yet been in the winter time, and I’d had a few shots in mind if there was ever the opportunity to go in ice cold condtions. And…well, I wasn’t disappointed.

This was pretty much the compostion I had in mind. I’ve been returning to this tree a few times ever since my first trip to Hothfield, and been fascinated by the potential given it was surrounded by ferns and heather. As always, I had hoped for something slightly different. I felt like a bit of fog in the background would have helped simplify the scene, and it would have been nice for none of the branches to overlap with the background (I could get no lower than this) but nonetheless, I was pleased with this shot. I felt like it really captured the conditions that morning. And, fortunately for me, it was a scene that I had pretty much to myself.

Seasalter and Whitstable

Finally, Sunday saw a trip to Seasalter and Whitstable. The conditions once more were epic, with the added bonus of some fog (finally!) thrown into the mix. Although this time the problem was too much the other way…perhaps a little too much fog! Yes, I’m never satisfied. Seasalter was particularly pleasing though. The long grasses were frozen solid, the water in front of the beach huts was a sheet of ice, robins danced in amongst the grasses around me…you couldn’t really ask for more.

Not quite satisfied with my lot, I decided to head down the road to Whitstable and see what was on offer there. I’ve been wanting to capture a foggy view of the harbour for some time, and this seemed a good opportunity. And so it turned out. Thick fog enveloped the harbour. To the extent that, once more, you wished it was just a little less thick. But, again, one could hardly complain. These conditions don’t come along very often and expecting perfection is asking a bit too much. You just have to seize the opportunity and get what you can get.

Harbour obscured by fog with a solitary seagull flying across the centre of the frame.

And so that was a pretty hectic week. Freezing cold, but wonderful epic conditions the likes of which we rarely get the opportunity to shoot. And even now, a week later, it’s not quite done yet. Milder conditions are not forecast to hit for another 24-48hrs, so there might still be some time left to grab some epic wintery conditions before we head into Christmas. Fingers crossed there’s more to come, and maybe some snow at some point…just not around Christmas itself (we’re flying to Spain). If it can just time itself as well as the conditions did this time, I’ll be happy.