Uploads from Nicholas Gray

Before They Run Off

nobody@flickr.com (Nicholas Gray) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 07:14:45 -0700

Its seems that the gaps between shooting landscapes is getting longer, this is one that I’ve been wanting to take for well over a year, though waiting for a clear night with no moon has pushed my patients as far as it can go.

This features an hours worth of stacked images, each taken with an ISO of 100 at 30 seconds with an aperture of F/2.8. I still think this giant spoon is the most random thing I’ve found in Northumberland (besides my wife) with the scoop being the same sizes as me. It sits in the middle of the field with absolutely no context to explain why.

With Northumberlandia opening in nearby cramlington maybe in thousands of years archaeologists will believe that giants once roamed Northumberland, eating the people huddled in its shadow.

Probably not though, this will be seen as where the dish left their love waiting.

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House On a Hill

nobody@flickr.com (Nicholas Gray) — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 12:46:58 -0800

Nicholas Gray posted a photo:

When walking through the Dene at night I couldn't resist capturing this single light inside Jesmond Dene Cottage.

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Bow Fiddle at Night

nobody@flickr.com (Nicholas Gray) — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 13:59:32 -0800

Nicholas Gray posted a photo:

I uploaded this without saying anything, which is rare because I normally spend an hour trying to sound intellectual. I got married on Monday and on the Tuesday we set off on our honeymoon to the North East of Scotland. We chose Portknockie as we had hoped to see the Northern Lights as well as giving me the chance to take some landscape images.

On our last full night it was looking like I had missed my chance to photograph a clear sky, so I had started on the Rum, I decided to go on give the car a quick clean and was surprised to see that the sky was clear. I quickly got my stuff together to head to Bow Fiddle Rock which was five minutes away.

I really had to push this settings to get this image, and it shows, I pushed the ISO to 3200 to show off the stars and to get a hint of detail from the sea, I then had to reduce the noise in photoshop and increase the sharpness. The final result is this, I can't say I love the image but its still interesting and hopefully one day I'll return and 1up it.

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StarLight Castle

nobody@flickr.com (Nicholas Gray) — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 13:25:42 -0800

Nicholas Gray posted a photo:

Starlight Castle, built in a day and photographed at night. Legend has it that Sir Francis Delaval accepted a bet to build a home for a lady friend in 1750, I don’t know whether he was successful or not as only this wall stands in place, though that is a drawing on Google that shows a completed version. Since I moved to Delaval I have spent a lot of time researching the internet looking for hidden pieces of history to photograph, though when it comes to finding them it takes a lot longer. Starlight Castle is very easy to miss, especially during the summer when the place is completely over grown. I did manage to find it in May, although I’ve had to wait 6 months for the conditions to be right for me to get the image I wanted.

I knew I would have to wait for the plants to fall back for the winter, and I wanted the sky to be clear. With how unpredictable the weather has been lately I’ve been worried about heading out when the sky looked right but last night I decided to finally capture this image. I didn’t realise how tight the space was but I managed to find a spot where I could get the Castle in as well as the night sky, though I would have preferred wider.

I shot with a higher ISO then usual to try get more out of the stars, though this meant that it was very easy for me to over expose the Castle with my flash. The colour balance between the light polluted sky and the flash filled castle was a bitch (that’s a technical term) but after an hour of tinkering with layers I managed to get a comfortable balance between the different temperatures. However there’s just something about the black and white version that works, it becomes more traditional and a documentary image rather than just an interesting shot of an unusual program.

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Christmas Caravan

nobody@flickr.com (Nicholas Gray) — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 12:59:48 -0800

Nicholas Gray posted a photo:

Posting 2 days in a row has become a rarity for me, that goes with the territory of always been so bloody busy and not really having time for nocturnal photography. After photographing “Couple” the other night I continues to walk along the coast and eventually found myself walking around the edge of the Caravan Site near where I captured my Aurora image in January 2012, I kinda thought the trail would lead somewhere but instead it just led to certain death which meant I had to jump a fence into the Caravan Site.

It was quite eerie, I’d rather be skulking around a graveyard then roaming though caravans looking for a way out, I even found this festive set up creepy. Slightly cropped into the image as there was a lot of shadow dominating the bottom half of the image, the rest is actually how it came out of the camera.

ISO 200 – 15 Seconds – F5.6

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Couple

nobody@flickr.com (Nicholas Gray) — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 13:54:52 -0800

Nicholas Gray posted a photo:

I remember hearing about Sean Henry’s” Couple” at Newbiggin By The Sea just before I moved to the North East to begin studying at the University of Sunderland. I don’t know what the local reaction to the piece was but at the time of hearing about it I just didn’t think that it was particularly interesting, seeing it five years later has not change my mind in the slightest. I can’t articulate why I find two people staring out to see boring and uninspiring, it just is.

I don’t know if it’s the F5.6 or the odd stand the figures are on but they look like toys rather than 15ft tall statues. I actually used my telephoto lens to capture this, the overall exposure was 30 seconds to smooth out the sea, though I had to shield the lens from the moon to minimise glare, the position of the moon high above the couple created a silver glow off the sea which I feel made the image look more like a painting then a photograph.

I’ve probably been quite harsh on “Couple” but it did nothing to inspire me, even after a month of not having a chance to do any nocturnal photography. In fact I was more inspired by a 5 foot rock with a hole in the middle.

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nobody@flickr.com (Nicholas Gray) — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 12:25:59 -0800

Nicholas Gray posted a photo:

Northumberlandia is one of those few projects to run ahead of schedule, and you can see this as you explore the North East’s newest landmark as the turf is setting in on one of the hands, there are no bins and I hope that they do something to the paths that trace along the landmark. I’ve visited a few times now during the day since its opening and each time I’ve noticed a little something different, on this visit I discovered the plinth on top of forehead now has a (masculine) hand pointing up.

Despite being quite interested in astronomy I don’t fully understand what the plinths symbolise, I might have a better understanding seeing them under a clear sky however the site is closed at night and on this visit after hours the skies were completely covered. I do like the addition of the pointing hand, it adds a sense of mystery which I couldn’t help photograph.

I could use the ambient light in this situation as the nearby industrial estate spills a lot of light, however I found that using flash to fill in the scene helped create additional atmosphere. I increased the contrast in photoshop and removed a distracting light trail in the sky just too tidy things up.

30 seconds – F5.6 – ISO 400 – Flash 1/8 at F2.8
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55 Degrees North

nobody@flickr.com (Nicholas Gray) — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 10:23:23 -0700

Nicholas Gray posted a photo:

On Sunday the 21st of October me and Dani attended a photoshoot at Mayfield Studio which is based in the heart of Newcastle, the two people I had meant to be photographing had actually cancelled so I spent most of the shoot being a gooseberry and cracking on with Spellbound’s Meg and MUA Josephine Birkett.

he windows within the studio have been the focal point of many shoots here, and it looks a lot more open since they took down part of the 55 Degree North building. I couldn’t resist taking the photograph from this high vantage point, especially with how atmospheric the fog was making the scene, although I wish I had more control of the image instead of leaning out of a window and holding my camera as still as possible The only editing to this image was straightening the whole thing up and uping the contrast to counter the effect of the fog. I did try and dim the blue glow coming from the pub across from the studio but it was painfully obvious that I had tampered with the image.

I might have broken some of Mayfield’s health and safety rules in the process of getting this image but I’m happy with the final outcome and it inspires me to get out more and capture more nocturnal landscapes.

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Cappella

nobody@flickr.com (Nicholas Gray) — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 12:17:56 -0700

Nicholas Gray posted a photo:

It’s been a long time since I’ve uploaded any images to flickr, for the most part it’s because I’ve been so unbelievably, but also because the summer months give you only a few hours a night of complete darkness before the sun starts affecting the light levels.

I recently downloaded Google Earth, I’ve been told by many people that it was very good for finding locations to photograph. Within minutes of installing GE I found this piece of art titled Cappella which is a metallic shroud literally in the middle of nowhere. I don’t know the history behind the piece, but then again there are many pieces that sit within the fields of Northumberland that contain no description of who, what and why.

When I headed out to capture this image the sky was clear so I was hoping to get a faint glow of light pollution in the distance to separate the sky from the trees, but by the time I arrived the cloud had completely taken over and was doing its best to hold onto the light pollution. The reflected light did actually provide enough light to capture Cappella using just the ambient light; however the image was extremely flat. I decided to try and use flash for the first time, within this image I ran to the left of the frame and fired the flash before doing the same behind the statue to separate it from the trees. It took a few attempts but I’m really happy with the outcome, I’ll try using flash more in the future.

ISO 200 – F2.8 – 30 Seconds
Nikon SB-24 – 1/8 power – F5.6

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Northumberlandia

nobody@flickr.com (Nicholas Gray) — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 11:51:34 -0700

Nicholas Gray posted a video:

I decided that I would use the frames captured to create the star trail image I uploaded last week to create a short video. In total there are 112 images that make up the main time lapse section, each one 30 seconds long taken with a 2.8 aperture. The streaking effect at the end of the video features 40 of the images layered on top of each other, I would have done more but it is a very long process and lately I’ve just not had the time.

I used a song by Evenings to go over piece; the song is called “Friend (Lover)” and really captures the setting of the sun and the emergence of the stars.

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This Summer #8

nobody@flickr.com (Nicholas Gray) — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 11:13:12 -0700

Nicholas Gray posted a photo:

In 2010 I was given the opportunity to produce some work to be shown on Billboards in Essen, Germany. I decided to truly appropriate the spaces and use the language of cinema and advertising to create a series of images that looked as if they were promoting a new movie. However I made the decision to keep the images free of text so that people could read into the images however they want.

Since the Ruhr2010 event I have continued to produce images to extend this project, and I decided that every 4 images I create I would upload one to show the progress I am making.

This image features Middlesbrough based model and burlesque performer Mademoiselle Boo, we were both invited to a very interesting location in Sunderland so after some brain storming with Dani I asked Boo if she would be interested in being a part of this project. When we got to the location we discovered a room had been completely burnt out so I opted to shoot there for a true horror atmosphere.

I used one light in this image which was on the extreme left of the frame, we couldn’t resist using the burnt out table, which Boo is actually stood in the middle of. I took too images of the scene so that I could fade Boo out to create the illusion that she is a ghost, although I had to put her face on a separate layer so I could make her face clearer.

Really happy with the outcome of this image and I’m very excited to create more over the coming months.

On a side note I guess the owner of the property claiming I might photograph a ghost was right.

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The Goddess of the North

nobody@flickr.com (Nicholas Gray) — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 12:46:21 -0700

Nicholas Gray posted a photo:

Here’s the star trail image I mentioned in my last upload, which features an hour’s worth of 30 second exposures taken with a 2.8 aperture stacked together. From the vantage point behind the pub just off the A1068 the North Star stands just above the face of Northumberlandia so next time I visit this location I’d definitely put a wider lens in my bag.

Overall this image features 112 photographs layered together, which also means I get an extra 11 seconds for a current video piece about the North East at night.

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Looking to the Heavens

nobody@flickr.com (Nicholas Gray) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 11:31:28 -0700

Nicholas Gray posted a photo:

Since I first heard about Northumberlandia I wanted to visit it during a clear night, I even contacted the organisations involved in its creation to seek permission to create work on their behalf, but sadly their reply was about jobs available at the onsite café. There are a few vantage points in public areas that allow you to see this piece of land art in full splendour; this was taken behind a pub just off the A1068.

For those of you who haven’t heard of Northumberlandia she is a 1.5million tonne land sculpture outside of Cramlington, Northumberland. Overall is is 36 metres high and 400 metres long. She was designed by artist Charles Jenkins and privately funded by The Banks Group. Originally slated to open in 2013 I have heard that it might be open from autumn 2012.

I had started the night by taking an hour’s worth of photographs to create a star trail image, however as I was pointing directly north the final image didn’t have as much streaking as I would have liked. Before I heading back to the Val I captured a few portrait format images in case the original star trail didn’t pan out.

This is one of those images, I’ve rotated the photograph so that the 1.5 million tonne figure appears to be looking out towards the stars, which seems kind of appropriate as she has been dubbed “The Goddess of the North” and could quite possibly be one of the first things any extra-terrestrial visitor might notice.

This is a 10 second exposure with a 2.8 aperture, I opted to shoot with the ISO set to 800 instead of 200 so that I use a short exposure and thus freeze the stars in place. I put the image through photoshop, reduced the noise and increased the colour while adjusting the colour to combat the light pollution.

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nobody@flickr.com (Nicholas Gray) — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 14:07:09 -0700

Nicholas Gray posted a photo:

When I first found out about this obelisk south of Seaton Delaval this was the image I had in mind, though I didn’t think I’d capture so many planes passing by. In February I created an image using 11 photographs taken in the same location to create an image that showed how busy the sky is, I think in total that image portrayed 20 minutes, this one shows 2 hours.

Last night I had the rare opportunity to get the image I had planned, as the moon wasn’t out and the sky was clear. I headed out to the obelisk and passed quite a lot of people on the way, I don’t know what it is but it seems that its getting busier at night, maybe it’s the slight increase in temperature.

Within this image I’ve managed to capture Jupiter (the brightest light), Venus (under Jupiter) and the Seven Sisters that are just coming into the top of the frame. In total this image contains 228 photographs which I stacked together using StarTrails.de; while the image was being rendered I was very surprised/pleased to see that all the planes headed to a single point as they made their approach to Newcastle Airport.

Each individual image is a thirty second exposure with a 2.8 aperture due to the light pollution coming in I set the ISO to 100, which is as low the D300 will go. I probably won’t visit this location again unless I suddenly feel inspired to create a completely different image, but I am very happy with this one.

However I would like to know what that horizontal line is to the left of the obelisk is.

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Civic Centre

nobody@flickr.com (Nicholas Gray) — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 11:13:55 -0700

Nicholas Gray posted a photo:

This image was taken on Wednesday after I finished a talk on Night Photography for Gallery779, sadly I hadn’t intended to take any shots so didn’t have my tripod. Due to being to early for the bus I decided to have a wander to see what was going on, there were a group with fire poi at the Civic Centre, but as I got near they seemed to stop. I decided to head over and photograph the found bit as I knew I could prop my camera on the opposite ledge.

I’m quite happy with the result, a processed the image to counter the harshness of the blue lights they have here, however that put an emphasis on the orange of the light pollution. You can also make out the fire group near the centre of the frame.

My talk on night photography and neighbourhoods seemed to have gone down well, despite the fact that I barely had a voice. I hope I get more opportunities to do talks in the future, or at least attend more of the Gallery779 talks.

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Along the Causeway

nobody@flickr.com (Nicholas Gray) — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 12:40:04 -0800

Nicholas Gray posted a photo:

Like a lot of night photographers and stargazers I jump at the chance to see the Aurora Borealis, even when I’m ill, which Richard Shepard knows all too well. Over the past few days I have been quite ill and have managed to lose my voice so I didn’t make the best travel companion to head up towards Holy Island. I knew that the chances of catching the Aurora was slim due to cloud coverage and moon light, but Shepy is good craic and even if I didn’t see the Aurora again I could still get some nice shots around the island.

After being in Berwick on Saturday to photograph a very fun family I had started to thinking about what I would photograph there if I visited at night. I noticed this raised refuge point, designed for people who poorly time their trip across the causeway, I think it would be quite cool to spend a night here, don’t think many will share that opinion.

Spent quite a lot of time processing the image, trying to get all the different elements right, I dread to think how much time I would have spent in a Darkroom had I shot this on film (I was never that good at “Dodging and Burning” or “Split-Grade Printing”). The moon light and light pollution created some very interesting colour clashes within the sky, I would have liked more water to be about the base of the structure, however I didn’t want to push my luck and end up stranded.

In the end we didn’t see any signs of the Aurora Borealis; maybe the next drive should take us to Scandinavia .

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Global Rainbow

nobody@flickr.com (Nicholas Gray) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 14:22:35 -0800

Nicholas Gray posted a photo:

Global Rainbow by Yvette Mattern being project across the night sky towards Whitley Bay as part of the run up to the 2012 Olympic Games.

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Spoonlit Night

nobody@flickr.com (Nicholas Gray) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 11:45:28 -0800

Nicholas Gray posted a photo:

The more I search around the Delaval area, the more random objects I find to photograph, and this time I’ve found a giant spoon. This visit was to find out where the spoon was, the footpath that leads here is very overgrown and covered in litter, I felt like I was going the wrong way the whole time. 15 minutes after I started on the footpath (which included jumping over some wet stepping stones) I found the spoon.

The dessert spoon is about 10ft tall and has “Eat for England” inscribed onto it, it has fallen into disrepair and is covered in graffiti as well as being chipped in places. I’m not really sure if the piece is meant to represent to a part of Seghill’s history, but if Seghill has a rich history of making desserts I feel as if I am missing out.

I’m sure I’ll be back many times over the next few months trying to find the perfect conditions, and hopefully when I make my way through Seghill I’ll find where they hide their dessert (hopefully they make a great black forest gateau).

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Passing Planes

nobody@flickr.com (Nicholas Gray) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 08:07:24 -0800

Nicholas Gray posted a photo:

When I first noticed it on Google Maps I thought it would be a real pain to get to, but 40 minutes of walking later I found that there was a path that leads right by it. I’ve visited this obelisk a few times over the past month, the first two times I found the usual problem with relying on the BBC forecast, on this visit I found the predictions were correct, apart from it being a lot windier. I was very surprised to find another photographer doing a time lapse piece of this location, it’s not often I meet anyone, luckily neither of us planned on doing anything that would effect each other’s photograph.

My intention was to create a star trail image with the obelisk silhouetted against the stars, however due to the wind my camera got shaken a fair bit, creating quite a terrible image. Dani suggested that I try creating a composite image using the passing planes, so I layered the 11 images together that had planes on. I applied a Lighten blend and then layered a blank image over the top so that I could cancel out all the different positions of the stars.

Its safe to say I’ll be back to this location a few times, next time it’s clear hopefully it won’t be windy so I can do a nice long star trail.

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nobody@flickr.com (Nicholas Gray) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 12:15:16 -0800

Nicholas Gray posted a photo:

I’ve kind of neglected Flickr lately, not really got much of an excuse, I’ve still been busy shoot when I can but I’ve just been sharing on Facebook and Twitter. I have removed quite a lot of stuff from Flickr over the past few month and have been adding them to image library’s, but now I’m update I have nothing to add, so I decided to go out and stock up.

One of the best things about night photography is how interesting the simplest objects become once the sun goes down, and how sinister the most innocent of object become once the street lights come on. Walking around the Val was very productive and allowed me to quickly get a large collection of images to sell through stock libraries.

I opted for shooting portrait format because it’s not something I usually do, because landscapes should be landscape, but also because my main lens carries more weight than my tripod can handle. I stole dani’s kit lens off her D40, which is a lot lighter. I never realised how angry this slide looks, not sure if anyone has noticed, when I showed the kids this they only just realised that the slide is like a tongue.

I don’t really have a deep conclusion for this image; we all know things look differently at night, that’s the attraction of it. We also know that the night holds fear for what might be lurking in the shadows, as the night is a place where innocence is lost.

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