Week 7: Gasworks By The Thames & Kennet

Details: Nikon D80, Nikon Nikkor 50mm f/1.8, focal length 52mm, 1/80 second -1/3 EV @ f/7.1, ISO 100

Walking along the Thames at the start of the week as part of an attempt to get more exercise and reduce stress I came to the point where the Kennet becomes its own river. Situated at this point is the Reading Holder Station, where there are several gasometers and a lot of supporting pipework and plant. What struck me about the site was the real mixture of the old and the new, the plant being a strange mixture of Victorian-style heavy engineering and more modern constructs.

The site is exposed and what caught my eye was the amount of rusting superstructure on the site. This shot tries to capture that sense of metal decay in the midst of what is still a working environment, a feeling of the forgotten and the overlooked.

Week 6: Snow, Swans and the Thames

Details: Nikon D80, Tamron 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3, focal length 52mm, 1/120 second @ f/14, ISO 200

The first snow of the year fell on February 8 and I slipped out at lunch time to see what photo opportunities existed down on the Thames, where I was last week with the canoes. As it happened there were a couple of other photographers with the same idea and I would guess we all took many of the same pictures. I wonder what the collective noun for photographers is?

The swans were making use of the grass revealed by folk making snow men and these three obligingly lined up for me. It was the first time I had shot in snow with the Nikon so I added a circular polarising filter to my zoom lens to see if the glare and highlights could be better controlled - and I think it did help. Anyhow, this picture was subject to limited post processing in Bibble Pro, a really good RAW processing tool that I am beginning to get to use properly.

Week 5: Two Views of the Thames

Travelling to and from a client's workplace I tend to drive near to the Thames so this week I thought I would try and capture the magic of the river. However, having taken a few very different shots I could not decide which one best captured my feeling for the river, so I am posting two contrasting views.

Details: Nikon D80, Tamron 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3, focal length 42mm, 30 seconds @ f/16, ISO 200

This first shot was taken from the bank of the Thames at Pangbourne, opposite the Swan pub. Pangbourne is a place I like as the "vibe" feels good any time of the year. I used to have an office in the village and felt it was time to capture something of the feel of the place. Taken at night on the way home from work, I had planned to take a quick shot before meeting some friends and an hour later I was still looking at the view and getting cold!

Details: Nikon D80, Tamron 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3, focal length 125mm, 1/125 second @ f/7.1, ISO 200

The second picture is much closer to my company's HQ just to the East of Reading and on the same campus park as Microsoft and Oracle. There is a watersport centre on the bank of the thames and the pile of canoes on the opposite bank reminded me of my canoeing experiences many years ago. So, feeling nostalgic, I desaturated the image to take it - and me - back a few years.