Craig White Photography

28/09/2022

https://youtu.be/cICkQ_aactI

It's been a while in the making (2 years and 7 months to be exact) but I finally got around to doing a part two for my Waterfall Country video.

Not the video I was expecting to film. After cutting short a trip to North Wales I decided to take a little day trip to South Wales and finally complete part...

07/09/2022

Unfortunately, my trip to Wales lasted for less than 24 hours.

However, in that time I did manage to visit two locations – Ogwen Valley and Penmon Point.

This image is from neither of those locations.

Now, I thought I was just tired form having done lots of driving over the last couple of days but when I viewed my images yesterday evening, I was less than impressed with them. It was obvious that I hadn’t picked up my camera in a while.

This images that I took in the Ogwen Valley were badly composed, overall focusing was poor and I had used the wrong lens.
The images from Penmon Point were better but the composition was still not great.

After a nights sleep I can confirm that my first impressions of my images were indeed correct. Although, I am coming around to a couple of the Penmon Point images.

I may share a few of these images at some point and go over what I think is wrong with them just for a bit of self-reflection.

That being said. It was nice to be out and about again.

So, what am I going to do about my apparent decline in camera skills?

The answer is simple. Go back to somewhere that makes me happy. Don’t go expecting to take any images and certainly don’t think about shooting any video.

Now those of you that have followed me for a while know that my happy place is Chedworth Wood and that is exactly where I went this morning.

Chedworth wood has taken a bit of a beating over the last couple of years. Firstly, there was the woodland management work that was carried out and secondly the storms that hit earlier this year.

It was nice to see that all the tress that had been blown over in the storms have now been cleared and footpath access restore. What was even more noticeable was all the growth that had taken place.

The floor of the wood was covered with grasses, ferns and brambles, younger trees had continued to grow and some of the trees that I have previously shot had leaves - something I was not expecting to see based on previous visits.

It felt like I was visiting a new area of woodland and it was nice to spend an hour or so just wandering around and enjoying the resurgence of life.

I didn’t take many images. Just a few tester shots of a tree that I had shot before because it was quirky but now has developed a bit of character and of course the image that I have posted.

It’s not going to win any prizes and it’s not the most exiting image I have ever taken but it did catch my eye and I did manage to take an image that matched what I was seeing and the way that I was seeing it and that’s what’s important.

It tells me that all is not lost and that I just need to take a little more time, care and effort as I get back into the swing of things.

04/09/2022

Having not picked up a camera for 4+ months I though it was about time I got back out there.

So, this week I’m off to North Wales. There are a few places I want to revisit and a few new places I want to have a look at.

It looks like there’s going to be some rain so hopefully I will get some moody if not dramatic sky’s.

I just hope I can remember how to use my camera!

27/04/2022

My latest video is now live.

After an initial scouting trip to this area of woodland I thought it was about time I re-visited and brought you along. I was hoping that the wild garlic wou...

20/04/2022

This image was taken back in September 2019. The weather that week was the best I can remember for that time of year. It was certainly better than the weather a week later when I visited Scotland. Predictably it rained a lot but that doesn’t stop the scenery from being awesome.
I remember this week well as not only did I get a few nice images it was also the last chance that I and my sister got to go away with my dad.
I have visited this location several times before but as they were always day trips I had not stayed for sunset.
You can find many images of this light house that incorporate the coast, but I wanted to do something a little different. Earlier in the day I had noticed these little canyon-like features leftover from the areas quarry days and thought they might add something different to the image.
I had arrived way before sunset so that I could shoot a video and ended up standing around for quite sometime waiting for the sun to set but it was worth it.
Click on the link below if you would like to watch the video I made.

https://youtu.be/OKEZZtLfWXs

17/04/2022

So, I have just spent at least half an hour composing a post about how I’m not brilliant at taking photos that consist of a scene visible through some sort of frame, say a doorway or window etc.
I explained how I choose my composition but wasn’t overly happy with the outcome but when I come back to the image over a year later, I decide that I can just crop the frame out and enjoy the scene.
I’m in the process of adding the images to my post when I realise that there is a water spot that once seen cannot be unseen.
I opened up lightroom to remove the water spot and noticed that at some point I had been having a play around with the original image. I had cropped it in a bit and then straighten it up a little. Now whilst not brilliant this image, to me at least, has vastly improved.
So, here you have that newly cropped image along with two images with the frame completely cropped out. I have also included the original image, water spot and all.

12/04/2022

Derelict pier
Fort Victoria Country Park
Isle of Wight

Going to keep it short for this image (Hurrah I hear you cry).
I spent a very pleasant hour or so waiting for the sun to set and give me this image. The evening was made even more enjoyable thanks to the interest conversation I could hear coming from a group of friends who were sat not to far from me. I suspect that their consumption of alcohol may have been a contributing fact to this.

10/04/2022

Whilst looking through my images and trying to decide which one I wanted to post today I realised that I had images from one location that would allow me to do a comparison and see how things had changed in a couple of years. Not so much in the terms of the location (which hasn’t changed much) but more in how I have interpreted and shot the scene in front of me.
These images were shot approximately 2 years apart. The first was in September 2019 on a cloudy and frequently wet day and the second was in October 2021 on a sunny day. On both occasions the water level in the river was the same and for the 2021 image I was slightly higher up the side of the river.
In the two years between these images, I did upgrade my equipment. In 2019 I was shooting on a Nikon D500 with a wide-angle sigma lens and in 2021 I was shooting on a Nikon D850 with a wide-angle Nikon lens and I’m sure I used a LEE 10 stop filter.
Before I comment of how I think I have developed in over the last couple of years I do acknowledge that the weather conditions in 2019 were not as good and resulted in a much flatter looking image. Also, due to the rain, I didn’t even think about using my LEE filter.
Now I realise I have written quite a bit already so rather than an in-depth comparison I’m just going to bullet point what I think has improved.
1. Composition – removal of the amount of water at the bottom of the image and the amount of riverbank on the right-hand side of the image.
2. Composition – being higher up on the riverbank giving a better view of the river and revealing more of the landscape between the river and the mountain giving the image more depth.
3. Composition – making sure the image is composed in camera rather than relying on cropping later.
4. Use of a filter to smooth out the water – I could have done this without the filter, but the rest of the image would have been blown out.
5. Aperture size – f22 in 2021 compared to f8 in 2019 giving a sharper image throughout.
6. Waiting for changes in the light – the top of the mountain being lit up makes it stand out a little more.
7. Editing – you can’t really see it between these two images, but I go for a more natural look with my images now a days.
Now despite the improvements I think I have made not only with this image but to my approach to shooting images in general, there is one thing I think I haven’t done with both images and that is give the mountain enough space above it and it just makes the image feel a little cramped at the top. Oh well, I guess I will have to plan another visit.

If you would like to see more of my images and adventures from Scotland, then click on the link below which will take you to my Scotland play list.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EQ644e48ME&list=PLxA9W85z314RwNzZLkKHWJ84JF3zVNuL8

09/04/2022

This image is another example of a time that I went out we the specific intention of shooting one thing and then something better presents itself.
My aim this day was to shoot Bamburgh Castle at sunrise. I got there nice and early to scout out some compositions and I managed to find a couple I really quite liked.
Unfortunately, due to the time of year the sunrise wasn't at it's optimal position (this is a common theme for many of my sunrise expeditions).
So, sunrise happened and I was a little disappointed but the location, calm weather and just being by the sea more than made up for it.
As I was getting ready to pack up and leave I could see the cloud on the horizon starting to light up and I knew I wasn't going anywhere.
For probably the first time since I took up photography I knew this imaged had to be a square. The composition was very straight forward so the only really challenge I faced with this image was timing it so that I caught the light on the light house. And here you have it. Longstone Lighthouse with post sunrise glow.

If you would like to watch the video and see some of the other images I took this day then click on the link below.
https://youtu.be/1pooNmq7epw

09/04/2022

Early one morning late February 2021 I headed to Bradgate Park in Leicestershire. There was little by way of clouds, and I knew my chances of seeing the sun were pretty good.
Previous visits had led me to believe that I would see very few people at that time of the day but to my surprise there were 30+ other early birds there to enjoy the sunrise. There were individuals, couples, families with young children and groups of friends.
Despite the number of people there was an air of calm, peace and expectation. I think that being a year into the pandemic everyone just wanted to be outside and enjoy the moment.
As the sun started to rise a man and his dog came and sat down right in front of my camera. I have to be honest I was annoyed at first but then having reminded myself that they had every right to be there I realised that they actually made my image better, gave it a reason for being and every time I look at it reminds me of how it felt to be there, at that moment with those people experiencing a beautiful start to the day.

07/04/2022

Vale of Pewsey
As seen from Martinsell Hill

For my birthday this year my sister bought me a copy of Photographing Wiltshire. I wanted this book as I was looking for photographic inspiration a little closer to home. Something I was struggling to find with Google maps.
One of the locations was Martinsell Hill and a lone Scots pine that could be found near it's summit. So I got up early one morning hoping that I could get a sunrise shot.
Unfortunately sunrise was not a success. There was quite a bit of cloud in the sky. The time of year meant that the sun wasn't rising in the best location and if I'm honest the tree wasn't doing it for me.
So, after spending a bit of time exploring various compositions for future visits I packed up and head back down the hill to my car.
On my way down I started watching a pair of either Red Kites or Buzzards as they were flying around the hillside. It was then that I noticed the sun breaking through the clouds in the distance creating multiple rays of light.
It was quite a windy day and the clouds were moving quickly across the sky so I was half expecting not to be able to get my camera out fast enough to capture the scene. But I gave it a go anyway.
My luck held. In fact I was treated to over 20 minutes of sun rays playing across the countryside.
This is my favorite of the many shots I took that day and it is a reminder to myself that I shouldn't expect to go out and get the shot you want and that you should always be open to new opportunities.