(Sunny) Sutton Bridge at Night

Its been a couple of weeks since my last post and since then i've got  new lens; a Fish Eye.

I've wanted a fish eye for years but, like a lot of things in life, have never treated myself.

Now i've got a new camera I need to get some new glass. The fish eye was an impulse buy that i've finally made and so far it's as cool as I thought it would be.

I had used one before on my old 450D and was amazed at how close to things I had to get to things in order to get things distorted in the stereotypical fish eye way. Now i've had one for a week im now used to getting close.

My fisheye; a Zenitar 16mm, is an old school Russian lens made originally for 35mm film cameras, now im shooting with a full frame camera I can make use of the old beaut. Its a manual aperture, manual focus lens,  for optimum quality I shoot at f/8 and focusing isn't highly critical with such a massive depth of field due to the ultra wide focal length of 16mm.

On to the photos on this post.

I was biking home from work yesterday, Thursday 30/01/14 and passing under the Cross Keys bridge at Sutton Bridge, Lincolnshire I thought it would be a good idea to come back later and make use of the fish eye while the tide was high, not as high as my previous post though http://benchapmanphotos.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/the-night-river-nene-almost-flooded-in.html.

I had my tea, grabbed my coat, camera, tripod and headphones and took a walk to the bridge.

All shots were taken at ISO 100 and F/8.

I love a good starburst on lights. Star bursts can be achieved by using small apertures.

20 Seconds

 

 I don't know what it is but I find myself photographing benches quite often.

War memorial in the background.

 20 Seconds

 

I've been told that there's a ghost haunting the bridge.

20 Seconds

 

The lights under the bridge are really bright, I had to capture the balance of light and darkness.

3.2 Seconds

 

It's been a long time since i've used a phone box.

 13 Seconds

 

I haven't played with light like this since I first got a camera a good 5 years ago. I've been thinking about standing in this spot for a few years now and i've finally done it....yay!

 

Im going to go back for another go at this.

8 Seconds

 

Thanks for looking.

Tune in again.

Ben

An afternoon in Sunny Hunny with Laura, probably the best afternoon ive had in Sunny Hunny since....well i really don't know when!

We decided to go to the beach on Sunday, it was gone dinner time when we jumped in the ol' mk2 and went for a drive to Hunstanton.

I don't know why its called Sunny Hunny other than because it rhymes, you know I only live the other side of the wash from it and I could see it on a clear day if walking on the river bank in Sutton Bridge or if down the Marsh at Gedney Drove End, so its safe to say both places pretty much share similar weather and they don't call this Sunny Sutton Bridge!

Or at least I don't think they do?

Maybe Im going to start a trend here?

As normal ive always got a camera with me just in case there are any opportunities to grab some shots. Im glad I did as there's some I really like from this day.

Here, ill mention ive made another mistake, somehow I managed to change some settings on my 5D and I really don't remember ever playing with it so who knows how that happened. I usually shoot raw, however my camera was set to JPEG!!!!!!!!! OMG!!!!!!!!! WORLD ENDER!!!!

Not really that big a deal but it did annoy me when I found out.

First thing we did was park at Tesco and I am so glad I did because look at this bad boy.....plus I didn't know Lisa lived in Hunstanton

 

We then went for a walk along the beach front, there were quite a few people around at 1pm but the amount soon dropped away as it got colder in the afternoon. We played some Bowlingo in an arcade, which was a laugh considering I don't think much to bowling.



 I don't really know why Laura bowls like this, but as long she's having fun its ok.

 Its me, my beard and thumb.

 I wonder what people say to this?

Must try harder

We then played some games in the arcade which was empty apart from us and the guy who gives you change, I felt like a VIP.

We left the arcade and walked passed a bungalow that looked in real state however the home was still in use....otherwise I would of given myself a guided tour.

 

Beached for winter.

 

We walked along the front again, this time there were a lot less people.

 

 

The afternoon was finished off with a full belly in Cod'licious, great name for a chip shop.

However this made me laugh.

 

Video's 50p, come on it isn't 1987.

 

I love black and white and a nice vignette in the corners.

 

Tune in next time.

 

Remember it's sunny Sutton Bridge





Exploring close to home in Sutton Bridge

This time I didn't even have to get in my car to go exploring.

It was Sunday 5th January 2014 and my nephew Josh was over for the weekend. Id already planned to do something like a spot of urbexing with him before he came over, time was running short so I thought Id explore somewhere a little closer to home. This particular place has been on my radar for years and ive always wondered what was inside, so now I know.

Once we had climbed over a broken fence and ducked through some over grown tree branches we were in via a door that was already open, after all I never purposely damage anywhere I visit, so when the place is open.....well why not take a look.

The place is very dark inside due to all the windows being boarded up and due to me being totally unprepared because I didn't check the batteries on my flash gun I had no flash to use. Im not a massive fan of using tripods, I just don't like being confined to using a handle to move the camera this way and then another handle to move it that way, I much prefer the freedom of shooting handheld with a flash on the hot shoe. Plus on another note I really do need a better torch, im usually stuck with a wind up torch and that's all its good for; winding me up! I have since got another torch but im yet to try it out.

Im going to go back in when ive got some spare time as I would like to look for more interesting things to photograph in there, for instance there were a set of false teeth resting on an oven that made me laugh, though I don't remember Josh seeing the funny side.

On a positive note of having a companion it was good to have someone to talk too and to hold things for me, so if anyone wants to volunteer to be my next apprentice, please send in your application forms asap.

On another note im waiting for a lens to turn up. Without saying what it is, ive wanted one for years and I cant wait to take distorted pictures of everything.

Also ive just got through an adapter to mount old M42 mount lenses onto my 5D, so I can get to use some old and light prime lenses with wide apertures, as some of my lenses weigh a tonne these days.

Thanks for looking.

Ben