Sunday 14 October 2012

More lights in the north Norfolk sky

So another week and another display of the Northern Lights in Norfolk!  Well OK they are not that frequent but twice now within a few months is still pretty impressive this far south.

Just like last time I think it is only right if I say that I couldn't see a great deal in the sky with my naked eyes.  Although you could see a faint  glow and the odd vertical shaft of light it wasn't all that impressive, unfortunately.  However over a 3-4 minute exposure it was possible to see the green glow on the horizon and in some of the shots some reds and pinks.

One day we might just get a proper display, hopefully I manage to see and if I am lucky get a few photos too!

Ordering Prints
I have had a number of enquiries about these photos since taking them including a few about purchasing them.  As soon as I have done a few test prints I will put up a link where folk can purchase prints directly.  Although I took them on quite low iso the long exposures meant there was quite a bit of noise in them and I don't want to sell any prints until I am sure they look OK on paper!  If you are interested then please drop me an email and I can send you the link when it is up.

In this first shot you can see a very obvious green 'blob', this was visible with the naked eye.

This shot was taken at Cley Windmill.  Luckily a shooting star happened to go down right in the middle of the Aurora glow during the exposure.  The white streak of light under the shooting star is one of the service boats heading to the Sheringham Shoal windfarm, which are the red lights on the east of the horizon.  I also like how the plough is in prime position for this shot and although it has one of the weaker glows in all the photos I still like it.  It was picked up by ITV Anglia too who ran in during the weather bulletin during the week!

Another shot from from Cley Windmill, this time without the shooting star but with a stronger Aurora Glow.

The rest of the shots I took at Cley Beach.  Unfortunately the moon as out at this point which somewhat lessened the darkness of the sky and the effect of the aurora.  All the same you can clearly see a red glow in this photo.

Here you can just about make out vertical shafts of red light and the green glow on the horizon.  This was quite a long exposure, about 4 minutes, as can be seen by the length of the star trails and the distance travlled by the boat on the horizon.

This one has probably the strongest glow but again what a very long exposure.  It helps have a few clouds in the sky as it shows up the differences in the sky colour much more I think.  For the first 30-60 seconds or so of these photos on the beach I used a torch to illuminate the boat in the foreground.




Tuesday 2 October 2012

Sneek Peek - Jo and Leonie - Cley Mill, Norfolk

I have been really busy the past few weeks with pre-wedding shoots and weddings and not been blogging as much as I should.  So to start making up for lost time here is a sneek peek from Jo and Leonie's civil partnership which I was delighted to photograph at the weekend.  

Cley Mill is without doubt one of the most unique wedding venues in the country let alone Norfolk and being right on my doorstep there is no having to leave hours early in case I get stuck in traffic.  The views from the mill across the marshes are spectacular and I just love shooting there  

Their ceremony was very special and a few tears were shed around the room as Jo and Leonie exchanged their vows. It is times like these that I am reminded how lucky I am to not only witness but be charged with recording one of the most important and special days in peoples lives.

Outside the late September sun was blazing but the wind was also blowing like only it can in Norfolk!  So being too windy for a trip to the beach we instead went for a walk through Cley village.  As is usual on a Saturday afternoon the high street was very busy with traffic and so Jo and Leonie were very brave to trust me with their lives!  We carried out a whistle stop tour of the very pretty locations in the village and despite the cold both Jo and Leonie never once complained.  In fact they were more worried about the update from Carrow Road where Norwich were losing to Liverpool!

So here is a sneek peek whilst I knuckle down with editing the rest of their photos.