The story of how I rediscovered my love for photography (and some light trails)

Kit:-
Sony SLT-A35 | Sigma 12-24 f/4.5-5.6 EX DG | Sony 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 SAM | Sigma 85mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM | iPhone 8 Plus | Mac OS X & The GIMP // etc

After a couple of years on hiatus, I got back into photography recently and the bug came back with a vengeance. I resumed using all of my "old" kit, which consisted of the above minus the Sigma 12-24 lens which I acquired a few months back. I nearly sold it all several times - going as far as having it listed on Ebay, but I just couldn't let it go, particularly that gorgeous Sigma 85mm. Something always stopped me from going through with the sale, and I think it's because deep down I know I can enjoy the hobby and produce good results. Having owned several Canon bodies (digital and film) and other older film cameras I don't think I've ever liked the photos they produced as much as I do with my current Sony body (Ektar 100 does come close!). There's just something about the IQ and the way it renders the image that I really like. My re-entry into the hobby recently saw me purchase a proper camera bag, a decent tripod and some useful accessories. This revival of the hobby has been so enjoyable for me and I have probably never enjoyed photography as much as I do now. I have found that looking after the simple things lets the more complicated things take care of themselves, making it more fulfilling as a whole. My editing capability was also massively helped by the fact that last summer I treated myself to a gorgeous 27" iMac, after using a trusty MacBook Air as my daily for two years prior.

Earlier this month I ended up chancing my arm by signing up to a stock photo website and submitting some of my best images for QC evaluation. My line of thought was I take photos of random things for fun, so why not see if I can make a bit of an earning on the side? I followed all the QC rules of the site in question, including not doing things I normally would without thinking, like sharpening my images. Still, I fully expected them to turn around and reject my images on the basis they were too soft, of bad exposure or just generally unsuitable for sale. I am heavily critical of what I do but I am also aware that I use beginner's kit with essentially lower tier lenses (although the Sigma 85mm punches well above its weight). On the contrary, my images were accepted without fuss and I was now in the "stock photo club". I imagine it'll be a long time before it bears any fruit, if it even does at all, but as I am not treating it like "work" anything I get out of it will be a bonus.

Photography to me isn't simply about capturing a memory or freezing a moment in time. It is an art form. A way of taking what exists, snapshotting it and making it really stand out. Our time on this earth is short and while our time here is transient our legacy does not have to be. Photography is one of the ways we can realise that and live on through the eyes of others, allowing us to transcend the simple and humble lives we have. A particular subject that I have really come to enjoy shooting recently really illustrates photography as an art form, and that is using long exposure at night to capture trails of light. This is something our eyes can never see, but through the wonders of technology we can create it.

We begin with a photograph I took in early 2017 showing a busy M6 motorway in Cumbria, England, with a services stop in the background. The dull green light to the left is actually a very old mercury vapour lamp that has miraculously escaped the clutches of modernisation. This is the beginning of a period between then and just recently when my camera went virtually unused for two years.

This one brings us almost back to the present day, taken only a few weeks ago in late January, not far from where I live. On the right hand side, the orange trail of strobing lights was a road gritter, and seconds after closing the shutter I got blasted with the grit it was spreading. As you can probably tell from the fog, this was a bitterly cold night during a period of cold weather that felt like it was never going to end. I was stood in a traffic island/pedestrian refuge to take this.

This was taken two weeks ago in North Wales, the A55 North Wales Expressway to be exact. This is looking west towards Llandudno during the evening blue hour.

This is taken from exactly the same place "Rainbow Bridge" looking east, towards Rhyl and Prestatyn. On the far left, twinkling away on the horizon, are the distant lights of Liverpool. This is the same place that I photographed the "Dolosse" I have shown in a previous post: https://steemit.com/photography/@trencheel303/dolosse-at-old-colwyn-llanddulas-wales

I was a fair distance away from home and since I had the weekend to myself I decided to stay in Aberystwyth for the night. That meant driving through Snowdonia (some of which was snow covered). Stopping at the side of a road in the middle of nowhere, the pitch black surroundings did not pollute the sky. I decided to shoot this quick shot before I carried on - showcasing not just star light, but car light, too. I realise it is hard to see in this image, but the Big Dipper is present at the top right.

This image is easily one of my favourites so far this year. I have posted a similar one, taken from exactly the same vantage point on a blog post I made last year. However, always looking to improve I returned here to reshoot this. The original I took last year had several faults - I got the rotation a few degrees wrong in camera, forcing me to rotate it after (which softens the image). There was also next to no traffic in the previous one, resulting in hardly any light trails. This one corrects those things, and more, since I also started shooting in raw. The one thing I couldn't control is the broken lamp on the first lamp post, which as we would say in my country is "bloody typical".

Finally here is another vantage point of the same ring road motorway (the M60), some miles away on a section that has been upgraded to "smart" status. Smart Motorways involve the installation of variable speed limit gantries, lots of cameras, the ability to drive on the hard shoulder if instructed and often widening from 3 to 4 lanes. In this picture we can see a speed restriction has been lifted, with the gantry ahead displaying the National Speed Limit "banner" symbol for all four lanes. I particularly like how this came out with every vehicle captured on the left carriageway staying in lane for the duration of the shot. The lack of overtakes makes for four perfect red streaks in their respective lanes. Due to dynamic range constraints I combined a much shorter exposure with the rest of the image to make the National Speed Limit banners stand out. Without this, they appeared blown out and the black stripe simply did not show.

Thanks for reading if you got this far! As ever, I am on instagram https://www.instagram.com/expl0rethis/