A veil of mist graced the air when I dropped my wife off at work and as such, chanced a trip to the South Gare over near Redcar. ‘Again’ I hear you say. Well why not? I hadn’t planned on going out that morning with other house chores on my list, so the trip was purely impulse driven. Besides, it’s a great place to practice my craft any time of the year.
As expected, the Gare was quiet at that time of the morning no hassle and bustle and gave me time to think. However, as the morning progressed I struggled to find an image even though the conditions were lending itself to photography. I was trying too hard. Rather than letting the scene come to me, I was looking for compositions. I was trying to make images and the ones I did make by this point, left me feeling cold! I had to change my way of thinking. I thought about the wreck on Bran Sands beach as a possibility and although I’ve photographed it many times before, it may throw up something new.
Crossing the road to the beach, I looked back toward the ‘Blast’ and there was my image. This was what I was hoping for. All I had to do now was compose and shoot which to be honest, was straight forward. The meandering road and the telegraph poles pulled my eye through the frame. The distant ‘Blast’ sitting in a thin blanket of mist together with a focal length of 150mm compressing perspective, all added to perceived depth. Simple post-processing (square crop, B&W conversion & some foreground burning-in) was all that was needed giving me an image I was pleased with.
Having entered it in a national competition organised and run by the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain (PAGB), I was thrilled when it was awarded a Gold Medal in the monochrome section. As for the Blast, it’s days are numbered bringing to an end another piece of Teesside’s history.
Sony A7R11, Canon 70-200 f4, 0.6sec @16.