Another Close Encounter

Venus/Jupiter Conjunction (March 2012)

Well, as promised, here's my second batch of photo's of the recent terrestrial event, known as the Venus/Jupiter Conjunction. I was aware that this 'Meeting' of the planets was due to last only a couple of weeks, so I made every effort to get out there to strike while the iron was hot - this was my second and third attempt to photograph this optical illusion and once again I was presented with a clear night-time sky on both nights - perfect visibility for this kind of photography. My second outing took me on a short car journey to Gateshead, home of the Angel Of The North, where I was very hopeful of landing some good shots, as I usually shoot the sculpture when facing West, the same direction the conjunction appears to the viewer. On arrival I had the place to myself, apart from my 11 year old son who was 'Helping Dad' by posing in the frame, here and there, Lowepro bag weighing him down! (see picture 1). Once again, the inclusion of people offer a sense of scale to the shot, so if you've never visited the Angel you'll get a rough idea of its size when compared to the 'Extra's' in the frame. Mind you, it's a pain in the arse when folk start climbing onto the feet of the sculpture as this spoils the photograph and I usually rely on Photoshop to bail me out with the odd bit of brush work. Luckily this time round the group of youngsters didn't bother with climbing routine, so there was no need for me to run at them with an extended tripod, he he. Sensible Geordies they were - I never knew they existed!

So there I am, for a short time, probably ten minutes or so, pulling in a half dozen shots of the Angel with Venus and Jupiter lending themselves to the shots. As night fell rather quickly I was running with 30 second exposures. Any more loss of light and I was heading quickly towards Bulb Mode, a function that allows shutter speeds of beyond 30 seconds, which is the maximum speed when shooting in Manual mode (my preferred function mode for low-light photography). For the tech heads amongst you, I made these pictures with a Canon 7D, with an attached 10-22mm wide angle lens, fired remotely with the camera sat on Manfrotto legs. The unwritten rule applied - image recorded in RAW format, highest possible resolution and the lowest possible ISO setting of 100, to give crystal clear 'No Noise' clarity when printed out at A2 size (25x17 inches). Those remote control units are priceless! I got my hands on a piece of cheap Chinese rubbish via eBay, which actually does a brilliant job - it does as it says on the box (Yes folks, I do know the odd word or two of Chinese ya know...............................Chow Mein! Oh no, here I go again, turning the subject towards food once again! Sorry about that. Yes, the small hand-held transmitter communicates with a receiver that slides onto the camera hot shoe. With a range of 50 metres the transmitter triggers the shutter and Bob's yer Uncle. At a price of just eleven sheets ya can't get robbed. Camera shake is most definitely a thing of the past. God bless the Chinese!

And I wasn't done there. The very next night I was at it again. Penshaw Monument was the venue again, just like my first excursion to photograph the Venus/Jupiter Conjunction. This time there was another guest to the show - the Moon. Sitting close to the two planets, my luck was in and conditions were once again very favourable, so three planets make up my last batch of shots, shown here. Penshaw Monument - let's av it...

Ash

A Very Close Encounter

In all the years I've been making photographs, I don't recall a time when I recorded a terrestrial event, on film, transparency or digital media. I had no interest in Star Trek and rubbish of that particular ilk - infact, the only stars I remember seeing were the ones spinning around my head after a heavy night out on the tiles during my earlier 'Social' years. Ahh, memories.

So before the skeletons threaten to burst out of my cupboard I dramatically swich tack and quickly return this blog post to a semblance of normality, in the shape of my first ever 'Close Encounter'. No, I won't pretend I was recently abducted by aliens or any such nonsense - this was an event that I recorded on memory card, and I'm ready to share the results. Let me aquaint you with the details of my search for the planets in question - A search that didn't take long, in all honesty. A look over my shoulder during a meal was when the TV grabbed my attention. The local weather bulletin on ITV , presented by Philippa Tomson, informed viewers that during the last two weeks of March 2012, the two planets, Jupiter and Venus appear to be at their closest point in the sky, approximately 3 degrees apart, and a clear night time sky would offer the ideal opportunity to view this 'Close Encounter' when looking West. The two planets have been travelling in a westerly direction across the Northern Hemisphere and the phenomenon is known as the 'Venus & Jupiter Conjunction'. It is however, an optical illusion!

The whole world can see the two bright lights in the west after sunset now, but, for the Northern Hemisphere, mid-March 2012 presents the best time to see a Venus-Jupiter conjunction in the evening for years to come. At mid-northern latitudes, these two brightest planets – Venus and Jupiter – stay out for nearly four hours after sunset. That’s about the longest period possible at these latitudes. No matter where you are on Earth now, you can’t miss these two worlds in the west as darkness falls. In the opposite direction at nightfall – looking east – you can’t miss the ruddy planet Mars. This world won’t be so brilliant in our sky again until April 2014. Mars shines from dusk till dawn, whereas Venus and Mars set four hours after sunset at mid-northern latitudes.

And what better location to photograph this event - the summit of a fairly steep hill in my neck of the woods, with a well-known iconic landmark thrown in for good measure. Yes, it just has to be Penshaw Monument, illuminated and displayed in all its glory - visible for miles and dominating the Wearside skyline. Let's go!
I was up the hill for a good hour, from the fall of darkness, to the point where the sky was black and my job was done and dusted. I had the place to myself - even the previously ever-present cattle had gone AWOL, adding to an already definate sense of isolation at the top of Penshaw Hill. It was nippy, as expected, but when you're in concentration mode you tend not to feel the cold too much. Two fleeces and a body warmer kept the chill at bay. I must have stood in at least a dozen piles of cow-shit as I switched shooting position on the hill top - aye, you just know what's under foot when your boots slide about, here, there and everywhere. I must have spent an unnecessary 5 minutes wiping me boots on the grass before getting back into the car. All part and parcel of 'Shooting In The Field', so to speak. It was worth it though - very satisfied with the shots I pulled in. Here are a couple of them...

I'm planning to photograph the 'Venus & Jupiter Conjunction' again over the weekend, at another well-known site in the North-East. Coming next...
Ash

Clay's Garden Centre, Washington

March has been a month of few updates at ashleycorr.com. I did manage to get out with the camera on a couple of occasions, and the results will come your way shortly, but most of my spare time has been used on expanding my customer base throughout the North-East. Next week will see me follow up two more opportunities to display my photography in well known outlets, so stay tuned for more news about that as and when it announced here on my Blog.

Over the last week I have been negotiating with the director of Clay's Garden Centre in Washington, Tyne & Wear, in the hope of selling my wares through this popular, and rather busy outlet. Good news - Clay's are NOW stocking my work. A quantity of limited edition mounted prints are now available to purchase, along with a selection of postcards, all featuring a local scene that I captured during the different seasons of the calendar year.

Firstly, the mounted prints - initially available in two sizes only, 14x11 inches and 10x8 inches. Mounted in either Ivory or Textured White mountboard (acid free) and signed by myself, the mounts are numbered and available as limited runs. Various scenes can be purchased and they include most of the iconic landmarks in our region, such as Washington Old Hall, Angel Of The North, Penshaw Monument, Durham Cathedral and Roker Pier, amongst others.

The postcards - well, these originally kicked off as a ten card set, after I was commissioned by the Tourist Board in Sunderland to produce 10 different scenes in this format. My postcard collection now stands at 33, all matching and printed on glossy media, which are currently selling in a number of outlets in our region. Clay's Garden Centre are now stocking 15 different postcards from my collection and plans are afoot to display my cards on the front of gift packs, such as biscuit boxes, confectionary, etc. Again, more details on this to follow, as and when.

So, if you're in the region, why not pop along and get yourself through the doors of Clay's Garden Centre. There's a nice coffee shop on the premises too, so sit yer arse down and admire those postcards and prints you've just bought (wink). No shame, have I? he he.

Until the next time - see ya,

Ash

Lee Filters On Test

Hello again!

More low-light photography comes your way after I made a recent trip up the coast to St Mary's Lighthouse, near Whitley Bay. This location was featured on my Blog not too long ago, and once again I have more Sunrise shots to share. The alarm clock called out at 5am and a cold wash had me awake in no time, before I necked a cup of coffee and left the house. St Mary's is approximately 35 minutes from home, passing through the new Tyne Tunnel before heading down to Tynemouth and coninuing along the coast road. Passing Cullercoats I saw the first colour breaking through on the horizon, which is what you hope for on a freezing cold morning like this. Not many folk around at this hour, just the odd dog walker and a couple of photographers with tripods - must be mad! Today though, it was time to give my Lee Filters a run out - something of a rarity, which I need to address after paying an arm and a leg for them. The set comprises of 3 Neutral Density Grad's - a 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9 - or 1 stop, 2 stops and 3 stops, whichever you prefer. Basically, each filter is clear at the bottom and dark at the top, the shading is graduated and fades out in the middle of each filter, allowing you to balance exposure between the highlights and shadows of your chosen subject. The filters are ideal for Sunrise shots, especially when you have a colourful sky at the top of your frame and darkened rocks at the bottom. Metering off the foreground rocks will expose perfectly for particular area of the shot, but will in turn burn out the detail in the sky. That's where the grads come in handy. After selecting the correct strength filter (based on the difference in f-stops between the dark and bright areas, the filter is then positioned over the highlights in the sky to 'Hold back' the detail in it. Just for the record, the filters are made of resin and are calibrated precisely to reduce the amount of light by either 1,2 or 3 stops - they measure 150x100mm and are dropped into a filter holder (Lee Foundation Kit) that is fitted to the lens. The dark portion of the filter is positioned carefully over the sky to retain detail. In the first two photo's shown here, the rocks and sky are exposed very well, but because of the big difference in f-stops between the two, I had to use two filters together, a 0.9 and 0.6 soft grad, stacked in the holder. Shutter speed was down to 5 seconds for these two shots, so naturally a tripod and remote release switch came into play. The tide was in when I arrived but it seemed to retreat quickly enough, allowing me to pick my spot on the rocks as I shot towards the Lighthouse. The sun rose over to my right, almost out of shot, but I managed to get some colour without panning to far across and losing St Mary's Island altogether.

Feet were stone cold, icicles began to form on the owld snozz, but there was work to be done so I persuaded myself to stop being a pussy and continue the task in hand. And no Blog entry of mine would be complete without a mention of food and drink at some point. As the sun came up and the colours faded I began to limber up for a pit-stop at McDonalds, on the nearby Silverlink. I could almost taste that double sausage n' egg McMuffin and the hot coffee!

Half a dozen photographers were scattered around me, as I packed up my gear and headed onto the sand. I felt I had the best spot out of all of us, so it was worth scrambling down the muddy bank onto those rocks, even though the tide was swirling around below. Fearless photography and all that - or am I just an idiot who puts his camera first? My last offering is a panoramic effort. Well, not strictly true - I simply cropped the top and bottom to create that format after deciding the bulk of the detail lay in the middle portion of the frame. Some nice subtle colour in the sky, coupled with the ancient groynes that add some interest to the right-hand side of the shot, with the focal point being St Mary's Island itself. And that's about all folks - another early start that saw me get to grips once again with those trusty Lee Filters. I feel that I haven't given them a proper run as such, and will use them heavily in the coming weeks and months, along with a new filter that I've just invested in - a Lee Filters 'Big Stopper'. For more details click here.

I ordered this one six months ago and have just recently received it, due to the long waiting list from the supplier. Most definately the most sought after filter in the world! Lets see what I can do with the 'Big Stopper', eh.

See ya soon. AC

Tyne-Tees Television (Parts 35-39)

Another update to my Blog and it comes in the shape of more video clips taken from the regional weather bulletin on Tyne-Tees Television. I submitted five photographs, three of which were shown in one week during January 2012, with the remainder being shown late January/ early February. The first video player contains two of my photographs which were part of a slideshow of Winter Sunrise shots, followed by another set of Winter Scenes. My contribution was -
1. Seven Sisters Sunrise, Houghton le Spring
2. Bamburgh Castle Sunrise, Northumberland



The second video player contains a compilation of three photographs, which are as follows -
3. Millennium Bridge, Newcastle Quayside
4. Mute Swan At Sunset, Rainton Meadows, Houghton le Spring
5. Frosty Dawn, Penshaw Monument, Tyne & Wear

Thanks for visiting. More website updates to follow...stay tuned.Ash

Big Country - o2 Academy, Newcastle

In 2008 I saw Big Country perform at Legends, Newcastle - Bass player Tony Butler took on the role of lead singer, following the death of original frontman Stuart Adamson. With due resepect, Tony is no singer, but he done the best he could on the night and the fans went home happy. At Legends, back in 2008, the overall sound of Big Country was inevitably hollow due to the 'Missing' guitar parts that Adamson played, but again the band improvised and done a job as well as they possibly could under the circumstances. Tonight however was a very different matter, as the band had enlisted the help of Mike Peters (lead vocalist of The Alarm) and used his vocal prowess to compliment the anthemic Big Country sound, and he fitted in perfectly. Not many could have filled the void Stuart Adamson left, but Peters is a worthy successor judging by tonights vocal performance. And remember those 'Missing' guitar parts - well they were back and so was the full BC sound, courtesy of Jamie Watson, son of lead guitarist Bruce. Jamie was earlier drafted in as a kind of experiment after practising Stuart's guitar parts with his dad over a period of months. The band attitude towards a possible inclusion of Bruce's son was 'Let's give it a go and see what happens.' Some may have seen this is a gamble, but if it was, it was one that paid off as Jamie Watson fitted into the live set-up equally as well as Mike Peters - round pegs in round holes!

Big Country were founded in Dunfermline in the early 1980's, and another band with Scottish roots, Gun, supported them at tonights gig at the o2 Academy in Newcastle Upon Tyne. Gun weren't my cup of tea, to be honest, although they went down very well with the audience, who had turned up in large numbers and the event wasn't short of a sell-out. An hour in and I was still freezing cold - someone needed to hoy 50p in the gas meter to pump some well needed hot air into the place. It was -2 degrees outside yet it felt even colder inside the venue, but it didn't take long to warm up once Big Country took to the stage. The band received a huge welcome from the crowd as they started their set with a track called Angle Park. The place was soon bouncing - we were lucky to get places at the front so I was in confident mood of grabbing some decent live shots, taken with a modest Fuji F60 'Point and Shoot' affair. The band played their 1982 album 'The Crossing' in its entirety, to mark 30 years Anniversary of its release. The set list on the night was as follows...

1.Angle Park 2.East Of Eden 3.Another Country 4.Balcony 5.Restless Natives 6.The Crossing 7. In A Big Country 8.Inwards 9.Chance 10.1000 Stars 11.The Storm 12.Harvest Home 13.Lost Patrol 14.Close Action 15.Fields Of Fire 16.Porrohman...encore -17.Tracks Of My Tears 18. Look Away 19.Wonderland

From the freezing cold to the hot and sweating - the fast tempo of the music, coupled with a crowd paked in like sardines and bouncing about to the music, we soon warmed up. Highlights of the gig were as follows...

Mike Peters vanishing from the stage, eventually emerging at the rear of house, perched on someones shoulders and singing the 1983 hit 'Chance', much to the pleasure of the surrounding fans. As he made his way to the front of the audience he was helped over the barrier right next to us by security staff. I grabbed a shot of him at close quarters (second shot, above).
During one of the encores 'Tracks Of My Tears' Mike Peters altered some of the lines in respect of Stuart Adamson...'Since you left us, if you see me with another band, Looks like I'm having fun. Although I might be cute, I'm just a subsitute, cos you're the permanent one (Mike points skywards).
Another highlight (literally) was again centred around frontman Mike Peters as he turned his acoustic guitar to reveal a mirrored back, before pointing it towards the audience and reflecting the light from the rigging above onto the crowd in a 'Search Light' effect. It worked very well, easily reaching the seated audience on the balcony, as well as those at the back of the stalls. I can't remember off hand which song was playing at the time, but it covered atleast two minutes of instrumental as Mike's 'Search Light' flashed past most of the audience. I managed to grab the effect with my humble Fuji, shown here in my third shot.

I could ramble on, but I'll be here all night if I do. Enough said then. A great show - looking forward to seeing them again sometime. I hope BC can hang on to Mike Peters though. He's been getting rave reviews on The New Big Country Website for his performances on this tour so far. Bruce Watson, Tony Butler and Mark Brzezicki played their part as usual, leaving their fans with the feeling that there's still plenty left in the tank.
That's is all, until the next time,
Ash

Closer To Home - Rainton Meadows

It had been almost three weeks since my last outing with the camera, so I put the record straight with a recent visit to Rainton Meadows Nature Reserve in Houghton le Spring. That last outing - a 160 mile round trip that included visits to Bamburgh and Holy Island on the Northumberland Coast, was one that I'll definitely repeating soon, but my latest photo offerings were captured much closer to home, as mentioned above. Historically, January is a often a month of excellent Sunrises and Sunsets for me and 2012 has been no different - infact, this year has probably yielded more opportunities than previous years as there was one brilliant sky after another. If you can tolerate the 'Brass Monkey' arctic temperature then you're half way there, although there's still work for idle hands to do and a pair of wooly gloves comes in rather handy in these conditions. Of course I don't wear such 'Pussyfied' attire - well, maybe now and again, but keep that to yourself, eh.

So here I was, at Rainton Meadows, with my 11 year old son, just killing an hour or so before tea. Walking to the first pond we passed a young couple - the lad was armed with a Canon 5D Mk2, which was capable of doing a lot of damage with the attached 500mm telephoto lens. Of course, I couldn't tell when passing that it was a 5D, the strap gave the game away. I experienced a slight tinge of envy because of the kit he was carrying - full frame with top notch glass attached, it must have tipped the scales at around 4 grand, easily! As we passed he noticed the loaf of bread in my sons hand, then told us there was a hungry Swan on the water ahead of us, and that he had no bread himself and as a consequence he got no decent close-up shots of it - not that he needed close-up's anyway, with that size lens. Tough titty eh, get yersel' away son and leave it to the experts, he he!

The sun had just set in front of us and some colour lifted the sky as I took my first couple of shots. I was literally three feet away from the Mute Swan as I photographed it, all the time being wary that it may have a dig at me at any given moment. But the grub was the key and I was confident it wouldn't 'Bite the hand that feeds.' That was the case, so things went smoothly during the short time we were there and the big bird eventually fettled a full bag of Warburton's without hesitation. Hungry Swan indeed. Composing the shots was very straightforward - Swan, Sky and the inclusion of a reed bed to emphasise the habitat - it worked ok and the colourful sky finished the shot off quite well, although beforehand I had hoped for a better sky - beggars and choosers, and all that. Natural Life is an interesting subject to photograph, although I don't devote much time to it as I'd like to, mainly due to the fact that my biggest lens only covers the 300mm mark, but maybe sometime in the future I'll get more 'Into it.' Until then here ya go - two shots taken with the trusty Canon 7D and 18-135mm lens on it's widest setting. Happy snapping.

Back soon, Ash