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Light Trails Through Cardiff Bay

January 17, 2021 By James G. Leave a Comment

SONY A7R | Voigtlander 40mm Nokton f1.4 lens | Exposure f22 @ 8 seconds | © James Gray
Luckily for me, a bus drove past during the exposure
SONY A7R | Voigtlander 40mm Nokton f1.4 lens | Exposure f22 @ 8 seconds | © James Gray
A second exposure with more traffic passing. You never know what you’ll get when you shoot long exposures like this.

Taken on a Sony A7R, which was new to me at the time these pictures were taken in Cardiff Bay. I set up my camera onto a sturdy Manfrotto tripod and then just waited for traffic to come through. I set the exposure to be f22 at about 8 seconds to maximise the starlights.

I then post processed in CaptureOne. For the main edit, I decided to get rid of the Sainsbury’s corner shop in the bottom left corner as it didn’t seem to add much to the picture and was more of a distraction. Once I’d cropped that out, I worked through the tabs gradually reducing the colour of the sky and lightning the image to add more interest and let the starlights from the lamppost in the centre and at the back, come to life.

one advantage of working with such a small aperture (f22) is that you can see the individual lens blades. The lens I used here was a Nokton f1.4 from Voigtlander, paired with a Sony A7R was great for landscape work, especially when using a tripod, as you’ve more time to get the focus right. The Voigtlander is a completely manual lens, no autofocus here..! Old school, but works a treat when you take your time.

SONY A7R | Voigtlander 40mm Nokton f1.4 lens | Exposure f22 @ 8 seconds | © James Gray
The original RAW image
Editing this in Capture One to get the final images at the top…

Norwegian Church, Cardiff Bay

November 15, 2020 By James G. 2 Comments

Hasselblad 501c | 80mm Zeiss Lens | Ilford Delta ISO 100 | Exposure f22 @ 60 Seconds | © James Gray

Taken in 1997/8 a few years after the Norwegian church had been moved in order to save it from almost certain destruction. Shut in the 1970s, the church was in a poor state of repair, but efforts by Roald Dahl, who was born in Cardiff and baptised in this church, helped to ultimately save it. It was put in a prominent position overlooking the planned Cardiff Bay development that was taking place around the same time.

Several cities across the UK were getting the same redevelopment treatment, including London Docklands. Cardiff was no different. The Cardiff Bay Area had suffered industrial decline for a number of years and the area was almost completely derelict. The boost that followed was very welcomed indeed. It has since transformed Cardiff and put us on the map, again.

The Norwegian church was built to serve the large number of sailors that came through the port of Cardiff in the port’s heyday. Scandinavian sailors were one of the largest groups that came through. At one point, Cardiff was the largest port in the world.

That’s the history of the church, but for me, it was a good looking building, since it had just been painted, there were three new trees in the front and I managed to catch some starlights from the lamposts at the side. I put my camera onto a tripod so I could take a long exposure, and from memory this would have been about 30 seconds to 1 minute. To brighten up the front area, I ran around firing a flash several times. This was originally taken on Ilford Delta 100 film, and I remember with great pleasure developing this image in a darkroom and printing enlargements.

The area around it has changed slightly and it has been extended. I like to think that I captured it at its best.

Sony A7R | FE 28mm f2 Lens | ISO 100 | Exposure f2.0 @ 1/640 | © James Gray
Norwegian Church in the Background
Sony A7R | FE 28mm f2 Lens | ISO 100 | Exposure f11 @ 1/125 | © James Gray
Norwegian Church 20 Years On | How the Trees Have Grown…
Sony A7R | FE 28mm f2 Lens | ISO 100 | Exposure f16 @ 1/125 | © James Gray
Norwegian Flag Flying Proudly | Cardiff Bay

Recent Posts

  • An Italian Side Street
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  • Reflections
  • Light Trails Through Cardiff Bay
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About Me

Marketer. Born, bred in Cardiff. Worked abroad long enough to develop serious taste for Danish pastries/proper bread. Married w/2 kids & dog. Loves F1, photo, outdoors.

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