One night in Padley Gorge

Lately in my part of the world, we've been getting epic fog and when combined with a full moon, it would have been rude not to rush out in to the night and shoot it with lights! Tonight's trip with @fadetoblack was a long overdue trip to a favourite place to wave lights, Padley Gorge in the Derbyshire Peak District.

Tim and I have been to Padley many times before and almost always come back with very satisfying images. One image of mine even won an International Lightpainting Award, the 2017 Oviedo competition.

Padley Gorge is an area which sits in a valley and has something like a micro climate where when everywhere else is clear, Padley becomes foggy. The gnarly and twisted trees make for a slightly haunting place to shoot in the dark.

Kinetic lightpainting

I've been using this technique quite a bit lately where just before the end of the long exposure, I pan the camera to create a kinetic stripe of light across the frame. It works better if the camera is tilted to a "dutch angle" for the stripe to aim somewhere other than horizontally across the image.

In this case, the flashlight was in a strobe mode to give the appearance of a tracer round.

The Conventional Shot

This is a more conventional image shot straight on. The trees in this place are epic and it's hard not to get a good shot!

The Obligatory Behind the Scenes Shot

During a set up for one of Tim's shots, I grabbed this quick camera phone shot which just made my jaw drop. The rays and the warm tone made it very easy. This was literally straight outta the iPhone with no cropping or manipulation at all.

I bagged another epic experimental shot but I'll save that for another post!

About me:
I usually specialise in shooting lightpainting images but occasionally dabble in urbex and artistic model photography. I'm always on the lookout for someone to collaborate with; please don't hesitate to get in touch if you'd like to create art.

Social Media
https://www.facebook.com/fastchrisuk
https://www.flickr.com/photos/fastchris/

If you want to see more examples of lightpainting, feel free to check out these guys: @fadetoblack, @mafufuma, @stepko, @gunnarheilmann, @lichtkunstfoto, @yo-hoho, @oddballgraphics, @lacelight, @martbarras & @rod.evans.visual

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