Salford Quays

[petemc]

2 years ago I was inspired by Steve's shot of a bridge. He also got to choose a competition theme that month and it was "Modern Architecture". I was looking around and found this cool place called The Lowry which was perfect for the theme. When we got there we were like "Doh, thats the bridge that was used in the example". Still it was cool to accidently find it. Dave and I only had Canon A series cameras but we did get some nice shots back then. I've been waiting for ages for the sky to be nice and blue so we could go back with our DSLR's and new fangled skills. Yesterday was that day and after waiting around for a while for the light to be just right it was worth it. It was on my list of places to visit for the Symmetry round but the weather was never good enough when I was free.

 

[petemc]

I know some people don't like polarizers, but as you can see they do a damn fine job.

 

[petemc]

We also spotted some nice girls there that I just had to ask to take their photo of.

A quick shot, and I gave them my card. Gotta love being a photographer some days

 

[Steve]

I am flattered that I inspired you a while back and it’s very interesting to see your take on some of my regular shooting grounds. The Salford Quays to me are very much like Hoylake is to you, I spend many hours around that area looking for and taking pictures.

The first bridge shot I have taken myself from many positions, one of them is even the same. The only difference between our shots being the skys. I believe this to be the closest shot shown here to the one of mine that inspired you a few years ago.


The second shot is looking across from the Shopping Outlet over the Quays, taken further back from my attempts and as a picture its both interesting and has nice lines to draw you into the focal point of the bridge. Your conversion to B&W is fine but your added gradient to the sky is distracting as it has darkened the tops of the bridge. It’s ironic that the it’s the sky that makes the first picture work so well and has managed to ruin the second. I would re-do the processing on this shot and add the gradient on a different layer and mask the tops of the bridge to sort out this issue.

The third one doesn’t do anything for me personally, obviously I know where it was taken and that may be why it may not carry the impact for me personally that it may do for others.

The fourth is another one of your classic abstracts, again taken in the Lowery and here you have sown and demonstrated you ability to see and capture shapes and lines to produce a stunning abstract. Very good and I am once again impressed. Just a thought, have you tried this in black and white and if so did it work or not?

I also like the next shot very much as well. If you had added a fancy border to this I think you may have actually reduced its impact, I understand you have a plain white one here . It’s a strong picture with very defining points of interest and stark contrast that work with each other rather than against.

The next one is very much like the third for me for exactly the same reasons, hope you understand?

More to come….

 

[petemc]

I can certainly see why you keep going back. Theres so much there and we only got our best shots late in the afternoon around 6ish. Dusk, sunset, late evenings, early mornings, such a variety of light to play with. I still haven't managed to get a shot like yours simply because of the light. The sun was setting to the right on that first picture, which is why I took it at that angle.

I'm trying to fix the second shot. I only just found an adapter so I can use my Cokin ND gradiant filter and was playing around with it. I do have some without the ND filter, but the sky is just white so I'm trying to fix that It was a bad time to shoot really, about 3pm in the afternoon and the light was too harsh.

I can understand why you don't like the 3 and 5th, they are more like brochure shots. I like them for their colours. I'm trying to find places like in the 3rd shot that have those lit up stairs.

Oddly it never occured to me to try black and white for the 4th shot. I'll give it a whirl later. I can imagine it *might* look nice

I'm half tempted to write something about the use of daylight. I knew that we would have to stay late in the day to get good shots. I have shots from around 1pm and shots from around 7pm. You can easily see what a huge difference it makes.

 

[Steve]

I can certainly see why you keep going back. Theres so much there and we only got our best shots late in the afternoon around 6ish. Dusk, sunset, late evenings, early mornings, such a variety of light to play with.

You should have given me a shout, I could have come down and met up with you both.

 

[Matt]

some great shots again Pete, architecture seems to be a very fertile grond for some of you, but i just cant get into it, i must try harder

 

[milou]

Excellent captures.

Looks like a trip to the north is in the offing.

 

[Steve]

Sorry Pete for not finishing this..I got busy with the forum upgrade.

From the others you have shown here CRW_9828 is the one that stands out, I find that the Imperial War Musium is a unique and interesting building with many strange and wonderful aspects. The angle that you have chosen here has demostrated that to great effect. The straight lines in this shot also form a curve running from left to right which works against the diagonals below, the semi clinical finish of the building and clear blue sjy also balance each other well. It all adds up to a interesting and well balanced shot.

Ohh and the ladies are ok too :whistling