Photography: The blast to the bridge

This is the first of what I hope to be many photo expeditions over the coming months. I have kept it out of the "best photo you've taken" thread as there is significantly more than one best picture, also I didn't want that thread clogged up with any discussions etc.

So if it's ok with the mods, anti-FF photographers and plonkers that lurketh, I'll carry on.

The first destination was a bridge across the M6, just outside Keele services between junctions 15 and 16. Ideally we would've got here earlier, however the need to charge batteries and the late sunset meant traffic was quite low once we'd arrived.

Patience paid off though for the bridge shots with traffic generally coming through in swathes.

Here is the bridge:



And a few road shots:

Heading North:





Heading South:



I also made use of the Panda's parking lights to ensure no one smacked into it while it was parked on the pavement:



Pleasingly, the placing of the car allowed for some good shots of cars passing by:





We then left the motorway bridge:



And headed for a very nice drive down the surrounding lanes:



I've only been here once before when trading wheels with Graham (Sprox) and taking his carbed Panda 1000 for a bit of a shakedown to see how it compares to my fuel injected model. There is a lovely sequence of bends which unfurl onto a long straight, before tightening up again, and a quick dart across the next junction immerses you in pure rurality.



The only distraction from exploring the bends with more vigour was the fuel light, which was already making its presence felt as we left Stoke on Trent, and with the needle firmly at rest on its stop, thumping down every straight and howling round each bend soon became a rare treat when I simply couldn't resist.

On the way back I stopped to get some pictures of something suitably abstract, a discarded, half full can of Carling...



There it sat, motionless:



And, to be honest, chucked on a road is where this rather foul tasting lager deserves to reside.



The end.

cool

i think we should hold best photo of the month competitions.

i'm hoping to get a real nice picture today as i spotted potentiol yesterday

Damn good job !

I must have a go myself at night. Well worth the time spent.

Rob

some nice shots there. what camera and settings did you use? the images have lost their exif info!

favourites are number 2 and number 10.

Data might be available from the full size images from my gallery...

But for most of them the exposure was 4 secs on my now rather dated Kodak DX6340 (3.1MP, 4x Optical). Thanks to impending full time employment over summer a new camera will finally be mine. I nearly bought a Panasonic Lumix F27 a couple of weeks ago but decided to wait, plus I quite fancy the absolute adjustability of a DSLR.

someone needs to buy a tripod

or do a Chris an say it a special effect that you meant to do

I was using one for most of the shots apart from the obvious floor shots.

One of your number plate bulbs is gone!

ahh, just looked like it was resting on the bridge or the road.


and dave I know he was trying to get star wars caught on film

cool pics. i like 2 & 4 best.

can someone please explain why there is no blur of the car going past. i've used similar exposure times on roads before and always had the blur of the car, but on these pics you only have the lights (pic4 is prime example)

because it is dark, the background is visible because the light from that has had time to hit the CCD - the lights are visible because they are bright and don't need as much time to hit the CCD - the body of the car isn't bright and isnt in the shot for very long, so makes no appearnce in the picture.