How did it begin part 4?
Welcome back readers, aspiring photographers and current photographers. This is part 4 of how did it all begin? in this part we are going into the year 2019 where things will pick up massively. From actually taking pictures to the editing process. Small progress steps were going to happen over the course of the year. In this part also I am going to talk about…
-London Fireworks, going to the city of love Paris and also Disneyland Paris, RIAT (Royal International Air Tattoo), another trip to London, firework display, final trip to London of the year and to finish with a special trip to the Artic Circle. That is all to come in this blog.
To start the year of 2019 I went to celebrate the New Year in London. This was the first time I have ever done this. I remember it was a lot of waiting (but you would expect that), then the countdown began. The firework display was really beautiful to watch. Now I will point out at this point I did record the display off my phone and didn’t actually take any photos of the fireworks (which is quite surprising but also not haha). I would be returning to do the London New Year fireworks again at the end of the year to take us into 2020.
While I was looking through my photos at the beginning of 2019 I realised I took a lot of selfies again using the iPhone’s portrait mode. I took a few photos on the bus on my journey to and coming back from work (always sitting on the top at the front). As it was winter time you have the beautiful winter sunset (and cold air) combining together to make it a beautiful evening.
On the 151 bus heading home after a busy day at work.
Date-21st Febuary
I was trying something different with this photo. I was on my way home from work and caught the train home. I used the signal as the centre subject and caught the busyness of the train lines at the station.
A month later I took a trip with my partner at the time to the city of love (Paris) for our anniversary. This was the first trip we did outside of the United Kingdom, we was very excited as we had a couple of things planned i.e. Disneyland Paris!!
We made our way to London the day before we was flying (21st March), the exciting thing about us going into London was that we was flying from London City Airport. It was an airport that I have always wanted to fly from. It is a very unique airport as it is located just on the outskirt of the city. The airport itself is quite small and the flights are mostly European flights and domestic flights, with one acceptation of one flight that goes to New York (with one stop over). We stayed at the Travelodge the night before the flight as it was an early flight.
The next day we made our way to the airport, I mean we made it through security quite quickly (again as it is a small airport) and then did the thing that all passengers do for a flight… wait. There wasn’t much in the airport but you have the standard shops like duty free, WHSmiths and other shops and amenities. We then got called to our gate and made our way to the aircraft that we was flying on. It was good as the seat configuration was 2 and 2 all the way down the aircraft so there wasn’t going to be anyone sitting next to us. Everyone was now boarded, we then started to taxi to the runway which if you have or haven’t flown from it. There is one runway and most of the time you have to taxi all the way down to the other end and turn around to take off.
Making our way down the taxi way, parallel to the runway.
Date-22nd March 2019
Waiting next to take off into the skies over London.
Date-22nd March 2019
British Airways flight making its steep approach into London City.
Date-22nd March 2019
I think we was flying over the English Channel I can’t tell.
Date-22nd March 2019
Quick take off from London City. It has got to be the quickest take off i’ve ever had. Before we knew it we was in the sky above the clouds. Our flight was about 55 minuets before we landed into Orly (ORY) airport, Which is Paris’s second airport after Charles De Gaulle (CDG). Food was served as well as drinks but you had to pay for them as this is a short haul flight. The view outside the window was amazing, I mean to be fair below us was cloud over but you cannot beat a good old window seat view on a flight (even if you are tall).
When we got to Paris we got a very expensive Uber to the centre of Paris. We headed straight to our hotel/apartment that we was staying in for a few nights. When we dropped off the bags we then got another Uber to the Eiffel Tower. We didn’t plan on going up to the top we was more sightseeing the city. I had already seen the Eiffel Tower before on a school trip but my partner hadn't. She was very excited about seeing the landmark both in the day and at night too
The iconic Eiffel Tower that is a recognisable landmark known around the world.
Date-22nd March 2019
You can see the detail that went into this landmark. The metal work was something different at the time when this was built. No this isn’t the Blackpool tower look a like.
Date-22nd March 2019
When we walked around the base of the Eiffel Tower we then made our way down to the famous River Seine. I remember just watching the world go by and watching the city vibe. Now I look back on this trip and I remember we didn’t actually do that much exploring. This was the first time I have ever been to another country without my family and felt quite nervous. I know that if I ever come back to this beautiful city then I would visit it more and go into the heart of the city. On this trip I took my new Canon 80D camera which was going to be tested in the “field”. I remember I changed the settings to shooting RAW which was one of the bigger changes from when I started photography. I was also using the 25mm-105mm lens which was good for all round photos. Be it close ups and the wide angle shots. I was starting to know what shooting in RAW meant.
The next day was an exciting day (23rd March) we was going to Disneyland Paris. I was very excited because I was going to be in Disney on my anniversary. We woke up early to a cold morning. It felt more like winter than spring. We again got an expensive Uber to Disneyland Paris. We knew we was going to have a good time while we was there. We had a lovely dinner planned at the Rainforest Cafe. We entered the park and the first thing we did was we got ears to wear all day.
The morning was quite foggy. I love myself some black and white photos. You can see that you nearly can’t see the top of the castle. The fog was quite thick and again it was very cold. The weather was going to change as you will see in the next coming photos.
Date-23rd March 2019
The beauty that is Sleeping Beauty’s castle. The pinkness makes this one of the most beautiful castles located in any of the Disney parks around the world.
Date-23rd March 2019
Side note so the watermark was added at a very later date (2021) for all photos and the photo was edited a few years later as with all the coming photos in this blog
The more you look at this beautiful castle you see all the details that went into making it.
Date-23rd March 2019
Capturing the castle from a different angle. Having the steampunk globe as the main focus point, it was about the composotion in this photo which would be something I would be focusing on more and more as times goes on.
Date-23rd March 2019
The room at the tallest tower is where the princess is sleeping to wait for her prince.
Date-23rd March 2019
I am always in awe of this rendition of Space Mountain or Hyper Space Mountain (back in 2019). It shows off the steampunk design on the outside and this exploring side of the park. The design is taken from a film about shooting something at the moon. This was a second attempt at this photo as my partner always loved to put stuff in front of the lens to ruin the photo. This land is called Discovery land which is all about the idea of exploring in the world and beyond.
Date-23rd March 2019
We made our way to the Riverboat which takes you around the water way around Frontierland. It is quite a relaxing boat ride around the lake and takes around 10 minutes. My main focus was too to get the main sign of the Riverboat ride with part of Big Thunder Mountain in the background. I then edited this photo a few years down the line.
Date-23rd March 2019
We made our way to the back of the boat because you would get the best view with no heads in the way (which is always a problem). Located here is the entrance of Big Thunder Mountain. The Wild West themed is great for this ride.
Date-23rd March 2019
This is actually called Thunder Mesa but we all call it Big Thunder Mountain. This was also taken just before I got onto the boat.
Date-23rd March 2019
One of the rides in the Magic Kingdom is a fairytale ride. This goes through famous Disney films such as Rapunzel (picture above). It is a gentle ride and this is a example of why I love editing these type of photos. Making it black and white with only one hint of colour.
Date-23rd March 2019
Located at the back of the boat was this small rowing boat designed just incase the boat had to be evacuated (back in the day). I had a few edits of this photo because I loved the feel of this photo. Capturing the name and the rustic feel of the small rowing boat with the hint of the red canopy.
Date-23rd March 2019
Capturing the entirety of Big Thunder Mountain, this will forever be one of my favourite Disney photos i’ve taken. There are many Big Thunder Mountains around the world and this one is probably the best. This attraction is actually on its own as an island. Guest will actually walk under the water to get to the ride.
Date-23rd March 2019
Another portrait shot of Big Thunder Mountain , again capturing some of the wester and rustic themed of the ride.
Date-23rd March 2019
As we left the Magic Kingdom we was making our way to the Rainforest Cafe but before that we saw the famous Walt Disney Studios water tower. The famous ears on the tower makes this park recognisable. We only did the one park while we went to Paris. I would recommend doing both if you get the chance.
Date-23rd March 2019
After we had dinner at the Rainforest cafe we then got an Uber back to the middle of the city. We made our way to the beauty that was the Eiffel Tower. We wanted to see the tower lit up at night. We planned it right that the flashing lights came on. It is quite a speciticle to see. You can kind of see it in this photo with the flashing lights. It was very romantic and it was beautiful.
Date-23rd March 2019
That brings us to the end of the Paris trip as the day after we got our flight back to London early on in the morning. It was a beautiful and a trip I will remember for my photography. Hopefully I get to visit this city again in the not so distant future.
We now roll on a couple of months, we are now in the month of May. Once again I went to London near the beginning of May. I took my camera (as I always do) and went to similar places as I did before. I made my way up to Greenwich where I got the Emirates Cable Car across the River Thames. This was a day trip and again looking back on through the photos my partner at the time always loved to take my camera and spam it with photos of me. So I didn’t actually have many of where we went but I do have one of my all time favourite shots/edits i’ve taken.
(Once again the watermark was added later on)
This will always be one of my favourite edits. I love the mixture of colour and back and white in this photo. North Greenwich being on the more modern Jubilee line you will see a lot of colour. I wanted to add the back and white portion to it to create this different take on the famous logo you’ll find around London.
Date-11th May 2019
The beauty of the Emirates Air Line Cable Car. This was the journey back to Greenwich. You do have a good view of the east end of London. I think we had our own car both ways. This photo gives you a perspective of how the design of the structure looks. You dip and go back up again, then you take a steeper approach back into the station.
Date-11th May 2019
After the trip to London in May we roll on a couple of months to the middle of July. It was my brothers and I annual trip to RIAT (Royal International Air Tattoo). Our second outing to the air show, this year was going to be a good one. We went for 4 days but went to the airshow on the Friday and Saturday. When we arrived to the airshow on the Friday it was a wet one. We didn’t know how much of the flying display was going to happen. I mean we got a few displays but not many as it got heavier throughout the day, You will see below some of the edits and some that are not edited from the two days.
The camera I was using- Canon 80D
Lens-Canon 24-105mm F4
The Airbus A400 and Royal Air Force Sentinal R1. Two very different aircraft for two different roles in the RAF.
Date-19th July 2019
The iconic tails of the Royal Air Force the aerobatic display team the Red Arrows.
Date-19th July 2019
The workhorse of the RAF and have been for 40 years, the Chinook has been vital to the RAF. A close up shot of the aircraft.
Date-19th July 2019
The Chinook display team showing off what the aircraft can do. It is a very versatile aircraft.
Date-19th July 2019
A fly past while we was sitting in the stands.
Date-19th July 2019
This year celebrated 70 years of NATO (The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) they had a fly past of many different aircraft that NATO used in joint operations. This is the E3 Awacs and its iconic dish on the top of the aircraft. This is a first for me with action shots it went better than expected.
Date-19th July 2019
The E3 Awacs doing its fly past, as you can see the aircraft uses a lot of fuel from the four engines.
Date-19th July 2019
The Airbus A400 doing what it does best, taking off 45 degrees. This is a quick take off and it is a sight to see.
Date-19th July 2019
The V-22 Osprey with the iconic two rota blades that turn from hover mode to flying mode.
Date-20th July 2019
The Qatar Airbus A400, yes your asking yourself isn’t Qatar an airline company (yes you are correct). This is a cargo jet that carries aid around the world. Qatar lease it and utilise its cargo hold.
Date-20th July 2019
Patrouille de France is the equivalent of the Red Arrows. Taking off to form their first part of their display.
Date-20th July 2019
Part of the formation from the Patrouille de France, displaying the colours of the French flag.
Date-20th July 2019
The modern F-18 hornet fro the Swiss airforce. The afterburners came on as it took off. You can see from the photo that I captured both the jets and condensation off the wings.
Date-20th July 2019
V-22 Osprey from the US airforce wing based at Mildenhall showing off its versutile movement from both hovering capabilities and flying capabilities.
Date-20th July 2019
The four of nine Red Arrows taking off to form into a special fly past with a very special aircraft.
Date-20th July 2019
British Airways was celebrating a milestone in 2019. They hit the milestone of 100 years of operating. This was going to be a once in a lifetime shot as this was the only time this was going to happen. The Red Arrows were going to fly on each side of the wings of the Boeing 747 (The Queen of the Skies).
Date-20th July 2019
The Boeing 747 did a fly past the crowd with the nine Red Arrows. Capturing the iconic shape of the British Airways aircraft in a retro livery.
Date-20th July 2019
A close up shot of the F-16, once again I tried to capture the afterburners while it was taking off.
Date-20th July 2019
The flagship of the RAF. The Eurofighter Typhoon never disappoints during a display. From its loud take off, to what it can do. It always takes my breath away every time I watch it.
Date-20th July 2019
The ItalianThe Frecce Tricolori for me is the second best display team after the Red Arrows. They display with such grace and displaying the Italian colours of Red, white and Green.
Date-20th July 2019
The Army Air Corps Apache is a demonstartion why you should never take on this aircraft. It showed what it does in different situations. They had explosions and fire as practical effects.
Date-20th July 2019
The Spanish sent their Harrier. This aircraft was also used by the RAF but retired a few years ago, The aircraft showed what its party piece is which is its hovering capability.
Date-20th July 2019
The Red Arrows and the Patrouille de France did a joint fly past. This was once in a lifetime opportunity as this hasn’t happened before. Capturing the bottom part of the Red Arrows and Patrouille de France.
Date-20th July 2019
When both teams departed the Red Arrows then made their way into their display of the day. All nine arrows took part in their full display to the crowd. This is always a crowd favourite in the day.
Date-20th July 2019
The Red Arrows create this display item called the Vortex. Two of the aircraft will circle the other seven Red Arrows. One aircraft will show blue smoke and the other will show red smoke. This is a photo I want to retake because yes its an ok shot it could be better.
Date-20th July 2019
The RAF newest aircraft the F-35B is a state of the art front liner fighter jet. This will fight along with the already amazing Eurofighter Typhoon. This photo captures the undercarriage of the aircraft while also showing the trails off the wing which always makes good for photos.
Date 20th July 2019
The airshow can to an end for us on the Saturday which was it for another year, We would be back again next year. Now, we will stay with July and at the end something exciting happened in my life. I finally brought my first car. I passed my test at the beginning of July. Now it was time to start the next chapter. I brought myself a Ford Fiesta in a nice Chrome Blue colour. One day I got to work early in August, it was raining and I had this new lens which was actually a manual focus lens, so I thought I would give it a try and here are some of the shots I got…
I started by sitting in my car and used the manual focus lens to capture the rain droplets on my car. The bluriness in the background make the wing mirror stick out.
Date-9th August 2019
The back end of my car has some good curves and I thought I would capture those lines. the raindrops were all over so capturing them was a treat. Focusing on the back end and not the whole car gives the back a nice bokeh blend.
Date-9th August 2019
Nothing really happened in August so we shall move onto September. Once again i headed back to the capital city, London was on my mind and this time I was going up high. It was my first time going up the Shard. Me and my partner went during sunset so the sunset photography would hopefully come out nice (we shall see). We stayed for a night in this unique hotel call the Good hotel. You are floating on part of the river (but don’t worry you aren’t bobbing up and down). It felt like you was on a cruise ship.
You will now see a collection of photos throughout the sunset/a bit of the evening…
Before we headed to the Shard we went down towards Tower Bridge. This is a shot that I have thought about getting for a while. There is another shot like this in a different city which I dream of capturing,(it may come up in future parts)
Date-14th September 2019
The iconic shape of the Shard, at the top of the Shard it is an open top bar which gives you the air of London while you look down on the city.
Date-14th September 2019
Now we are on the level where we can look down on the city. You have a 360 degree view. The evening sun was beautiful and have good light for taking photos.
I remember going back through these photos quite recently and wanted to change the edit how I edit them now. Back then I didn’t have much of an idea of how to edit but now (in 2022) I have a much better understanding on how to edit.
Date-14th September 2019
Down below you have on of London’s main train station, Canon Street is a station used by many passengers to get them down south east towards Kent and Essex.
Date-14th September 2019
Once again the Tower of London crops up in pictures, I wouldn’t say its the building I take the most of but it is up there. the autumnal trees makes it feel like winter is coming.
Date-14th September 2019
The Tower of London where the Queens Crown Jewels are kept. I have never visited this myself but it is on my list of places. The evening light hitting part of the tower was a perfect time to capture the famous tower.
Date-14th September 2019
The main city of London, the financial district is the heart of soul of London Economy. You have the unique shape of the Walkie Talkie building.
Date-14th September 2019
St Pauls Catherdral from down below, I like to make photos in a style of panoramic as you saw from the RIAT air show. The evening light was setting which made it once again perfect for capturing the city in the sunset.
Date-14th September 2019
Canary Wharf and the other building in the distant. Canary Wharf used to be the tallest building in London but that soon got over taken by the Shard. The orange of the sun made the building lose its silveriness and turn orange itself.
Date-14th September 2019
Looking down on the two towers that is Tower Bridge. This is a very iconic bridge not just in London but a very iconic bridge known around the world.
Date-14th September 2019
Black and White while the bridge is opening to let through a ship come through equals a unique photo as people don’t tend to see the bridge opening up.
Date-14th September 2019
This was a photo I looked back on recently because I thought I could do something with it. The evening light was getting darker so meant that the lights around the city would come on. I like to use this cinematic feel to my photos as you will start to see. Bringing warmer colours into the photo showing the city coming alive at night.
Date-14th September 2019
The next day we had an exciting plan which was to catch the city river cruise along the River Thames from Greenwich to Westminster Bridge. The weather was sunny so there was going to be some good photos on the cruise, as you will now see.
Located on top of Greenwich hill is the Greenwich Observatory where people can stand on the Greenwich timeline which splits down the middle from east to west. You can put one foot on the east side and one of the west side.
Date-15th September 2019
Here lays the famous Cutty Sark, members of the public can visit this ship and walk underneath the bowl of the ship and learn about its history
Date-15th September 2019
Sticking with photos of sailing ships, while we on the cruise there was this sailing boat going by. I thought I would capture it sailing along quite peacefully.
Date-15th September 2019
As we was nearing the end of the cruise we hit Westminster Bridge. This is the bridge that leads to the Houses of Parliament and Queen Elizabeth's Tower (Big Ben)
Date-15th September 2019
Once we made our way off the boat we made our way up the Trafalgar Square. Talking of Big Ben, it was still in its restoration stage to make it look more golden. You could still see the clock faces of the tower. The bells of Big Ben were not chiming every 15 minuets. Few more years and then the scaffolding would be taken down to show its fresh new look.
Date-15th September 2019
So another few days in London has concluded and there was some good photos from above which I geuniely love taking. There would be some good aerial shots coming later down the line in a few years. Next we are moving onto the end of October where we are into spooky season and also firework season. I went to a firework/bonfire display which I haven’t been to in a very long time so this was very exciting. There was no need to edit many of these photos as it was a bonfire and fireworks.
Date-26th October 2019
Date-26th October 2019
Date-26th October 2019
Date-26th October 2019
Date-26th October 2019
Date-26th October 2019
Date-26th October 2019
Date-26th October 2019
Date-26th October 2019
You can’t beat a funfair at a bonfire. I didn’t go on any of the rides because they do usually charge a fortune but they do make good photo opportunities such as this photo above.
Date-26th October 2019
I will say it was a good and warm night on a fresh October evening. Now let us move on to the end of the blog and into the cold month of December. This was going to be a magical and festive time. In December I did go back to London but when I looked back on the photos they were not the best at all, like I really mean that, they were not good to put into the blog.
We are going to finish with a trip which I never thought I would ever do. I got a chance to go with work to go to Lapland, to go and see Father Christmas himself with a group of people. I worked in a travel company that did tours to Lapland and as staff members we get a chance to go. This time I was very lucky to go.
The journey was incredible, I had to first make my way down to Exeter as I was flying from Exeter airport. I stayed the night before as I had to be up early for the morning departure. The journey down there took a staggering 3 hours and 30 minuets by train, It was a pleasant journey to get there.
The next morning I got up at 04:00am, had a very early breakfast because I knew it was going to be a long day for me. Me and the colleague I was going with we made our way to the airport. The only flight that day was to Lapland. We boarded the aircraft and then took off and headed towards the artic circle into Sweden. Once we landed all you could see was a sea of white. The snow looked absolute incredible, it wasn’t this snow we get in the United Kingdom. This was proper propers snow.
Here are a few photos that I took while I was out there. I took my Canon 80D and my 70-200mm lens with me. To this day it is the most north i’ve ever been and the most north my camera has been too…
Snow gear to keep the airport running. I mean there was a lot of snow but they have the right equipment to deal with the heavy snow. This happens every year for them so this is normal for them.
Date-22nd December 2019
Felt like a winter wonderland while driving through Sweden and into Finland. There was nothing but trees covered in snow, both left and right all you would see is snow covered trees. It was picturesque.
Date-22nd December 2019
Suddenly seeing another car on the road, I think this was one of the only vehicles I saw while on the journey there
Date-22nd December 2019
There was many lanterns located around the place we was at, it gave a nice warmly feel while standing in -6 degrees (which wasn’t actually that cold because there was no wind)
Date-22nd December 2019
One of my favourite pictures would have to be this beautiful animal. I don’t remember his name but he was very cute. Reindeer in the wild is something to behold. They are so gentle and kind. We are going to call him Sven.
Date-22nd December 2019
Once in a lifetime expeience would have to be dog sledding across a frozen lake. I remember when I looked through the photos and there was a lot of camera shakes but there was a few that actually made the cut of ‘yes that will do’
Date-22nd December 2019
Located here is the big man himself, the man in red, Father Christmas house. I got to pay him a visit before the customers go to. We had a pleasant chat about many things and asked what I wanted for Christmas (I mean it was very unrealistic what I wanted for Christmas). We had a small hut down the bottom where hot drinks were prepared for customers and gingerbread for everyone. We stood around the fire and chatted. I spoke to the kids and asked what they asked Father Christmas.
Date-22nd December 2019
Well our journey through 2019 has come to and end, I do apologise it took a while between the 3rd part and this part. This was a more progressive year through my photography. I got to visit some new and exciting places from Paris to Sweden and Finland. Having better equipment to do the job of taking better pictures and slowly learning how to edit better throughout the months of 2019.
We will move into 2020 and what a year it was, stay tuned for the next part…
Thank you for all the support and love you give to me for this website and blogs too, feel free to follow my instagram which is located on my website and drop me a DM if you want to get in contact or you can email me which is located in the contact part of the website.
