My 2 Day Expedition

In year 10 at John Port School, I have applied for the Duke Of Edinburgh Silver award. In this you must do a certain amount of physical activities (i.e. badminton), using a skill (i.e. this photography course), voluntary work (i.e. I've joined St. John Ambulance Cadets) and you will have to take part in an expedition.

On Friday the 8th of April I am going on the practice expedition for my Duke Of Edinburgh award (the actual expedition will be some time in june/july. It is around Butterton, Leek. I will need to be careful when I'm out there because I will be walking in a very muddy, lumpy and uneven ground. There will also be many animals like cows and sheep so I need to take care and try not to disturb them. I need to take these safety regulations into consideration otherwise I may fall over and break my camera or drop it. I'm hoping to capture some decent shots of churches and other architectural sites. I will be taking my Sony DSLR A290L and my 50mm Lens with my tripod.I will be checking my equiptment quite regularly to see if my camera sensors are working and if the lens is dirty. Other factors I will be checking will be checking if my tripod leg slips, if I have 2 or more memory cards and if I have a fully charged/spare battery.

For example I have just been on google street view to find some eye catching spots and I discovered these:

Here is the church in Butterton that is on my track although I only just found it. It looks quite characteristic with the "leading lines" composition effect path. It also has a unique spire shape which is what I am looking for in my criteria.

In Grindon there are many cottages and old village bungalows/houses, (here is one above) and i might be able to get a decent angle on these buildings in the evening when the sun is setting.

Here is a piece of texture and pattern in a wall and I will be able to optimize a close-up to capture a very abstract photo but with sharp lighting and I will have to make sure that I can get close enough to the actual stone textures. They also have stone field walls which have very intriguing designs.

I have also found the church in Wetton that I was looking for and since it is one with a tower it will give the scene a more historic look which is an advantage in architectural photography.

Here is one of the very old-fashioned doors I have found which are placed all over the Grindon/Wetton area.

Even little barn-door-styled windows are very interesting as they hold an unusual audience-gripping design.

Lighting Research

I have noticed that lighting is a huge element to photography and so I will here show my research as to the varying effects yet brilliant outcomes of them:

Firstly there is a silhouette effect where most parts of the picture are in their original colour or they're also edited but the main objects in the scene are kept the same but they look like a shadow as you can only tell them by their shape and outline (black),

Like you can see in the image above, it has the reflection of light and the glow of the sun and yet the outcome becomes an outstanding silhouette image. The fog makes the rule of thirds easier to apply in this photo as it fades in and out to the middle. This picture has a lot of character too because of the detail in the water (ripples) and the sides of the river.

The next technique is focused lighting where light is filled on the desired area of the scene in the photo. Like the image below it has a dark and gloomy setting near the lens but far near the house it is filled with light to give a modern and advanced look.

The trees give the image a more natural and dramatic feel yet the modern lighting and shape of the building overpowers the bold and dark front with a futuristic/modern look.

This next effect is Black and White. This style of image adds more character and even history to it. They give the images a more abstact way of viewing them but most of the time the images can be seen just as they should be so the audience know what was/is there.

In this picture of Tower Bridge in London the water has added to the dark and gloomy effect. Because the light shows the reflection and in this case the B & W effect has made it black and grey and the bridge itself is bold and overcomes the whole image.

My Equiptment

Here I have produced a list of the equipment I will use during this course.    


Sony DSLR A290L
I will set the settings accordingly to the time of day, the point of view and style of shot when I am on the scene.

• 10.2 Megapixel
• ISO 100 - 3200
• Max Shutter Speed - 1/4000
• Min  Shutter Speed - 30 sec
• Zoom lens - 18 mm - 55 mm - f/3.5-5.6 

Lexar 4GB SD card
This is a fast working SD card that will help me process images quicker so that time isn't wasted and also incase I need to take another picture quickly.

Soon I will also be getting a...

SLR Tripod good enough to steadily support my camera. For example, a tall extending tripod that will lock easily onto the SLR, but I'm still looking for one.

Any specific recommendations? :)

What to do?

Taking so much time to decide what I want to do, I have finally chosen to do Architectural Photography. But I know that I will enjoy it. I will be capturing images of SHAPES, TEXTURE and PATTERNS all in and around buildings with my Sony DSL A290L. I will also be using my 50mm Lens.
I will be taking my camera on trips to old towns and villages...