WWW Part One - Evening Cityscapes

After about a year of owning my X-T20, I knew I needed to maintain my motivation and practice by seizing every opportunity to get out and shoot. Soon after joining a pair of Facebook groups for Fujifilm users, I started participating in various photo walks, meetups, and workshops to learn from and become inspired by fellow photographers. Over the past few months, I have been fortunate enough to become acquainted with several local Fujifilm users and have learned more about my camera and photography in general than I likely could have by myself.

It was a busy weekend for me as I had signed up for three photography events organised by digiDirect over two days, but my industry would be worthwhile as they were being led by Warwick Williams, Fujifilm’s Head Trainer for Australia, who was in town to introduce the new X-A7 to retailers. Warwick is incredibly knowledgeable, passionate, and dedicated, having agreed to spend practically his entire stay here in Perth offering his expertise and insight. The events included a chilly sunset cityscape session, a morning stroll through Perth Zoo, and a haphazard walk along the Fremantle Esplanade.

This is part one of a Weekend with Warwick Williams - WWW.

This event had been planned to run from 6 PM to 9 PM, the only problem was that sunset was only shortly after 6 PM, so I decided to leave work early to arrive around 5:30. Some incredible cumulus clouds had formed to the north, providing the perfect background for the city. Not long after reaching the shore, golden hour had begun and the sky started gaining the faintest warm glow. Wasting no time, I set up my tripod with the 18-55 mm lens still attached and begun shooting with an ND1000 filter.

At this time, the clouds were still a fair distance to the east, but they were slowly creeping to the left behind the skyline. Although I liked the more direct view of the city, the composition was lacking while the sky was still mostly empty. There was also still enough light that even with 10 stops being blocked by the filter, a proper exposure was only 3-4 seconds, meaning the water wasn’t yet able to come out smooth.

After arriving at the meeting point, I took one more shot with the 18-55 mm - the one at the top of the article - before switching to the 14 mm. From this location further along the shore, the clouds become more prominent in the frame with the city shifting to one side. The grassed area along the shoreline was completely devoid of any features, so I abandoned the typical concept of incorporating a foreground interest and focused on the sky and water to simplify the composition.

The angle towards the city from this spot was far more acute, resulting in the rocks and sand below encroaching the bottom left of the frame. The above photo is cropped significantly to avoid these distracting elements and balance the three primary subjects - the city, the clouds, and the jetty.

As this was an occasion for experimentation though, I was compelled to keep moving and try different angles and perspectives. The barren foreground was, in fact, an opportunity to add some interesting yet clean shapes to the composition, although the path was virtually the opposite of a leading line in this instance. However, I did manage to catch a glint of sunlight reflecting in the buildings that juxtaposes the dark reflection from Brookfield Place.

The clouds had just about moved right behind the centre of the skyline, so I wandered further up the shore to get an almost perpendicular angle to the river, allowing me to maximise the useful space in the frame and show more of the water.

The clouds directly behind the buildings were spectacular, but my attention was constantly drawn to the cluster of clouds suspended above everything. I typically like to keep the horizon centered when shooting across water, but in this instance, there was too much going on in the sky to ignore, so I played around with subtly varied compositions by tilting up and shooting in portrait to emphasise the verticality of the subjects.

Many people were still gathered behind me on a slight hill, mostly gravitated towards Warwick to ask him for tips and advice. I got the impression that most of the people who attended more or less already knew what they were doing, so it was more just an excuse to shoot rather than a proper learning experience. It was not a hand-on workshop in the traditional sense, but many of us were happy to help each other out.

To be honest, I didn’t really engage with Warwick besides introducing myself, because I was far too busy getting the photos. I did, however, get many opportunities to converse with him the following day, which I will be writing about shortly.

By this time, many more photographers had arrived and started lining up along the edge of the river. The sun had almost fully set, so I took up a position among the ranks and settled in for some night shots.

Once the sun had set, the temperature dropped dramatically, which isn’t great if all you’re doing is standing around pressing a button. It’s always a good idea to pack a jacket and gloves, even if you don’t think you’re going to need them.

Once the city lights come on, the atmosphere also changes completely; the water now plays a much more significant role adding so much vibrancy and colour from the reflections. Unfortunately, because of the angle I had to the river, I had to crop most of it out to avoid the visible ground in the bottom corner. However, considering the sky had cleared up a bit more, I didn’t mind it as a very wide composition, something I ultimately decided once I got into Lightroom.

Often it’s very difficult to tell what’s actually in the frame, especially at night. Sometimes I will switch the electronic viewfinder or the rear display to hide the user interface and intentionally over-expose to reveal anything that might have been hiding in the darkness.

I have a habit of generally aiming to expose for thirty seconds, the longest shutter speed possible in the X-T20 before having to go to bulb mode, especially when water is involved. I’m not sure if that’s necessarily the best idea, I have a suspicion that it perhaps creates somewhat unpleasant bloom around very bright light sources. Another photographer next to me was able to demonstrate the advantages of a natural light filter to tone down city lights, which may be something I will consider further down the track.

It was a cold evening, and many people went home only about an hour or so into the session, though I didn’t expect anyone was going to stay for the whole three hours. However, it’s always a great feeling to just get some photos and chat with fellow photographers - there’s almost always something to learn or to teach.

I decided to take the long way home by walking to and across Narrows Bridge, stopping to try out some compositions along the way. I discovered some interesting locations I would like to revisit at some point with better light.

But I couldn’t stay out all night, because the next day I had two more photo walks with Warwick - Perth Zoo in the morning and Fremantle in the afternoon. Stay tuned for those in the coming weeks.

Thanks for reading.

WWW Part One - Evening Cityscapes

WWW Part Two - Perth Zoo

FXA Meetup - Rooftop Rendezvous