Wildlife and landscape photographer based in the UK
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The aurora comes to Henley-on-Thames, May 10 2024
I had seen news online that it might be possible to see the northern lights in the south of the UK over the weekend of 10-12 May and that the display would be exceptional. I was keen to get a photo if possible. There is often excitement about potential aurora sightings. Indeed there had been an aurora visible over Henley on 3 March this year.
On Friday 10 May the sky was very clear. To get the best sighting you need a clear and a dark sky. At this time of year that means going out after 10 pm. I also think to make the photo more interesting you need something to anchor it to. As you are trying to photograph the night sky ideally the structure shouldn’t be too bright, more of that later! I knew the aurora was meant to appear in the north so I pulled my Ordnance Survey map out and noticed that the river runs pretty much due north up to Temple Island so I might be able to get a photograph of the temple with the aurora in the background.
I parked at Remenham Church at 11pm and wandered down to the river. It was pitch black so should make good viewing and I could see some elements of the aurora above me. Once I got out on the river footpath I could see that Temple Island was illuminated. My immediate concern was that would prevent my idea from working as the floodlights would cause my photos to be overexposed.
I could see the aurora faintly in the sky and noticed some vertical lines. By wandering along the tow path I was able to position the aurora lines to appear to illuminate the temple whilst hiding as much of the floodlighting as possible. The final photographs give the illusion that the aurora is lighting up the temple when in fact there are a couple of floodlights just in front and largely hidden by bushes in my photo. These lights also create the reflection.
I set the shutter speed to 1.0-1.3s for the various photos. I tried longer exposures which might have been better for the aurora but the light from the temple floodlights blew out the rest of the photo. I put the temple in the bottom corner and focussed on that. I have found through trial and error that ISO 800 works well with my set up. The lens was set at f 1.8. I was using a Sony A1 with a 14mm GM f1.8 lens
Floods January 2024
January 2024 saw heavy rainfall in the UK. In my local stamping grounds of Henley-on-Thames the river burst its banks. I popped down to see if I could capture some shots of Temple Island.
The first photo captures Temple Island from further down the river bank. I had to don wellington boots and wade out over the barn bar lawn. The main footpath beside the river was under about a metre of water
In the second photo I climbed up a hill above the river. Just above the green box in the centre is what looks like a floating piece of wood. If you zoom in closer you can just about make out the top of a park bench! The top of that would be about a metre higher than the bank and the river is normally about half a metre below the banks.
