MARIA PEPPER
his first camera, a Nikon 070 and over the years developed an interest in long exposure photography using different strengths of tinted glass filters on the front of the camera to slow down the shutter speed and portray motion and time with creative effect.
‘With long exposures of one minute or more, clouds passing can become soft and dreamy and water smoothed out to look like frozen ice. Exposures for just a couple of seconds capture the motion of the moving tides,’ said Brian who is usually to be found pressing the shutter along Wexford’s wonderful coastline.
In recent years he has become interested in capturing wide field astrophotography images such as the Milky Way and star trails orbiting the earth. ‘Surprisingly, these images can be captured on relatively inexpensive camera gear. There is quite a lot of standing around in the dark to capture these images, but I enjoy the results most of all,’ he said.
What started out as a hobby has developed into a passion. ‘Every evening you will find me starting out of the window looking up at the sky to see what way the clouds are forming and trying to predict a colourful sunset,’ said Brian who grew up in Crosstown and now lives in Wexford town. In his day job, he works in advertising and design in the General Purposes Department of Wexford County Council.
‘It becomes a game of chasing the light. Some of my best images have been captured when I’ve least expected them and sometimes a hopeful sunset can disappoint. I try to head out for a drive to a local area as much as I can. It’s good to be outside in the fresh air. Carnesore Point, Bannow, Carnivan and of course, the famous Hook Peninsula are some of my favourite places for creating images in Wexford,’ said Brian.
His photograph of the Milky Way over Carrigfoyle was a 15-second image with the sensitivity of the camera raised up to capture more detail and some adjustments made in post-processing to bring out the contrast and colour of the galaxy core.
‘On moonless nights, the Milky Way can be seen with the naked eye from April to September arching from North to South across the sky,’ he explained. ‘Luckily enough, on this occasion, the International Space Station passed by around midnight and this is the white trail.’
The image will be featured in the September edition of Astronomy Ireland Magazine.
The Purple and Gold view of Wexford town was the result of a last-minute dash to catch the sunset. He tweaked the sky colours slightly with added purple tint to create the Wexford colours.
Sunset at St. Helen’s was captured on a recent trip to the area and was featured as a double-page spread in this month’s edition of Digital Photographer Magazine.
Sunset at the Hook is the result of a long exposure shot used to smooth out the sea at the famous lighthouse. ‘I like the way the pink sky contrasts against the green on the rocks,’ said Brian.
Star Trails Over Vinegar Hill is two hours worth of single 30-second images stacked together to join up the stars as traisL with the famous windmill lit naturally by a half moon from the south.
Kilfarrasy Swash was taken on a photography workshop on the Copper Coast in Waterford, one of two Irish Unesco Global Geoparks and a ‘photographer’s dreamland for seascape photography’, according to Brian.
His website is on www.changinglight.ie. Prints of his images are available.