Sometimes the composition and ‘storyline’ of a photograph will change during the process of taking it. Last night, this was the case with one of my photos whilst I was ‘parked’ on a motorway near Preston, in the North West of England, due to a crash.
In an attempt to make the most of a bad situation, I decided to take a photo of the Moon silhouetted behind an electricity pylon in the adjacent field. It was a great night for a Moon image because of the clouds in the sky, which help cut down the brightness reflected from the Moon. Having taken a few images, I decided that it looked fine as a photo exercise image but certainly didn’t offer a lot to me. I then heard the siren of an emergency vehicle in the distance and then a few seconds later observed the flashing blue lights making its way towards me along the hard shoulder. I presume the siren is employed to warn people like myself who may be wandering around in the dark! I made the most of the advance warning and framed up a photo, took a ‘calculated’ random guess that my camera settings were going to be within the correct parameters - and then took this shot as the emergency vehicle passed by. The finished image is, I think, very pleasing, It is a photo of contrast between the speeding vehicle and the stationary ones, as well as the contrast between the night sky and the vehicle lights.
This photo is “Number 2″ for my ‘work in progress’ photo essay on the UkKroad network, which I wrote about and posted here on August 13th 2010: ‘The long and winding road’.
