Hog's Mill Blues - # 08/278
What's going on here? Taken at the "Blue Hour" of around sunset, the white balance has been corrected to render true whites in the lamp light but, as a result, it has picked out the high proportion of blue light in the spectrum cast by the sinking sun. Actually the sky looked very dark and overcast, so it was a bit of an "Isaac Newton Moment" to see the result of a simple tweak of the camera. J-W von Goethe would have rushed to write a whole new chapter of Colour Theory.
More important:
..........admire the way the light reflects on the fast flowing Hog's Mill - an ancient, gushing, powerful little stream that runs into the Thames at Kingston. See it flow under the dark arch of the very old "Claterne Bridge" (so called because of the noise of clattering mediaeval merchants' carts passing across).
..........admire the way that the old Thames riverside quay area at Kingston has been redevolped (as usual, these days) into a "leisure area".
..........looming behind is the mass of the 1930s Surrey County Council offices, and around about are the modernised remnants of Kingston's mediaeval past.
It's a pleasant area to inhabit. I hope that the threatening financial crisis, which will hit very hard in the London Area, doesn't lead to acres of empty, unwanted bars and restaurants. In that case I will have to take another even bluer image.
You really are working on your night photography, aren't you 'Roon? This is so very interesting when enlarged: and the white lit areas so vibrant and yet the yellow light still so cosy. And nary a person in sight ... I must go down into the CBD later this week and see what I can do with our Lord Mayor's Christmas displays.
ReplyDeleteLovely, lovely twilight photo!
ReplyDeleteOh this is lovely and thank you for leading my eye to what I needed to see before I left. A lovely scene and I too hope it thrives. These times are too uncertain and we need to hold on to what we have.
ReplyDeleteV
As usual a stunning shot - the colours and reflected light are wonderful. A true expert at work me thinks!!!
ReplyDeleteSorry to be picky but the 30s building is Kingston Town Hall. Surrey County Hall is a short step away in Penrhyn Road.
ReplyDeletePick away Matthew.....an unacceptable mistake. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteI've never thought of sunset as being the Blue Hour. it certainly is in this photograph. I know it's a wonderful time to take photographs, as is dawn
ReplyDeleteThis is such a fascinating photograph - so much colour and light. that welcoming street on the left. I enlarged it and presume that Mexican restaurant must, one time, have been a puB. It looks like a pub building.
It looks a trendy area, ethnic restaurants in a beautiful setting and that wonderful reflection on the water.