Hi All

I thought I would spend a a bit of time on one of my recent fine art infrared photography projects, which is photographing harbours in East Lothian.  As a professional corporate, conference and event photographer working in Edinburgh, Glasgow and throughout Scotland, due to the covid restrictions, I have spent a lot of time on my personal projects, particularly infrared photography and due to travel limitations, I have been photographing local subjects, like the two harbours in Dunbar.  So I thought I would do a little blog on how to photograph harbours.  Dunbar has 2 harbours, one of them, Cromwell Harbour is the old one and there is a larger new harbour which leads out to the open sea.  I won't go into the aspects of harbour life, but I will concentrate on studying infrared photography from a harbour point of view.  As with all infrared photography we are looking for sunlight where possible, although in this case , as long as you have some cloud detail, it can be possible to get some good photos.  There are so many things to photograph in harbours, I like old fishing boats, but modern yachts are of interest also.  Black and white or colour can be considered and the weather could dictate which is best, in addition to the colour of the boats etc.  I also think you should always be looking at what you want to achieve down the line after editing, as infrared photography is a bit like in the old film days and the image you see on the screen is a long way from the final version after editing.  Close ups can also be considered.look for creels, ropes, old bits of boats and engines in the foreground, in addition to fishermen working on the boats.  I also look for any grass areas or trees close by, which will be prominent in infrared.  As always look at the angle you are shooting with, some low ground level shots can be very dramatic.  

With the lockdown, I have had the opportunity to do a very in-depth study of harbour photography, so much that I hope to turn it into an Infrared Photography exhibition in the future and also to add some of the images to my infrared photography in Scotland book, with a separate chapter on the subject of harbour photography.

Anyway, hope that helps.

Until next time.

Kind Regards

Colin

www.colinwrightphotography.co.uk

www.edinburghphotographer.com