Photographing the Cotswolds

Above：Swan Hotel in Bibury 

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The Cotswolds is known for its beautiful landscape and honey cream-color houses, to make the photos even prettier, I waited till it's Autumn time.
It was in Autumn colors  alright but the weather wasn't the best for photography -overcast for most of the day, drizzled from time to time. But it's ok, a good photographer can always make lemons into lemonade!

The best way of visiting the Cotswolds is probably self-drive. It is more flexible, you get the liberty of deciding how long you want to stay in each village.

But my driving license is expired and I did not want to join a tour with will limit my freedom of taking photos, the only option for me is via public transport.

Considering pubic transportation, connections and time, I chose to visit the two major villages in the Cotswolds -Bibury and Bourton on the Water.

Notre-Dame de Paris, Paris.

Gear: Nikon D600 || Nikkor 80-200mm f2.8 || Youngnuo MC-36 || Slik Pro 340DX
Setting: 80mm|| f/8 || 3-exposure blend || ISO 100
Post: Photoshop CS6 || Lightroom 5 || Wacom Intuos Pro

Notre-Dame de Paris is probably my most frequently visit place in Paris, it plays a very important role in French culture and history so I really want to capture a nice photograph of it. For that, I had been scouting for good locations near Notre-Dame for a while.

Parliament, London (The Palace of Westminster)

Gear: Nikon D600 || Nikkor 80-200mm f2.8
Setting: 80mm|| f/8 || 8s || ISO 100
Post: Photoshop CC || Lightroom 5 || Wacom Intuos Pro || 15" Late 2013 MacBook Pro Retina
Blue hour in Europe is so beautiful that I could never get tired of it. Hence some blue hour shots of the Parliament is inevitable. The day this shot was taken was the day I arrived in London, I forgot that my watch was still on Paris time. And I missed the sunset that day because of this. I rushed through Queen's Walk, trying to find a good spot but was too late. The color had already gone yet I was not too upset because it wasn't as spectacular as I hoped. So I set my tripod up waiting for blue hour.

Regent Street, London

Gear: Nikon D600 || Nikkor 16-35mm f4 VR || SLIK Pro 340DX
Setting: 16mm || f/4 || 320s || ISO 100
Post:Photoshop CC || Lightroom 5 || Wacom Intuos Pro|| 15" Late 2013 MacBook Pro Retina

The timing of my visit to London couldn't be better, the year of 2013 was the 60th anniversary of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and Duchess of Cambridge just gave birth to a boy on the night we left Paris for London. The whole city was full of joy when we arrived, it was a very special experience for a person who comes from a country that doesn't have monarchy.

I'm moving to London and I need your help!

Some of you might have already known that I recently got a tier 5 (YMS) Visa, which allows me to stay and work in the UK for up to 2 years. My visa is valid from 16/4/2015 so I should be in the UK by then. If you know any job opportunity, especially landscape/cityscape/interior/property photography, please do contact me smile emoticon I have started working on my online CV, so if you need any info about me please let me know! and for my portfolio you can visit my website http://www.wilhelmchang.com/
Cheers!

Hong Kong

Victoria Peak

Gear: Nikon D610 || Nikkor 16-35mm f4 VR || SLIK Pro 340DX
Setting: 24mm|| f/10 || 25s || ISO 100
Post: Photoshop CC || Lightroom 5 || Wacom Intuos Pro|| 15" Late 2013 MacBook Pro Retina

There's only one must-photograph scene in my visit of Hog Kong to me, that's the famous night scene  of Victoria Harbour. And it can be photographed from 2 places, The Victoria Peak, which is the above, and from Kowloon peninsula. And because it's such a well photographed place, makes the prep-work very easy, you can even find what focal length you'll be using on the internet!

Usually, the better you prepared, the easier the actual shooting will be. That being said, the super windy condition at the peak completely took me by surprise! I knew it could be cold and windy, but I didn't know that it could be so windy that the wind actually moved my camera and tripod... 

Luckily I was able to get some clear shot between the winds, which makes the hour-long shivering worthwhile.

2014 YEAR IN REVIEW

Yes, it's that time of the year. In 2013 I mainly focused on European cityscapes and this year it's Taiwanese landscape, I learned the difference of the climate condition between the two and how to deal with it on site and in post-process. Another major discovery I made during my hike of Mt. Jade (and all the prep-hikes) was that the mountains are the true treasures of this island, and those hikes also opened up a new field of photography for me; And on the business front, I've tried and adjusted a few different methods and strategies on establishing and marketing my work, trial-and-error process is always time-consuming and sometimes frustrating, but a lot has been learned and eventually I had some success! 

Overall, 2014 is a year of improvement, I understand myself better than ever and know exactly what I want to achieve in the future, and that gives me confidence to tackle/enjoy  all the challenges and adventures in 2015!

The following is my favorites of 2014 in the order of time taken, hope you enjoy them :)

Macao Bridge(馬槽橋), Yangmingshan National Park