Friday the 13th? Lucky for me, that was for sure! I did a shoot with a local MP in the morning, which went pretty smoothly if rather uneventfully, but then things kicked up a gear when I got an email from a magazine, saying they were "considering" one of my shots for a place in the final of their International Photography Competition! Very nice, and I've got my fingers, toes and eyes crossed for that one, but I hit the bullseye when I finally got to shoot a picture I'd been planning since before Christmas. I'd been asked by a client to do some shots of their new exterior signage, and so straight away you know I was always going to have problems with the recent bad weather that we've had. But, with the deadline for the shot's publication looming, the cold weather returned and I finally got my 'window' last night to get the picture taken. I'd timed the shot for just after sunset, so that the sky wasn't completely dark, but then had to wait until all the staff clocked off and poured out of the front door after their hard day's work! Next, I realised I'd have to squeeze right up against the car park wall to get both sides of the sign into the shot, so ended up dragging camera, tripod and rucksack through the carefully tended shrubs to get to tht viewpoint! And then, the company's poor old marketing lady - who's off on Maternity leave next week! - had to keep running up and down the stairs to set off the motion-sensitive lighting on the landings. But.. it all came together in the end, even down to the security light on the side of the building, which I initially thought would be a nuisance! I shut the lens right down and, hey presto, I had a fantastic star shape to break up the less-interesting dark side of the shoot. After that, a little loving perspective-correction on the computer, and there you have it... my lucky Friday 13th shot! Bingo!
