Sunny Views of Tower Crane, Harpenden

After the first snow of this winter season just the day before, the sun shone out of a crisp blue sky, so despite the cold breeze I set off for Harpenden Common to capture shots of the tower crane hard at work at the far end of the town, glistening bright white against the rich blue, in the foreground gulls and crows would occasionally swoop into view.

The challenge was to have a foreground that showed the viewpoint, but did not dominate the scene. I needed a high enough shutter speed to ensure the crane and birds were reasonably sharp, but the depth of field was narrow enough that the cars were none too sharp, so you were drawn to the crane in the background, at work in the Jarvis and Toureen Mangan development at the north end of the high street.

Having captured the shots from the common, I then took a few more from the far side of the high street at the entrance to the site to accentuate the rich blue sky beyond, and the stark white of the buildings to the front.