Go with the Flow

A tranquil evening by the river as it calmly flows by.

 The Location

The Chester Weir and Salmon Leap is located on the River Dee as it makes its way through Chester. It was built in 1093 to redirect water flowing downstream to run several mills that were used till 1910. There is also a salmon leap, which is a stepping up along the side of the weir to make it easier for fish to migrate upstream.

The story

In my first year of university, I did a project exploring a few landmarks along the River Dee. I would visit the locations several times throughout the project at different times, whether condition and importantly for this photo, the differing tides.

I had been to this location a couple of times and the images were a bit on the bland side, so I was hoping for something a bit more exciting. So, I decided to go at high tide and that just so happened to be just before midnight on this particular evening.

It must have been a weeknight as I only saw half a dozen people in the 3 or 4 hours that I was there. It was a very peaceful night and apart from having to wipe some raindrops off of my ND filters from a very light rain that was falling, there was not much to do but take in the scenery and occasionally press the shutter on my camera.

As much as the light reflecting on the water shows how tranquil it was that night, I love the light rays from the streetlights in this image.

The shot

Camera:                                Canon 800D

Exposure:                              30 Sec

ISO:                                      800

Aperture:                               f/18

Lens:                                     Canon 18-55mm

Focal Length:                       18mm

Other:                                   8 stop ND filter