Photography in Hertfordshire

My names Stephanie, I am seventeen-years-old and I have lived in England for ten years as I was born in South Africa. My hobbies are horse riding, ice skating and photography which I love the most.

In Hertfordshire you can find the large market town of St Albans which is where I live. St Albans has some amazing photographic opportunities as it contains many old buildings and tiny roads.  The city has a fascinating history, dating from the time of the Romans to the Battles of St Albans during the War of the Roses. St Albans is a capsule in time, as the city strides to promote its past.

St Alban’s most popular attraction is the breath taking cathedral located just off the high street, which is beautiful once lit up at night. Within St Albans you can also find many parks, a clock tower, rustic statues and a picturesque high street which all present more fantastic photography opportunities.

St Albans also holds many events such as the annual fireworks display, festivals and the Christmas light display as well as gigs and shows throughout the year. These really shouldn’t be missed as they could also be turned into some brilliant photography.

The rest of Hertfordshire also hosts a variety of landscapes and entertainment for its residents to enjoy, which potentially could be used in photography. These include attractions like Gullivers Land theme park, race track driving, abseiling, a tree obstacle course, hot air balloons, sailing at Stanbrough Lake and the Herts county show. The latter is well worth a visit as it boasts a variety of cattle, horses, car varieties and farming equipment as well as motorbike displays and many other farm animals.

The University of Hertfordshire is a brilliant source of photography in the area as it has variety of information and help from professionals. They also put on regular exhibitions to allow young photographers to demonstrate and promote their hard work.

 

Photography is most commonly found at weddings, where there is a large demand for good pictures. However due to Hertfordshire’s wealth more people can afford to have fun photo shoots with their friends and family as well as photo shoots of their children, animals or parties for sentimental use. Within Hertfordshire there is a big business to fulfil this public need, which means there are many photographers who are happy to advise or teach new aspiring photographers through classes that are run.

Among teenagers today photography is generally very popular at parties, holidays and social gathering although this is very amateur work which is usually only for sentimental use. However once students begin to study photography at school either at GCSE or A level they can become much more practiced. I discovered that my interest in professional SLR cameras grew and I found that this helped me. I don’t always take my SLR camera everywhere with me as it is rather heavy and very expensive to replace if it breaks but I do enjoy taking it abroad or on long journeys.

Digital manipulation is also popular among photography students, particularly once they have learnt how to use it.  You can get some amazing special effects which make the finishing project look fantastic and really improve an image in sharpness and light balance.

Photography in Hertfordshire
Click to download (2.79MB)