Driving a truck for a living sometimes gives me opportunities to take shots of different scenery, at different times of the day or year. In September 2010 I found myself at the foot of Dartford's QEII Bridge at dusk.

Camera used - Fuji S1500 bridge which is fitted with JJC lens adapter & a 72mm lens hood.

Whilst the wagon was being unloaded I had about 20 minutes to have a play with my camera and I took the opportunity to set the camera shutter speed (at about 5 seconds) and timer to try and catch some headlight streaks as vehicles came over the bridge. This was the first time I had ever attempted this, so please bear with me!

Unfortunately, I was limited to taking any shots from within my vehicle as I was being unloaded (Health & Safety police dont ya know).

To try and minimise any shake from pressing the shutter, I set the self-timer at 2 seconds.

However, what I hadn't borne in mind were:

• How clean the truck windsceen wasn't! So, I got the duster out, and sorted that problem. Tip: always carry a clean duster!

• Other trucks coming into the yard and turning round in front of mine whilst the shutter was open! This caused both shakes, and blurring to the image. Tip: Be observant, look out for anything which may cross the frame whilst the shutter is open. A distant incoming aircraft may add to the image, a 44 tonne HGV 10 feet away probably won't!

My truck rocking each time the fork-lifts unloaded another pallet from my trailer. Again, the key to avoiding this was timing - waiting until the forkies had just pulled the next pallet off, and my truck had stopped rocking before hitting the shutter! Tip: Try and ensure that the surface the camera is on is as immobile as possible at the time of shooting.

But finally! I got a shot that I was happier with.

I wasn't sure the composition of this final shot worked. The distance to the bridge is just too great for my current camera to handle well (Dear Santa...)

So I tried a tighter crop to see if that would help. Again this was my first attempt at doing anything like this (I used Picasa).

On the whole, I think this somewhat short and 'under pressure' exercise was well worth the lessons I have taken from it. I'll take these lessons on board, and next time I ge sent down to this DC, I'll be ready from the outset!

Apart from the above lessons, I have also invested in a reasonable mid-range tripod, and willl attempt to take some similar shots again, maybe from the local motorway foot-bridge, or I know a place high up looking out over manchester.

I would assume that the less ambient light, and the sharper the lights you want to pick out, the clearer the end result?

Tip: Try and learn from your mistakes, ask questions of people who can offer guidance (on here for example) keep trying, and have fun doing so!

Thanks for reading, please feel free to comment!

Kaz