I was commissioned by Enlighten Design to photograph one of their latest projects, St Peter's Church. 

The vision here was to capture the effect of the exterior lighting installed by Enlighten Design against a dramatic sky during golden hour. The challenge I faced was balancing the ambient light and the fixtures correctly. Too much ambient light and the effect of the fixtures was lost but too little ambient light meant the silhouette of the roof was lost against the sky. 

St Peter's Church is located in Sunderland near the mouth of the River Wear and sits on spacious grounds. A super wide angle helped convey the space surrounding the building and allowed me to bring trees into the composition to help frame the architecture.

In addition to the images above, each scene was captured with the exterior lights turned off. An animation was created by blending the images together to give the impression of the lights coming on and then turning off again. This was done to help Enlighten's prospective clients more easily appreciate the effect and impact of the installed lighting.

These animations will be featured on Enlighten Design's new website, which is currently in development by Paul&Sam.

Many thanks to Graham Nicol for his help during this project.