Sunrise, Sunset

Welcome to Sunrise, Sunset!

The gas tower seems to lend itself to sunrise and sunset photos - but as all photographers know, every sunset is different, as amply demonstrated here. We are also grateful to our early bird photographers, who have taken beautiful sunrise photos to share with those of us who prefer to view the sunrise later in the day!

Tower By Moonlight - by Matt Emmett

Matt's photo captures the drama and movement of the tower by moonlight, against a fast moving sky.

Matt recently won the Historic Photographer of the Year Award and Architectural Photographer of the Year 2016. His first book, Forgotten Heritage, is available in bookstores and online.

More of Matt's work can be viewed on his website, Forgotten Heritage, and on Instagram: @forgottenheritage.

Sunset Through The Tower - by Laurence Farmer

Laurence took this stunning shot with his drone, before the peregrine falcons were showing signs of nesting on the tower. He'll be flying the drone elsewhere for a while, leaving this view to the birds!

Footage from Laurence's drone can also be seen in our Film Room.

Reading Dawn - by Dave Olinski

The waking town is captured in Dave's shots of this glowing dawn, watched over by the gas tower.

Instagram: @daveolinski and @rdg.uk.visuals

Winter's Sunset with Birds - by Joy Stuart Olver

Winter Sunset - by Matt Gardner

Matt took this photo in winter 2020 on a socially distanced walk with his sister Saz. They are devastated that the tower is due to be demolished.

Gas Tower at Sunset - by Joy Stuart Olver

Joy Stuart Olver shares with us a sequence of photos capturing a blazing sunset, the sun seeming to set within the gas tower itself.

Industrial Heritage in Real Life - by Laszlo Bogdan

I am living in Reading since 2018, and since then I learned a lot about Reading's history. I always been interested about the places where i lived, especially how they looked like in the past. Now I live in Cumberland Road, and last year, during the first lockdown, after work, on my way back home, I shoot a picture about the Gas Holder during sunset. I always wondered what was the original purpose for these buildings, as its not a regular building in my country. (I am from Hungary ) I've seen RBC approved the demolition of the last remained Gas Holder in Reading, and soon they will be build high rise flats on the site. I feel really lucky I could see this industrial heritage in a real life, and I could shoot this nice picture of it to give a small piece of my view for the next generation.

Sunset Silhouette - by Robina Veda

Robina's photo captures a sunset on a clear day, when the tower and the surrounding trees trace black lines against the sky.

Rose Gold - by James Lay-Flurrie

In James Lay-Flurrie's aerial views, the morning light catches the tower and tints it with gold, standing out against the white of the snow.

Instagram: @jameslf1989

Twilight Tower - by Saurabh Roy

Instagram: @mobiclicks.roy

Sunrise - by Mimi

Mimi took this photo early in the morning on the last snow day (see her snow view of the tower in our Snow Room). We love the angles of the tower and rooftops - there are still some (almost) horizontal and vertical lines, but not the usual ones!

Sunrise - by Charlotte Christian-Barrett

Taken in 2002, Charlotte's sunrise photo captures another amazing sky over the gas tower.

Gasometer in the Gloaming - by Les Pullen

Back in the eighties I was working as a carpenter in a factory in Caversham. I came out of work one evening and saw how gorgeous the sky was: a beautiful, velvety purple, which I really wanted to capture somehow. I didn't have my camera with me, though, so I got on my bike and rode like the devil to get home before darkness had fully descended.

Now, it so happened that we were having work done to the roof of our house in Liverpool Road. So there was scaffolding up. I left the bike in the yard, dashed upstairs to get my trusty Pentax ME Super, and climbed straight out of the window on to the scaffolding. Then crawled confidently up the roof to the chimney stack, where I braced myself.

I took a couple of shots, many of which were under exposed, some just weren't framed well. This one, though, came out very nicely, and included an unexpected 'star' effect from one of the buildings. No filters were used, so that was a lovely surprise.

I don't think I've ever expended such effort to get a picture. But it was so worth it...