River in the Sun

A simple but effective shot, looking into the late afternoon glare of a low sun on a wide sheet of water. This is the view from the north side of the River Tyne, at Tynemouth, in northeastern England. I visited Tynemouth Castle and Priory on the ancient and famous headland where three kings are said to be buried, including Malcolm IV of Scotland. This was the last full day in England of my 2010 trip, being Monday, November 15^th . The conference at the University of Sunderland concluded the previous day, and I took the Monday for a trip up the coast to Tyenmouth by bus, and a ferry ride across to the north. I walked around the castle and priory for hours, had very good fish and chips at a pub called The Turk's Head, on the highstreet opposite the castle frontage, then made my way back to my boarding house in Sunderland as evening gathered. This image is not modified in any way. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Ghostly Exposures

 

I love doing long exposure night photography, and have captured city scenes in Adelaide, London, Sunderland and Whitby. The trick is supporting the camera solidly, usually just resting it on some surface, then opening the lens and seeing what you capture. If things are barely moving, the effect can be amazing, while the blur and streak effect of objects bright enough to register in motion is always artistic. I took this shot at the tram stop in Victoria Square, Adelaide, on July 3^rd, 2012, looking across to the state administration buildings and the Flinders University City campus. People are blurred, vehicles almost transaprent, while in the clear, cold evening the solidarity of the buildings and fixed lights registered beautifully. No processing was used at all. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

End of Day

When I was a mid I loved shooting sunsets—capturing those glorious, ephemeral colours in the western sky. I would snap away with a Kodak 126 Instamatic, and I did quite well, given what I had to work with. Half a century on I still can't get enough of sunsets, and from time to timer have the opportunity to record the process at some length. This is one of a long series of frames taken looking west over the Adelaide plain to the Gulf St Vincent from a vantage at the top of the ranges, at the top of Range Road, on May 2^nd 2022. This angle is close enough to exclude the silhouetted power pylons just off camera to the right, which, though visually interesting for their own sake, are not terribly aesthetically pleasing. This makes it a natural world image, subtracting the machine subtext of the towers. No image manipulation was done on this one. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

When Everything Holds Still...More or Less

 

Shooting after dark is a hit and miss affair with a camera that was never rated for it. These days digital ISO settings are into orbit and you can dial up undreamed-of sensitivites to capture scenes in effective darkness. But older and cheaper cameras are not so fancy, and when I visited England in 2010 I had never heard of such “virtual film speeds” as are now commonplace. I took a stroll around the Yorkshire seaside town of Whitby on the evening of Sunday, November 7^th, 2010, and got some interesting results. The Whitby lifeboat towed in a boat that had apparently broken down at sea. The swing bridge was opened to allow the craft to pass up-river to the trawler berths, and I was there to record the interesting effects of town lights upon the waters of the harbour. The evening was luminous, a while after sunset, and though most of the pictures were blurred, here and there a few magically crystallised out. Here is a view of the bridge opening, and the lighting seemed to gel perfectly—this shot is not enhanced in any way. I'll post others from that evening at a later date. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.