Bending Light

 

Almost exactly thirteen years ago, I took this photo in Hyde Park, London. It was Tuesday November 2^nd 2010, and I was staying at a small hotel near Paddington Station. I had done the Victoria & Albert, and Natural History Museums the previous day (which I reached by Underground), and on this day explored Hyde Park south to the Albert Memorial and Albert Hall, on foot. Had I known my London geography better I would probably not have bothered with the train the previous day, though, to be fair, I was quite ill on the 2010 trip and the extra legwork to get from Paddington to Cromwell Road was probably not welcome. I came upon this curious piece of public art, one of two massive reflectors in the park, and was fascinated by the way the curved surfaces capture the world around them. I'm visible in the distance, wrong way up, on the concave surface. The image was not modified in any way. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

The Lonely Sea and the Sky

There's a timeless quality to the natural world—it seems eternal. Experience has taught us that it's not, but to the human senses a scene like this could as easily be a million years ago as today. This is the Gulf St Vincent, seen from the cliffs above Morgan's Beach, near the south end of the Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia. Afternoon light creates amazing vistas of sea and cloud, ever-changing, no too images ever exactly alike, and always a delight to shoot. The wind was howling, as recall, some later pictures in the set taken through the car window for protection. The old Fuji chip handles looking into the primary light source very well. This frame was captured on April 6th 2022, at the turnaround point of a south coast drive beginning in Noarlunga. The image was squared up with fine rotation, and contrast, colour and sharpness were adjusted slightly. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Organic Architecture

Since the coming of computers in the design process, many buildings have shed the blocky, regular geometry of ages past and taken on flowing curves, often of bizarre form—”twisted” buildings, for instance, or organic shapes, like London's celebrated tower known as “the Pickle.” Such shapes used to be drawn by science fiction artists fifty years ago, as they defied the accepted principles of the art. We have certainly lived into a new era in this respect! This is “Sky City, Adelaide,” the casino which for many years occupied the upper floors of the old Adelaide Railway Station. This part is the ultra-modern northern extension, overlooking what remains of the old Festival Plaza (now a building site), the Festival Theatre and the River Torrens. I walked through from the station on the afternoon of May 15th, 2022, and captured a nice collection of images showcasing the fascinating, futuristic architecture of the place, and will probably come back to this shoot in future. The picture was scaled and colour was slightly tweaked, as the day was quite soft. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Edifice in Silhouette

 As around three weeks elapsed since the photo of the Tyne at sunset, I thought I'd post two in quick succession to make up. Here's an interesting play of light—a very simple shot, but there's always something that captures my eye when I can place a tall object between me and the sun and explore the optical effects. This is the Cape Jervis lighthouse, down at the tip of the Fleurieu Peninsula, on the passage across to Kangaroo Island, photographed on an expedition along the south coast on July 21^st, 2017. This image is not modified in any way. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Morning Trade

An interesting exercise in holding the camera steady for opportunistic shooting: this is London's Paddington Station, about 6 in the morning of Sunday, October 31^st, 2010. I had just got off the Heathrow Express, after a 4.50 arrival from Australia via Singapore. It was much too early to be making my way to my hotel, so I killed time around the station, got a bite at a small cafe and just watched the morning traffic as daybreak unfolded. I have another frame showing a clock, snapped at 6.45. Here the place is floodlit but essentially deserted, and I was shooting hand-held. Normally I would look for something to support the camera on with light levels like these, but they were just on the balance point of being high enough, and I was far from well on the 2010 trip, so not being fancy. I held the camera quite appreciably steady, I think! There are nice symmetries in the architecture (by the great Brunel). The picture was squared up with fine rotation, colour and contrast were enhanced and there was some minor gamma correction and sharpening. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.