Gothic Skies

I love these broody, atmospheric shots. The old Fuji chip is great at handling these conditions for maximum drama—maybe not with the mid-tone values a modern chip would deliver, nor of course the resolution, but oh, how it captures density and balance! This frame is part of my shoot at Crystal Palace Park, just north of Croydon, England, on November 20^th, 2012. I was in the southern city for a couple of days and took the opportunity of a ten minute run up the railway line to the old park, to see Waterhouse Hawkins’s dinosaurs from the Great Exhibition of 1852—long obsolete views, of course, but they are still so evocative, especially when the weather is being dramatic. Yes, it was chilly, yes it was raining, but it was the only chance I was going to get, so I stuck with it, walked the park and shot every frame I could snare in the hopes some would be useful. Of course, the light was soft and grey, and the best shots are the ones that exploit the conditions, like this. The bare trees against the lowering sky so superbly evoke the time of year and the locale in the global north. It is a very welcome contrast to the monotony of heat and humidity prevailing in Australia at time of posting... Adjustments to colour, contrast, gamma balance and sharpness in Irfanview; Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

 

Street Sculptures in Hastings

Imagine being presented with a giant chrome octopus playing chess, on a seaside street near the English Channel? Hastings had a series of metal sculptures celebrating marine life sited in the old streets near the seafront, and I had the pleasure of encountering them when I was in Hastings on November 15^th, 2012. I was there to catch the Aussie band I follow in a performance at the Stag Inn, on Allsaints Street, a memorable event all by itself, but I had the chance to photograph Hastings in late autumn light, light rays over the Channel, local curiosities, and to have a jar in a couple of historic pubs, like The Cinque Port Arms. That was my last time on tour over there, and I miss it a lot. Adjustments to colour, contrast and sharpness in Irfanview; Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

 

Looking Down on a Rainforest

 

Apologies for the dearth of posts this month—I’ve been concentrating on other tasks and it slipped my mind!

One can almost feel the humidity, a sticky heat surrounding these tropical broad-leaf trees—but the warmth was a relief. The structures amongst them are a giveaway: this is the Wintergardens in Sunderland, a cold, northern city, in the grey November of 2011. I was my fourth UK trip when I wandered through the Museum and its associated hothouse, before taking a stroll in Mowbray Park behind them. The lighting conditions were grey and flat, and this image is enhanced to bring up colour and contrast in Irfanview. It was an interesting aside from the grey streets, and the only other tropical house I’ve been in besides that Victorian classic in the Adelaide Botanical Gardens. Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

Longing for Flight

The title says it all. It is now getting on for twelve years since I was last on a plane. I got a bit blasé about air travel, having been on planes a fair few times between 2006 and 2014, but I did not expect the world, or my circumstances, to change so far that I’d not have the opportunity again. Work, spiralling costs, the pandemic, international unrest, you name it, they all came together to glue me to the spot, thus my overseas photos are now an old selection. Ah well, can’t be helped. I got this frame in November, 2011, on the leg from Melbourne up to Singapore, during my fourth UK trip. The bright colours and sunshine at altitude are so different from the grey, foggy, flat conditions on the ground when I got there! The sky seems welcoming, clouds below in their infinite variety—it makes me miss actually being there and seeing it—the feel of G force as the journey begins, hearing the tire-burn on landing, watching the skyscape stream by with the different times of day, always on the lookout for that interesting pic—I travelled with the camera around my neck most of the time. I’m sure such opportunities will come again, but by then it may be some hypersonic airliner connecting Singapore with London in less time than it takes to get from Adelaide to Singapore... Minor adjustments to contrast and sharpness in Irfanview; Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.