When Water Holds the Sky

Reflections are always fun to work with, and still waters are that perfect mirror for the bright sky. Lakes are, by their nature, spectacular fodder for photographers interested in landscape studies. Lakes don’t have to be large to deliver the visual goods—this one is small indeed. Here a palm reflects among the lily pads at Himeji Gardens, on Adelaide’s South Terrace. The Japanese gardens, created to celebrate the city’s twin status with Himeji, are a haven of peace and always a delight to visit. I got this frame during a visit with friends on June 12^th, 2011—cool weather here in the south, when afternoon sun vied with dark clouds in the east. Minor adjustments to colour, contrast and sharpness in Irfanview; Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

 

The First Step

Beginning a journey to the UK from Australia is always a momentous occasion—there and back, one is essentially travelling the equivalent of all the way round the world, more or less. This was only the second frame I grabbed on my second trip to the UK, in November 2007, while waiting for the first leg, a domestic short-haul from Adelaide to Melbourne to connect with the international flight there. What makes this picture interesting is the two lighting conditions captured. The POV is from the interior of the terminal, thus artificial lighting in the foreground or framing elements, against the natural daylight outside. I also did a fair job of framing the subject, getting the picture level—this is not angle-corrected but just as it came off the camera. The moody, blue-grey toned sky over the Adelaide Hills contrasts interestingly with the warm toned interior, diagonally across the frame. Minor adjustments to colour, contrast and sharpness in Irfanview; Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

A Designed Landscape

Designer landscapes are nothing new: they were doing it in Tudor times. But the visual impact of such a place—often today merely considered landscape gardening and dismissed as something unimportant—can be amazing. On January 25th, 2023, I paid a visit to Carrick Hill, the famous early 20^th century mansion in the Adelaide Hills, overlooking the city and plain, and the entire grounds are designed to compliment and interact with the house. Views abound, and not just outward—this is a view of the mansion through a veritable keyhole in the now-well-grown trees. It’s an example of expert design given its head, where the undulation of the land features strongly in the layout, and the altitude allows lush growth of northern, deciduous species despite the Australian summer extremes. The place is well worth a visit! Here, it’s a simple shot where composition is everything—the POV looks back at the house through the frame of the trees, and is as picturesque as a painting. Minor adjustments to colour, contrast and sharpness in Irfanview; Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike. Mm

 

City and Nature

Staying with the vertical architecture theme, this is a simple snap taken on October 7^th, 2024, on North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia, down near the east end. What makes it interesting is the juxtaposition of the solid, man-made geometry of the buildings against the random, organic nature of the trees, all bathed in bright sunshine for vivid colour. I love scenes which place nature and the artificial world together like this, the grouping suggesting that they can coexist in harmony if we get the balances right. No adjustments were necessary, this is exactly as the frame came off the phone. It is of course one of a sequence of images, and it was hard to choose between them, so below is another frame which, from a slightly different perspective, favours the vegetation over the architecture, for a different "meaning" in the picture. Poco M5 phone pic. Image by Mike.

Dizzying Geometry

A simple snap, but the thematic material makes the pic. Vanishing point symmetry, of course, but that view up a tall building is always spectacular, invoking as it does thoughts of gravity and physics. The trees are a wonderful biological counterpart to the artificiality of the structure—the natural versus the man-made. Two very similar shots—I thought I’d present both in the same post. I took these frames on October 12^th last year, when in the Adelaide CBD, passing through en route from visiting friends up north. Minor adjustments to contrast, colour and sharpness in Irfanview; Poco M5 phone pic. Image by Mike.

Vertiginous View 2

Instead of looking down the tower, here’s the view upward. This is the Westpac Tower, Adelaide, South Australia, seen from it’s own footing, photographed on April 7^th, 2022. I needed data recovery work and the company’s office was way up on the 31^st floor, so obviously I grabbed a suit of pictures in the process. I ran a shot from the top a couple of years ago (“City Panorama,” April 13^th 2023), and have always meant to come back for at least ine more. The tower was long Adelaide’s tallest building, back from when it was the State Bank Building. That honour is now held by Frome Central Tower One, aka “The Adelaidean,” which is soon to be overtopped by the new Keystone Tower. I love vanishing point symmetry, and any trip to town these days involves looking up at the ever-increasing height of the Adelaide skyline. Minor adjustments to contrast, colour and sharpness in Irfanview; Leagoo M9. Image by Mike.

 

Architectural Geometry

The built environment is the antithesis of nature—it’s all straight lines, cardinal points, vanishing points, and how these things shift and interplay with the effects of perspective and parallax. Some photographers have turned the visual aspects of architecture into an descriptive artform, and there’s plenty in the world to work with. I took this p=shot on the 10^th of September, 2009, in the Festival Plaza area, behind Parliament House Adelaide, South Australia,. This area has been extensively redeveloped since, with whole new buildings occupying what used to be public space, so the available views have changed a lot. This is an interesting study in geometries, on a day when the lighting conditions were not generating harsh shadows. Minor adjustments to colour, contrast and sharpness in Irfanview; Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

New Camera, Old Subject

 

When trying out the characteristics if a new piece of kit, one often gravitates to well-known subjects so as to compare results, and I found myself doing just that on an early shoot trying out the camera of my new phone, the Xiaomi Poco M5. It has the highest resolution of any camera in the house, and the chip behaves very nicely under a wide range of conditions, including indirect and low-light. I found the resolution fails quickly at high telephoto values, but so long as I stay away from that much zoom the pictures are exceptionally crisp and clear, lending themselves to cropping well inside the image to pull subject from background as necessary. I went for a stroll in Adelaide’s Botanic Gardens on July 10^th, 2024, and the weather was very kind. This is a view of the tropical house, a Victorian structure for all kinds of exotic plant life that requires conditions never less than warm and steamy. Tweaks were just a fraction more contrast and colour. Xiaomi Poco M5. Image by Mike.

In the Garden of Calm

This is another frame from Himeji Garden, Adelaide, South Australia, which I captured on October 20^th, 2016, when I took a day in town with my sister in law, on a visit Down Under. Nothing clever from a photographic aspect here other than composition perhaps—just a beautiful place that’s always so nice to see. Minimal enhancement. Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

City Streets

 

In contrast to the last few images, which have celebrated the natural world, mostly forests, here is the complete opposite—no blade of green to be seen. This is the view from Grenfell Street, Adelaide, South Australia, toward what was built as the REM-Myer Centre, back in the 80s, along the pedestrian-only James Place. I remember when I grabbed this shot, in June, 2020. I had been to the city for shopping and was heading back to my bus stop when I saw the vertical symmetry, the light catching it just so, and had to stop, grab out my phone and record what I saw. Phones are great for those moments when an interesting composition presents itself. The contrast, colour and sharpness were minimally enhanced. Leagoo M9. Image by Mike. Mm

Futurism Today

Here’s another view of Adelaide’s Sky City building, taken from the Festival Theatre footbridge end, on May 15^th, 2022. I’m always fascinated by the organic architecture, and the reflective coating of the windows that create an almost metallic look to the building as a whole. This is the sort of computer-designed structure that breaks the plain geometry format of years—centuries—gone by and ushers in the look we might associate with the future, that which seems to defy conventional logic in construction. Minor enhancements: contrast, colour and sharpness only. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike

Geometric Futures

The built environment contrasts with the natural world in one cardinal way—the artificial follows geometry, straight lines, repeating patterns, while the natural, at all but fine scale, follows organic forms and random patterning. Juxtaposition of one with the other creates the appeal of well grown-in urban spaces. This, however, is pure geometry: this is the west-facing side of the experimental medicine building on North Terrace, Adelaide, Soth Australia—commonly known as “the cheese grater” for obvious reasons. Evening light catches the coated windows from the persepctive of the tram stop. The picture was captures on the evening of the 1^st of October, 2013, and was only slightly enhanced, with contrast, saturation and sharpness marginally adjusted. 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.

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.

Angles and Reflections

 My sense of composition can't resist the effects created by a built environment. Here are reflections in modern plate-glass architecture on a clear sunny day—taken downtown in Adelaide, South Australia on February 23^rd, 2011. I remember being on some errand or other, having the camera with me and being captivated by the angles and lighting conditions the day and structures presented. Cities are sterile places in comparison to the natural world, but filled with the abstraction of human inventiveness and notions of aesthetic appeal, and the engineer and futurist in me can appreciate these things as a form of, yes, abstract art. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Stark Stone and Light

Parliament House, North Terrace, Adelaide, photographed after dark. The symmetry of the columns is a pleasing perspective, and looking up into the floodlights is unusual. The building, completed in 1911, if memory serves, was thoroughly cleaned of soot and vehicle carbon many years ago—Parliament House was a dark grey, almost black, when I was a young child, but the stonework was deep-cleaned and taken back to its beautiful native tones. The same program cleaned the General Post Office, the Town Hall and the cathedral off Victoria Square, removing a reminder of the days of rampant air pollution. I took this shot on the evening of Sunday 5^th December, 2010, on my way home from the Celtica Festival at Hart's Mill Waterfront, Port Adelaide. Very little enhancement, this is pretty much what the raw pic looked like. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

The New and the Old

 

Here is a classic juxtaposition such as could be found in any city, the soaring architecture of the 21^st century and the solid, classical style of previous epochs, cheek by jowl. This is King William Street, Adelaide, South Australia, photographed on June 11^th, 2020, from the simple vantage of a bus stop on my way home. The new residential tower rises to 25 storeys, way above the already-imposing Bank of South Australia next door, though still dwarfed by the State Bank building behind. The bright winter's day demanded no photographic cleverness, just point and shoot, and the vanishing point symmetry of the buildings does the rest. Smartphone shot—Leagoo M9. Image by Mike.

Reflections in a Tranquil Pond

After thirteen and a half years, “Digital Kosmos” is alive and well. New posts will be appearing irregularly, so check back for a wealth of photography from Australia and overseas!

Here we see one of Adelaide's best-kept secrets, Himeji Gardens, on South Terrace, part of the South Parklands. Adelaide is twinned with many cities around the world, including Himeji, Japan, and these gardens celebrate that relationship with a traditional Japanese water garden, including a dry Zen garden, a bridge over the pond, bamboo wall architecture, and many imported species. One can enjoy quiet moments here, as the surroundings encourage a contemplative spirit, and a half hour on an airy afternoon is known to recharge one's batteries for coping city life once more. I took this image on the 9^th June, 2012. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Beachhouse at Dusk

Click image to view at 1000 pixels wide

The light levels must have been very much 'in the cracks' between what was possible for daytime photography and the restrictions for a nighttime shoot. I caught this soft study of a house on the Brighton foreshore, southwest of Adelaide, SA, in spring, 2007, between sunset and moonrise, and the chip registered the pastel tones of the cool light wonderfully well. The frame was sharpened and very carefully balanced for colour and contrast, so as not to rob it of its original feel. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Globes in the Sun

Click image to view at 1000 pixels wide

Art decor can range from the irritating to the engaging, and the classically simple purity of these spherical light shrouds, echoing organic bubbles against the natural sky, is a strangely pleasing image. Art imitates nature, steel and glass become an organism, a linear one but no less a reminder of stems and branches, or of the floatation bladders of sea wrack. These lights were photographed on the Festival Plaza, Adelaide, in January, 2008, and were a simple composition exercise. Sharpened only. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.