Gnarled Giant

Just a forest photo, but look at the shape of that tree... The Australian eucalypt is one of these trees able to take on any shape at all, as determined by the conditions in which it grows, and this one was growing from a steep bank in a gully. It reaches for the light one way, water the other, and creates such a remarkable shape. One would imagine an artist had been extravagant in the layout of a work for dramatic effect, but such things are common in the endless variation of gum tree morphology. However, what really makes the picture is the sun angle—the degree of backlighting, the way it shines through the foreground and understorey vegetation, silhouetting the tree—that's where the art happens. I took this shot on the walk through to Ingalalla Falls, down on the Fleurieu Peninsula, on August 12^th, 2017. Minor adjustments to colour, contrast and sharpness in Irfanview; Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

 

Brooding Clouds

The Southern Ocean can always turn on dramatic skies, and any day on the south coast of South Australia can yield a broad canvas of light. I recorded this frame in a sequence at Clayton Bay, down on the Alexandrina Lakes system, on May 26^th, 2018. I’ve posted from this shoot before. The weather was changing dramatically as a front moved up, May typically being the tail-end of the warm weather down here (though this year the hills weren’t green until June!) No particular photographic effects; this was how the chip handled the high contrast of looking into the brightest part of the sky. I adjusted colour, contrast and sharpness in Irfanview, plus some squaring up with fine rotation; Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

 

Hidden in the Woods

Here’s an example of a reflex shot that turned out just right. It’s a case of seeing the composition and grabbing the shot, just frame and shoot. I snapped this one through the train window on the way to Cardiff on November 21^st, 2012. The sunlight striking the vertical building, framed by the green woods behind and the dark, shadowed foreground vegetation works perfectly, and I did not even need to square up the image with fine rotation. It’s pure composition—I have no idea what this building is (a church, by the looks of it) or even where it is, it just works as a pure visual motif. Minor adjustments to colour, contrast and sharpness in Irfanview; Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

 

Low Sun = Keyboard Shadows

 

There are times of day known to photographers—for example “blue hour” or “golden hour”—and the late afternoon as the sun drops low creates such a time, when the shadow of every tree crosses the road and you get a strobic effect as you travel. That’s one side of the coin, another is that you get the zebra-skin mat effect, when rows of trees cast shadows that turn horizontal surfaces onto keyboards. I got this frame on August 12^th, 2017, on a trip which had already taken in Ingalalla Falls further south, This is Peel Rd, on the Fleurieu Peninsula, an unsurfaced connecting road between main roads whose vegetation has an almost primordial feeling—gigantic Kangaroo Tails feel very prehistoric. The gums are wild and gnarly, and the light as the day approaches evening does all sorts of interesting things with that natural canvas on which to play. Minor adjustments to colour, contrast and sharpness in Irfanview; Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

The Silver Sea

Sometimes it all just comes together, and in the middle of a long string of so-so pictures, one flashes out as having just what you were after. This is the far end of Hindmarsh Island, Lake Alexandrina, South Australia, the area known as the Murray Mouth, where Australia’s greatest river meets the Southern Ocean, on September 20^th, 2018. The right degree of telephoto, a nice, level horizon line, the right quality of light through and against the overcast... The afternoon light made the whole arc of the lagoon silver, and just to look at the picture brings back the tug of the sea wind, the endless rush and race of the waves and the cries of gulls. There are dozens of other pictures from that moment but none quite grabbed the intensity in such an aesthetic package. There was no clever photographic trickery, other that seeing the conditions and zooming into the area where the light was working its magic on the waters and the wet sand of a falling tide. Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

 

Flawed Photo on a Rainy Day in Blackpool

This is (I think!) Lytham Rd, Blackpool, England, on a stormy day approaching winter. There’s good old Blackpool Tower in the background. The reason my memory is dodgy today is that this is a long time ago—November 18^th, 2006 is the date stamp of the image file. It’s only a 2mp image—I was economising on card space in those days, not realising that it really didn’t matter. This was my first trip to the UK and I’d dropped by Blackpool to visit a pen friend (now deceased) and make a pilgrimage to his shop. A hail storm came in off the Irish Sea while I was out and about, and I remember having fish and chips in a small corner shop while hailstones bounced in at the door.

Artistically, it’s a reminder of what not to do: the bin in the foreground ruins the shot, which is probably why I never used it before. But the sense of place is strong in this picture: the people, the vehicles, the storm sky receding with weak sunshine on the wet pavers... If I’d had my wits about me I would have walked to the other side of the bin, to exclude it, yet got substantially the same picture. But I wasn’t thinking in those terms—I saw the lighting and general composition, and grabbed it.

So there you are—a picture with a number of merits about it, and one glaring drawback. I could crop the bin out, but cropping horizontally would also exclude those lovely reflections in the pavers. Cropping vertically, while creating a nice picture, loses the street scene to right and places the lamp post very close to the right hand edge. Does that feel jarring? I’m not sure, so the cropped image is below—please compare and make your own evaluation! Minor post-processing—a touch of contrast, sharpness and extra colour. Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

PS: Two posts in quick succession make up for that fortnight with nothing!

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.

New Cars on an Old Bridge

Click image to view at 1000 pixels wide

A little-seen angle on London's Tower Bridge: I took this shot standing on a traffic island, and took my time lining up the symmetry. Even so the frame still needed a custom rotational fix to square it up, along with the usual enhancements. This was Sunday afternoon traffic in November, 2007, and London is a permanently busy town. It's another example of the old and the new, the centuries-old architectural style of the bridge counterpointed with the up-to-date designs of the cars crossing it. This same bridge has carried every era of car design since the car was invented, and shows every sign of continuing to do so into uncertain futures. Fuji FinePix, S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Lone Sapling

Click image to view at 800 pixels wide

There is something amazing about the tenacity of life, and this fir sappling, fighting to grow in the coarse upland soil of a place called, prosaically, "Rocky Paddock," a popular hillside camping area with amazing natural rock formations off the side of Mount Crawford, north-east of Adelaide, seems to epitomise it. The texture of the shot's light and shade, the carpet of pine needles and the organic hues, create an appealing mosaic that underlines the environment in which life can flourish: harsh and exposed, but then, that's a pine tree's place in the world. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Afternoon sun, May, 2008. Photo by Mike.