Intrusive Elements

Sometimes there are elements in the landcsape you can't avoid, and they can be the kiss of death for a great photo -- rubbish bins, for instance. Here a street light gets in the way of this 'monolithic' shot of the Optus Communications building on South Terrace, Adelaide, taken in January 2009. I tried moving around but then other lights intruded into the frame also. I even took a frame incorporating traffic lights as a complimentary symmetry. But this is a perfectly framed image of the tower in dusk light, with wonderful colour gradients and vanishing point symmetry, which perfectly demonstrates how an intrusive compositional element can get in the way of a shot being rated first class. Sharpness was the only enhancement. Fuji FinePix S6500, automatic. Image by Mike.

Dawn Mists

This is another frame from that misty dawn at Mount Crawford Forest, north-east of Adelaide, in May, 2008. The quality of the light, the softening effect of the mist, ghostly trees, the clinging silence -- these were unforgettable aspects of the experience, and the imagery is evocative. Technically the images were simply a case of composing the frame with the material on show, that is, making the most of the moment. It would be easy to come back with pedestrian pictures, but a natural eye for composition always comes in handy. Catching these giants looming through the silver-grey was quite an experience. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Shooting Straight

Click image to view at 800 pixels wide

I remember standing below the incredible facade of the British Museum (Natural History), in London, and framing this shot for a long, long time. Arms get tired, eyes start to twitch, but eventually you can frame the shot in virtually perfect alignment with the symmetry of the subject matter. The organic nature of some subjects can mask alignment from the eye's perception, often optical illusions will guide how you align the camera and only become obvious in the image, divorced from its locality. Reflex shooting is especially vulnerable to this, such as all those shots of taxying aircraft in which the horizon slopes down to the left (due to the nervous tension of catching a moving subject and the pressure of the shutter release on the right side of the camera). Here the stonework forms a virtual grid pattern, a symmetry laid out for the eye, and the subject was standing still, I could take all the time I needed to balance the composition. The frame was sharpened, but otherwise minimally enhanced for publication. December, 2006; Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.