Servicing the Giant

A scene enacted countless times since the dawn of commercial aviation, ground crews prepare an airliner for its next flight. Machines have their own innate appeal, and when juxtaposed with the natural world are a poignant metaphor for humans cutting their own furrow alongside, or at right angles to, nature. I took this frame as part of a series at Singapore’s Changi International Airport in November 2011, on my way back from my fourth UK expedition. This was an equatorial evening, and home beckoned at the end of one more long leg in the air. The sun is not quite gone—there was some gold about sixty degrees of arc to the left, but “blue hour” was certainly arriving. This is the Qantas Airbus A-380 Reginald Ansett, named for one of Australia’s commercial aviation pioneers. The photo was taken through plate glass from the terminal, with the usual gymnastics to keep the interior lights from reflecting in the frame. Minor adjustments to colour, contrast and sharpness in Irfanview; Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

 

Workhorse of the Sea

There is something majestic about ships, and maritime towns always make for interesting shooting locations. I grabbed this shot on November 8^th, 2012, from the deck of the South Shields ferry, crossing the River Tyne on my way back to Roker after an excursion to Tynemouth Castle and Priory. This is a DFDS Seaways vessel preparing to leave in the evening for its overnight run to Amsterdam. It’s fascinating to be able to see into the open vehicle deck. I’ve often wondered what a crossing would be like on such a ship, a marvelous start to a holiday with one’s car in the hold. This frame is fairly unique as, given the exposure rating of the cameras of the day, I had limited ability to control for low light, The evening was coming in fast, and while the chip handled low light beautifully, it couldn’t compensate for motion with reduced exposure time. I shot plenty of frames, but this is the one where it all came together, and wasn’t blurred by motion. Fun memories, I miss those trips! 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.

Full Moon Rising

A full moon rising over an Australian city, but the trees give it a bush feel. I took this pic from the upstairs balcony of our last house, on July 14^th 2011. A lot of water has gone under the bridge since then! It was nice to have an upstairs (it was nice to have a swimming pool...) and occasionally there were photo ops without leaving home. This is an interesting pic, not for the moon but foe the trees. The sun is just down and the evening light still enough to front-light the trunks, which gives a very pleasing effect, The moon is a burned out disc, which is to be expected at the kind of exposure needed to register the trees in detail. It must also have been a very still evening, because the lens would have been open a while, yet the leaves have not blurred. Minor adjustments to colour, contrast and sharpness in Irfanview; Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

Colourful Night

This was the very last frame I took before leaving Sunderland after the conference at the university in November, 2011. I was almost back to my boarding house just off the Roker seafront, and took this shot from the street corner. As I recall, I had the camera balanced, held rigidly against something, probably a post cross the road. This was the best of the set. Fog had rolled in and I got many interesting studies as I walked back from the last social with colleagues from the event, but all suffered from softness and camera shake to one degree or another, as light registration speed was just not there in those days. Oddly enough, I still use the same camera all these years later—it’s reliable and keeps on going! The colour always engages me with these shots—the late evening blue sky scattering through the fog, the burn-in of the street lights, all very atmospheric. Minor adjustments to colour and contrast in Irfanview; Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

Evening at Altitude

There’s an axiom in photography that ‘you have to be there to get the shot,’ meaning that nature and events shape themselves, and the photographer freezes a moment in time from a particular place in space, and those things will never align just the same way again. This is so true of shooting skies, or of travel photography, when your own POV is in motion relative to your subject matter. I took this frame on November 7^th, 2012, on my fifth trip to the UK, from a Malaysian Airlines A380 on my way up to Kuala Lumpur on the first leg of the journey, and we had just crossed the Australian north coast. This is the evening light on the Timor Sea, the sun through thick weather reduced to that golden flare reflecting from the waves, as tropical cloud made a riot of shapes and forms, and infinite hues, all about. The sky was particularly forthcoming on that flight, with amazing cloudscapes and lighting qualities, that made the simple act of catching a plane into a photographer’s adventure. Minor post-processing—a touch of contrast and extra colour. Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

The Mighty Murray

Here’s a frame I captured on October 6^th, 2018—almost exactly six years ago. This is the River Murray photographed from an overlook at Tailem Bend, in the hour before sunset. Not quite “golden hour,” the toning of the evening was quite blue, but the majestic sweep of the river, framed in the gum trees, makes an appealing composition, especially against that great, complex skyscape. This seems to be before I got the trick through my head about shading the lens with my cap when shooting anywhere near the sun quadrant of the sky, thus the lens flare in the lower right. It’s endemic to the nature of lenses, but unless lens flare is the theme or object of an image, I must say I’m not a great fan of it in my images. But this is a worthwhile shot, and the lens flare is part f the story. Minor adjustments in Irfanview, including increasing gamma value to pull information out of the shadowed areas. Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike

 

Magic Hour in Yorkshire

I took this frame in the late afternoon/early evening of a day in November, 2007, from the window of a moving train on the Esk Valley line between Middlesbrough and Whitby. After many grey skies and soft exposures on my 2007 UK trip, the sun finally—momentarily—came out, and I shot as much as I could, The train windows were not the cleanest, and the internal lights reflected in the glass, so I was constantly trying to find an angle to both catch the scene and exclude reflections. This one has an almost painting-like feel: the softness of even the direct light as “golden hour” progresses—note the length of the tree shadow—and the inherent autumn sombreness combining to create an emotionally evocative image. I left Whitby the next morning, going up the coast to Sunderland, and the light and feel of the next batch of shots is completely different. “Magic hour” indeed! (Just a little contrast work, and one click sharp.) Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

A Grim Magnificence

November 2007 seems such a long time ago! I took this image in Welford Rd. Cemetery, Leicester, UK, across the road from Leicester University, where I was doing a fieldwork survey for my PhD, supervising senior students who were gaining fieldwork course credits by assisting me with the data collection. We had worked through the afternoon, and early evening was coming down by four o’clock or so. The lighting quality created such a painting-like feel, I couldn’t resist grabbing some scenic shots among the dry record images of the gravestones, and as evening progressed the skyscape over the ivy-grown monuments developed a very Gothic feel. Catching detail in the foreground was down to how the chip handled the conditions, and the old Fuji S5600 has always been very good in this respect. I featured one or two shots from my Leicester stopover many years ago, back in the first incarnation of this site. Contrast, gamma and colour were slightly adjusted in Irfanview, otherwise this is just how it looked on the day. Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike

Evening Storm

I captured this frame two years and one day ago—September 11^th, 2022. A simple shot, looking west over the back garden hedges, of a storm front moving up from the gulf. This is one of those occasions when nature presents you with a spectacle and says “catch me!” I took a long series of frames that evening, but this one has a strange purple hue to the light that is so effective, so unusual. I could have processed it out, but that’s what the evening looked like, and that’s what I'm presenting. A tiny touch of contrast enhancement was the only effect applied. Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

Reaching for Distance

This shot was an experiment with the high-end of the telephoto range of the camera I was working out at the time. It’s a view from Crowsnest Lookout, on the hills above Victor Harbor and the south coast, with the town of  Middleton (IIRC) in the foreground, taken on April 13th, 2019. That’s the Southern Ocean, with the Coorong barrier beach and Lake Alexandrina in the background. We were into ‘golden hour,’ the sun declining rapidly off to the left. Minor adjustments were made in IrfanView. Fuji FinePix S6500. Image by Mike.

 

Gulls on Painted Water

I love shooting reflections, and sometimes, when you close in on a reflective surface to exclude the ‘real world’ source material of the reflection, the result can become abstract art. Here are seagulls on the placid waters of Whitby harbour, Yorkshire, England, photographed on Sunday, November 7^th, 2010. I had taken a long stroll around town in the afternoon, visited the abbey on the headland, and would soon be shooting the lights after dark, but here the ambient conditions were suspended near the end of day, and the waters picked up this artsy look—almost like an illustration coloured in. Minor-adjustments to contrast and colour only. Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

Sombre Evening Sky

The south end of the Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia, is “big sky” country, long and flat, conducive to appreciating those amazing South Ocean cloudscapes that roll in. This is Clayton Bay, in the lakes region, in the late afternoon of May 26^th, 2018, and a weather front was coming up fast. The scene had a moody atmosphere, spectacular but sombre, and I captured several interesting studies of these clouds over the water. The image is sharpened a tad, squared-up with custom fine rotation, and contrast and colour have been adjusted slightly. Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

 

Blue and Gold—A Whitby Twilight

 

This is a longer view toward the Gothic church in Skinner Street, Whitby (I posted a close up almost exactly a year ago, “Cold Stone, Warm Light,” on July 20^th, 2023) which I captured around November 6^th, 2010, during an afternoon and early evening stroll through the quaint seaside town on the Yorkshire coast. The sun never rises very high at that time of year, so time of day is often difficult to pick from a photograph. This was probably not much after 4 in the afternoon, but the streets are filled with shadow, very blue against the golden light catching the upper parts of the church. It’s a magical place and a magical time of year, just after Guy Fawkes’ Night, when autumn slides quickly into winter. I remember having a drink at The Granby Freehouse, at right of the picture, still a very traditional pub at that time—I’m not sure if it has succumbed to development and updating in the 14 hears since. I set a scene in my first vampire story right there in that street (appearing soon in an anthology with Hiraeth Books!) Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

Changing Weather

Sunsets are an eternally fresh and wonderful subject for photographers to capture, and the passing events of sunrays and clouds are so ephemeral you must often just shoot what’s before you and see how the chip handles it. This frame, of the day's end through an incoming weather front, a welcome relief from Australia's summer heat, was captured almost nineteen years ago—February 11^th, 2005—and is part of a group of sunsets I photographed from Flinders University. I was finishing my Masters Degree at the time and was up and down to the campus frequently. Sunset in February is quite late, mid-evening, so I had obviously been working in the library or in a meeting, perhaps a student gathering I preparation for the new term about to begin. I took this shot, like a number of others, while walking down to get the bus home, through a part of the campus completely redeveloped in later years. Minimal enhancement was used—contrast, colour, sharpness and gamma value. 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.

River in the Sun

A simple but effective shot, looking into the late afternoon glare of a low sun on a wide sheet of water. This is the view from the north side of the River Tyne, at Tynemouth, in northeastern England. I visited Tynemouth Castle and Priory on the ancient and famous headland where three kings are said to be buried, including Malcolm IV of Scotland. This was the last full day in England of my 2010 trip, being Monday, November 15^th . The conference at the University of Sunderland concluded the previous day, and I took the Monday for a trip up the coast to Tyenmouth by bus, and a ferry ride across to the north. I walked around the castle and priory for hours, had very good fish and chips at a pub called The Turk's Head, on the highstreet opposite the castle frontage, then made my way back to my boarding house in Sunderland as evening gathered. This image is not modified in any way. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Silk Flowers

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I took this shot in September 2009, when evening light through red and gold bottleglass caught a spray of artificial flowers and generated these deep, rich colours. This is pure opportunistic shooting, in a few minutes the image would have been gone, the idea is to see the shot and take it without hesitation: a took five frames of which this was the best, the horizontal light catching the fine-scale structure of the flowers in visually pleasing ways. Sharpened only; Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Busy Airport

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This was a simple enough shot, but compsition was the object, looking for a frame filled with machines and the implicit action of people interacting with them. Flights were arriving and deplaning at Newcastle Aiport, UK, this evening in November, 2007, and while I waited for my own connection to London I amused myself shooting through plate glass, defeating reflections by easing behind a standing display of some sort, and using telephoto to close on the subject matter. As evening drew toward night I held the lens surround hard against the glass to control shake. Here a row of Boeing 737s was marshalled at the arrival terminals, and handlers were busy with their offloading and replenishment. The usual enhancements were done; Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic, telephoto. Image by Mike.

Beachhouse at Dusk

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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.