Calm Bay

This is Horseshoe Bay, Victor Harbor, South Australia, photographed on April 16^th, 2019. It’s a simple point and shoot at medium-high telephoto value, from the carpark at the Bluff. This is the trip where I was airing out the Fuji S6500, a very good camera with lovely lens and chip performance. I got some great shots that day, and this one is attractive for its simplicity. There’s enough resolution to see people on the far beach as surely as leaves in the foreground, and the lighting conditions were very nice that day. Just a nice photograph! Minor adjustments in IrfanView. Fuji FinePix S6500. Image by Mike

 

The Drama of Evening

Sunsets grab your attention in the most dramatic way—perhaps as much for their ephemeral nature as for their beauty. They last only minutes and every one is different, an infinite range of variation all down to the ever-changing clouds. This was one of the series I took from the vantage of Flinders University many years ago, this frame date-stamped February 13^th, 2005. I was in the final stretch if my Masters Degree at the time. I could have fiddled with this image a lot, and probably ended up losing the striking depth and vibrance of the moment. All I did was pull up the gamma value a couple of notches to bring out a little mid-tone detail, and take it one click sharper. I considered using fine rotation to level up the horizon but it was going to cut into the image at its edges in ways that would sacrifice something of the moment, so I left it as is. Fuji S5600. Image by Mike.

 

Geometry and Reflections

 

My eye is always caught by the interplay of straight lines in perspective. That pays into my fascination with vanishing point symmetry—all parallel lines have that element, but only extended lines display it in an eye catching way. This is the outside steps of the Medical Sciences building at Flinders University of South Australia, photographed on 5^th August, 2011. The building was new at the time, if I remember correctly, and this accessway is on the outdoor route for walking from the university down to the hospital to connect with the bus home. This was late afternoon, and the interplay of the shade slats, the stairs, the reflections in the plate glass to the left, and the general afternoon light, created a striking image that made me pause, pull out my camera (not sure why I had it at the Uni on that day), and take a whole series of frames. This one seems to capture the best balance of all elements. No to minimal enhancement was needed. Fuji S5600. Image by Mike.

The Timeless Gothic

 

Here is an uncomplicated picture by any standards, made special by its subject matter, This soaring Gothic architecture is York Minster, which I photographed in late 2011, during my fourth UK trip. The weather was being kind on that visit, as opposed to another trip to York when it was pouring down. Vanishing point symmetry is always visually appealing, and the built environment aspect is special as it carries a context of Medieval times. No enhancement at all was done, this is just as she came off the camera. Fuji S5600. Image by Mike.

I’ve been particularly busy/distracted in the last few weeks and had not noticed the time going by, so I’ll put up three pics in quick succession.