Steel Bike

 The Kenny Blake Memorial Sculpture on the High Street of Strathalbyn, South Australia is an internationally recognised sporting monument. Kenny Blake was a South Australian motorcycle racing icon until his untimely passing at Britain's Isle of Mann in 1981. This sculpture took three months to build and contains over 4000 mechanical components and items of scrap. The imposing, life-size monument stands on a stone pedestal on a street corner, and perfectly captures the power and grace of the sport. The intricate detail is endlessly fascinating, and it would be interesting to reshoot at different times of day to catch the changing light across the monument. I captured this image when passing through Strathalbyn on January 19^th, 2023. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Ancient Figures, Modern World

I photographed this group of statuary in the first few days of November, 2010, in London. This is one of the four groups flanking the Albert Memorial on the south side of Hyde Park, opposite the Royal Albert Hall, tribute to the partner of Queen Victoria. The groups were meant to represent the British Empire's overseas protectorates and dominions, such as India and Egypt, and, leaving aside colonialism, which today leaves such a bad taste in one's mouth, one can enjoy these monuments purely as art. The Albert Memorial is perhaps the most sculpture-rich edifice in a town which to this day is dripping with the stone-mason's art, and the individual figure work is quite breathtaking. Colour and contrast were adjusted as tiny bit. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Stonehenge

Click image to view at 1000 pixels wide

Stonehenge was a highlight of my Wiltshire roadtrip in December, 2006, and I could only lament how rough the weather was on the day. I would have loved to see it in summer, but the greyness of the day certainly created atmospheric images. This is a generic view chosen to exclude the throngs of visitors, hundreds despite there being a 45-degree slant on the rain at the time. The chip has managed the exposure very well indeed, bringing out the median-values and detail on the subject while burning the stormy sky out to white. The image was sharpened and enhanced in the areas of colour and contrast. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. image by Mike.