Chrome, by Indirect Light

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The reflective properties of surfaces interact with the light falling on them in amazing ways, creating effects from subtle to outrageous. Here the effect is soft while the subject matter is hard: the polished chrome components of a motorcycle engine. This was a late-model Harley parked by the curb outside a pub at Port Adelaide on a bright day of blue sky and strong light. The indirect light brought up the blue tones and the chrome subtly reflects the bike's surroundings. The subject matter has the fascination of the machine, with its human-made symmetry and suggestion of assertion of the conscious will over the randomness of natural forces, while remaining subject to them for its very existence. The light which dresses the scene is a signature of that nature. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic; February, 2009. Image by Mike.

Celebrity Snapshot... Almost

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London, December 2006 -- any old afternoon. I had left the British Museum in search of an ATM, which I found at a Sainsburys a few streets away, to conjure cash for a bite to eat, and was about to cross when a clamour of sirens cleared the streets. Pedestrians clustered at the corners waiting as Police bikes halted traffic, and I heard someone say the man in the top job was going through. The FinePix S5600 was always around my neck, so I scoped in on the intersection for a reflex shot and snapped the Prime Ministerial Daimler as it raced by. Full automatic, of course! Photo by Mike.