Month: May 2012

The Wind Wand

One from the archives today. Taken on my visit down to New Plymouth on the lower west coast of the North Island, I came across ‘The Wind Wand’ along the waterfront. Going by the massive coastal wave wall and the fairly strong breeze, the wand was really in its element bending and swaying to and fro. Designed by a New Zealand artist, Len Lye,  Weighing 900KG and standing 45 meters high – this thing can bend in the wind at least 20 meters!

Again taken on a cellphone – a Samsung Galaxy 3, using the app vignette, it shows that one can get an interesting shot (in my opinion at least) no matter what photographic tool one uses. I really like the heavy vignette, following the walkway along to the wand as it bends back out into the strong swell of the Tasman Sea.

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Dark Mangroves

Another weekend stroll today took me on a different section of last Sundays path (Lazy Walk in the Park). Whilst picturesque in its own way, it didn’t have so much color, rather more low lying mangrove swamp. I snapped off a number of different shots, but chose this one for todays posting.

Converting to B&W and boosting the contrast, I liked the dark mood of the scene ahead. Peering through the naked tree branch, one is not quite sure what to expect ahead.

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The Beach

Overall today was a stay at home day, but we did pop out to do some shopping. I took the opportunity to have a stroll around the village and take a few snaps. In this heavily contrasted image is Devonport Beach. Great in the summer time, but getting a little chilly to swim in now.

Hope peoples weekends are going well!

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Hibiscus Friday

As another Friday rolls up winter is dawning ever closer. We are still getting some stunning cool but clear and fresh weather – in between heavy rain showers. Coming back to the office from an appointment I spotted a hibiscus bush in full bloom. Found in many countries around the world, in various species this great little flower also has a number of health benefits when drunk in tea form.

For today I just snapped its image.  I recently got a few bits put in the post for my old Rollei 35, so I’m craving some film taking in the near future. Due to this, post editing wise, I felt like giving it a bit of a lo-fi old color film look, so applied several filters/masks in Gimp. Its hard to believe from the photo that it was overcast, dark and wet an hour later!

The weekend begins now.

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The Alleyway

Today’s photo ‘The Alleyway”, is another shot from Auckland’s central city. Perhaps especially in B&W I like the ageless quality small lanes, alleys and streets can have when taken in low light. The long cast shadows help create a mood as one searches for detail or clues around what is going on.

Taken on my GRD, originally in color, I converted to B&W and reduced file size for web.  Catch ya next time!

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Tug By Night

I ventured into the city after work today. The weather has been stormy and wet, on and off all day. Although the city was busy with people, I didn’t get any street shots I was overly happy with tonight. So back to still life, todays ‘Tug By Night’ was my favorite shot of the evening. The on/off rain had left everything wet, so light was reflecting everywhere. I liked the heavy shadows that cover this image, with only areas of detail. As with the majority of my shots, taken on the Ricoh GRD IV.  Hope the mid week has reached people well!

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City From Afar

Another day where the sun beats me to clock out time! Todays image is of my home city, Auckland. For those reading from overseas, Auckland is New Zealand’s biggest city with a relatively small (by world standards) population of around 1.4 million – Somewhere around 30% of our population.

Taken on my Ricoh, partially hand-held, I was quite pleased with the result for a small sensor camera. Being the camera has a fixed 28mm lens, I was limited in my framing of the image (standing at the end of the pier!) I always like the city by night – everything else around is in darkness, but the city is alight, visible from miles away. Post taking I just did a little cropping, corner and boarder forming.

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Little Pink Flowers

By the time I stepped out the office today the sun had gone down and the area was surrounded by rain and thunder. I might head into the city for some rainy evening shots at some stage as we enter winter, but for today, especially being a Monday, I had a look over recent photos I could post up. Todays image, ‘Little Pink Flowers’ also came from yesterdays walk. I’m not sure what the name of this tree was, but the flowers are about the size of your little fingernail. Not much else to say about todays image, I’m drawn to the soft blend of color as the branches sweep out into the sunlight.

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Lazy Walk in the Park

I love Sunday mornings. I’ve had a day off work and am really into the ‘weekend zone’. Today we went for windy coastal stroll on Auckland’s North Shore to a little quirky cafe called “Little and Friday” . It is Mothers Day here in New Zealand so the place was packed. Whilst waiting in a cramped line of people treating their mothers to morning tea was not overly exciting, the walk itself was scenic.  As you can see in todays photo, the park contained a good volume of deciduous trees – something I have mentioned is not quite so prevalent in New Zealand as some countries (not that you would know with todays park). Taken on my Ricoh, post photo I upped the contrast one notch and rounded the corners. Enjoy your Sunday!

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Monkey Business

I read with interest this morning that Leica has just announced its new camera, the Leica M-Monochrom. Well beyond my camera spending budget, it comes with a B&W sensor – something people in the photography world online have been calling out for, regardless of their brand of choice. I am a bit nostalgic at times, and do love my 35mm film cameras & shooting 35mm B&W film (something I will need to post up some time), but I’m not convinced I would like to be locked into B&W digital. Much like my film cameras, I like to have the choice!

After the color of yesterday, todays image switches to monochrome. Taken at the Auckland Zoo with my Sony Nex 5N and an old Russian Jupiter-11 lens. I shot the image in color, but converted to B&W as for me it feels like it invokes more emotion to me. In color the monkey was not as bright as its surroundings & the image just didn’t seem to work as well.

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