Another Archive shot. Taken in the Powerhouse Museum, in Sydney, Australia.
Not too much to say about today’s image really. It was a brightly lit cube in a dark room. I love the simple yet attractive image it created.
Tempest
Another piece of art from the Auckland Art Gallery I visited recently.
Painted by Henry Fuseli, Jean-Pierre Simon in 1791, titled Shakespeare: Tempest, Act I, Scene I.
Fuseli’s paintings for Boydell’s Shakespeare Gallery, which opened in London in 1786, proved enormously popular, and a number of engravers produced works from them. When living in Rome the artist had made numerous studies of Michelangelo’s figures in the Sistine Chapel, and the gesture of Prospero in this scene from the Tempest is a direct reference to the Creation of Adam. Mezzotint was particularly successful in depicting dramatic chiaroscuro effects; the darkness of Prospero’s cell contrasts with the light cast by Ariel’s flight, which in turn draws attention to Caliban’s grotesque face. (Monsters and Maidens, 2004)
I love old pieces like this. Imagine being a child in 1791 and gazing upon it. It would be pretty scary. Now days with all our technology for the movies, games etc, imagination can kind of take a bit of a back-burner in peoples minds. Imagining back to 1791, as a child, one may have viewed the image during the day, and reflected back upon it as our candle flickered the shadows in our cool room as we tried to get to sleep. I’m not suggesting that still does not happen, but its a little different…
No signature as I just took the image and cropped to fit (its not my art).
The Bridge
There is something appealing about bridges and walkways through the bush to me. You get the sense of nature, and almost a feeling of timelessness. Sure, the bridges are a lot safer and easier to cross then they used to be (depending where you live), but you are still right there in the bush.
Today’s image is again from Kell Park which I visited a week ago. I likes how the bridge crosses the river, disappears into the forest and then reappears at a higher point.
In post processing I washed out the colour a little and then brought out a bit more contrast. Unfortunately it was a horrible cloudy day, so the sky is a ‘washout white’.
A nice place to wander around and unwind after a hectic day!
Tree on the Lake
An archive post today. Shot in 2011 at the Sydney Chinese Gardens, I captured this beautiful tree overhanging the stone work and small pond.
For anyone visiting Sydney Australia, if you have time I would urge toy to visit the gardens. I think (?) at the time of my visit, it was the largest of its kind in Australia. Worth a few hours slowly walking around, and perhaps getting a cup of tea, the garden has some beautiful stonework, plants and an amazingly isolating power – being it is in the middle of the city.
Originally in colour, I converted to B&W in Gimp as it gives it more power and emotion in my opinion. Shot on the Sony A230 DSLR with a minolta 50mm Lens.
Emily
I don’t take that many portrait shots in the scheme of things – even less that I make public. ‘Emily’ is one exception today. The daughter of two of my friends, Emily came along to help me celebrate my birthday the other week. I managed to attract her gaze away from the ice cream bowl for long enough to snap a few shots, today’s being my favourite of them. Her ice-cream covered face and expression cracks me up – how cute it that!
Shot hand-held on the Sony, in very low lighting, with no flash, I was very happy with the result. Sure its not pin sharp, and there is noise present, but if you had told me a few years ago I could do this on a digital camera in such light without flash I would not have believed it! for those interested its shot at 3200iso and 1/30th sec with a 16mm pancake lens.
I really did like this image out of the camera and resisted making any changes aside from a small crop and resize.
Thanks for posing Emily!
Black and White Fern
I captured ‘Black and White Fern’ when visiting Kell Park in Albany on Tuesday. Getting up close with the Sony Nex 16mm, at a wide open aperture, I love how the fern leaves fall into the background.
For those who didn’t know, the (silver) fern is one of New Zealand’s symbols for multiple sporting teams like the All Blacks (Rugby), The Silver Ferns (netball), The Football Ferns (women’s football) etc. etc. It has also been worn by Kiwis at war in various locations.
In post production, using Gimp, I simply converted to B&W and resized.
Today will be my first day of my holiday, so all going well, I am landing in Fiji as my post comes live.
The Standoff at High Noon
I had a planned day off today, with the intention to start to unwind from work before jumping on a plane tomorrow. It didnt quite all go to plan, but I did manage a walk along a beach called Waiake in the northern region of the North Shore.
As I passed a bunch of seagulls, not thinking much of it, three of the four suddenly stood up, squarked at me and came marching at me. I took a few steps towards them, neither of us backing down. Most of the time, unless you carry food, they try to keep out of the way, but not these three! Anyway, I got a few photos in and backed down.
At one end of the beach is a small island. At low tide, as it was today, one can walk around it. We had a beautiful sunny day and I sat down to relax on a rock. Every now and then I kept catching something in the corner of my eye, but when I looked there was nothing there. Then, as I was about to get up and leave I looked around, and just to the left of me, not more then 2 metres away was a seal basking in the sun, blending in perfectly with the surrounding sandstone. Once it realised that I realised it was there it stood up on its front flippers (I think that’s the term?) and let out a growl. I decided it was time to retreat, but did get a few shots of it as I left.
Photo wise, I used Gimp to desaturate all but red and cropped the aspect again. Shot was taken on the Sony Nex 5N and Jupiter-8 legacy lens.
Rope by the Shore
My last day of work before breaking for my holiday ended up being two hours longer than usual, and by the time I got home it was dark and cold (almost like winter again!) I took a stroll down to the jetty after dinner, Nex 5N and tripod in hand.
If one shoots cameras as a form of relaxation, shooting night images must be the ultimate in unwind. A single exposure might run into the minutes. All you can do is sit and wait, or count, breathing slow and relaxed as you take in the surrounding environment. I also like how you are gathering not just a split second of time into one image, but minutes of time, all frozen into one picture…a time capsule in a photographic sense.
Today’s image, ‘Rope by the Shore’ also happened to be my quickest exposure of the night at 52seconds @ 100iso. Breaking my usual practice of capturing the appealing light of the night, I converted today’s image to B&W with Gimp, pushing the contrast slightly, as I often do with my images. I cropped it, giving a wider aspect, and resized for the net.
The Fan
Taking a different route home today I passed by a small bush area called Stancich Reserve. In the middle of suburbia, the reserve contains a 1/2km bush-walk around one side of the reserve. Well covered/floored, the track proved popular for locals out for a walk and people training. It actually took a minute of waiting to get a clear spot for the photo.
As I passed through the track I came across this small fan/windmill that someone had stuck into the side of a tree. The bright yellow stood out amongst the forest greens and browns as I leaned out from the walking track to line it up for the shot.
Taken on the Nex, again with the 16mm lens, in post production I used Gimp to crop the aspect ratio, slightly change the contrast, and resize for posting.
Last day at work tomorrow before heading off on holiday – I’m ready for it!
Follow the Leader
‘Follow the Leader’ seemed the natural title when I snapped this badelynge of ducks at Kell Park in Albany after work.Getting down low with the Nex 5N and 16mm lens, I think they initially thought I came bearing gifts, and soon changed direction when they realised they were just getting their pictures taken.
Its funny the amount of names a duck ‘pack’ can be given: Often referred as a paddle of ducks, we also see them called a flock, raft, team, badelynge, bunch, and brace.
Kell park itself offers a nice walk by the creek amongst native bush of Albany. It has a big playground for children, and lots of seats to sit back and relax in the environment. Back when I was young it also had an abundant public pear grove, where one could fill up sacks of pears to take home (or eat whilst helping) – I didn’t get to that part of it today, so don’t know if the trees are still around.
I made the decision today that I’m going to go almost technology-free next week in Fiji. I will have my Ricoh GRD IV, but other than that, not even my mobile phone. I work around computers all day long and have decided I will go without for a week. It will most likely be a bit of a shock to the system for me! I plan to set up some images to auto post throughout the week, so none of you reading this will go without – you will just have to wait a few weeks before seeing my Fiji images.
My final news for the day was that I received a self-birthday gift today – a Ricoh GR1. The granddad of my GRD IV, I have been keen on getting one for some time. Generally they fetch quite high prices, so when one popped up at a reasonable price (and around my birthday) I could not resist. That’s going to mean I have a digital and film 28mm holiday next week!
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