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  • Waterfront City

    I took a stroll through the city tonight after catching up with some friends. The WRC is all setup in Auckland this afternoon, so I hoped to see some of the cars, but I guess I arrived a little late in the evening. Turning back to the city, I caught this shot down by the waterfront. I love how even though it was captured in color, its almost B&W. The bright lights, but dark city and weary looking sky also creates a bit of an ominous feeling when I look at it.

    Shot on the GRD IV in bleach, I cropped a little of the foreground out of the image to create more balance in the final image. Otherwise unedited.

  • Mt. Victoria Mushrooms

    On the summit of Mt Victoria sit a patch of giant mushrooms. Big red mushrooms with white dots. Actually ventilation ducts, the ‘mushrooms’ have been painted multiple times over the decades, and make an intersting site for people visiting the Mt Victoria to get a view of the North Shore, town, and Rangitoto (in the background of my image). I believe originally they were painted by a local Devonport artist, her boyfriend and his mate – it featured in a local paper article many years ago.

    Being the oddity they are, I wanted to highlight them in todays image. After taking the image on the GRD, I desaturated all but the mushrooms in Gimp. I then slightly tweaked the sharpness and contrast to get the most out of the mixed color/B&W image.

  • The Shortest Day

    Today marked the shortest day for us down here in New Zealand. The sun arose late and set early. Otherwise known as winter solstice, it is also known in New Zealand as Maruaroa O Takurua – the beginning of the Maori new year (traditionally), which as well as being tied into legend, is identified by the  Pleiades star cluster having its first appearance.

    I liked todays image, as tied into the title, the fishermen are catching the last moment of sun as they hope to pull in ‘a big one’ from Lake Pupuke.

    Aside from resizing, straight from the camera (GRD)

     

  • Bellis Perennis in the Rain

    Bellis perennis, or ‘common garden daisy’ was the subject of todays image. For such a small little flower that grows all over, they have a lot of potential uses – eaten raw, used in soups, salads, teas, as a vitamin supplement. Romans (and more modern homeopaths) used their juice to assist with wound injuries. Then we have the saying ‘smell the daisies’ – to take a break, relax, don’t stress about the big stuff. To top it off, these are hardy little flowers. Mow them down with a lawn mower, and within the week they are shooting up at the sky again.

    It had been on/off raining all afternoon today and with the threat of another downpour looming when I finished work I took a few minutes to look for todays photo before getting in my car. There was nothing appealing scanning around so I set the Ricoh on macro to see what I could find. Remembering the above mentioned saying i picked this little guy/gurl/thing, reaching up for the sun regardless of the less then ideal weather. Will it make it before the lawn mower gets it? – unlikely, but its a good reminder to take a break in our busy lives all the same.

    Post work I desaturated the grass slightly and slightly bumped up the sharpness in Gimp.

  • Island’s End

    Todays post ‘Island’s End’ was taken on Waiheke Island – a larger populated island a ferry’s ride out of Auckland. Armed with my Ricoh and an external viewfinder I turned off the display and went shooting. Although not film, shooting with an external viewfinder and the display turned off does give you the ‘modern feeling’ of not knowing what your image will look like until later (or until you cheat and push the play button). Being a wide open round viewfinder without markings yet I shot the horizon crooked – usually a bad thing, but I don’t mind it in the balance of this image of land, sea and sky.

    Post shooting I cropped the image to a wider view, upped the contrast one notch and reduced for the web.