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  • Victoria Peak, Hong Kong

    Another busy day full of training from sunrise to past sunset, so I started looking again at old negatives. As with my last 35mm posting, keeping in Hong Kong, todays image was shot somewhere up Victoria Peak. At 552m high, I think this makes it Hong Kong’s second highest point.

    Taken on the Minolta Dynax 700si, I scanned and resized image for net – otherwise untouched. It was summer time when I visited Hong Kong, so likely the hazyness is from the heat and humidity. An amazing view over an amazing city.

  • Pukeko Among Ducks

    Some more fun today with the Nex and some legacy lens. Todays shot was taken on an old soviet Industar 26 – a 2,8/52mm lens. Shot stopped down to 2.8 I was happy with the images it gave me today, even with todays image being shot at dusk – credit to both the land and the Sony.

    In Devonport, on the North Shore is a fair sized gold club (swamp land a long time ago). Surrounding part of this is a small stream/river, and a mass of ducks. Fed often by locals, there has been an increase of Pukeko in the area also. Pukeko’s, known overseas also as swamp hens are one of New Zealand’s more common iconic birds. The have a beautiful purple coat and amazingly dexterous feet. Whilst they can fly, its not often you see them doing so, and they more often then not retreat from ‘whatever’ on foot.

    For todays image I selectively desaturated the image to ‘reveal’ and highlight the Pukeko amongst the Ducks. Shining in the center of the image, I liked the final result with the Pukeko creaping forward into my image as most of the other birds just ignored me.

  • Afternoon Warmth

    I went for a stroll around part of Tuff Crater, in Northcote on Auckland’s North Shore this afternoon. There was a blustery cold wind coming from the harbor into the crater area. As I walked around I found a sheltered spot where the afternoon sun’s rays  warmed a patch of grass with fallen leaves.

    Sony in hand today, I had fitted it with one of my old legacy lenses, the 135mm (35mm equ) Juipter 11. Looking for a semi retro feeling image, I got down low and limited the depth of field (f4), allowing the golden sun to haze the image. The final result gives an impression it was a little warmer then it actually was.

    Post photo I reduced the image for web and rounded the corners in Gimp.

  • Winter Branches

    After work I went for a quick stroll around the same area I took on Sunday 13th May ‘Lazy Walk in the Park’. Just over a month and the trees were all bare. Ive been inspired by several people who take color photos in heavily snowed areas – the result being essentially a B&W image. My image today is in similar theme. With just a hint of blue filtering through the image, the bright cold sky silhouettes the leafless trees.

  • Natures Paintbrush

    As one would gather scrolling through my posts, I take a lot of still life and nature type photographs. This may be in nature itself, or capturing a street void of people. I actually enjoy taking pictures of people and events also, but I think I often use my photography time as my own little time-out or quiet time to (in the week at least) break from the day to day roles our work puts us under.

    Looking at todays image, what you wouldn’t know is that I was standing over a busy motorway with a good amount of people walking by on their way home. Titles ‘Natures Paintbrush’ I love the color todays sunset had, and the sweeping cirrus type clouds that look like they are converging upon the setting sun.

    Shot with the Ricoh and cropped to remove some of the foreground in Gimp. One more day till the weekend!