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  • Guns of North Head

    A rainy old Sunday here in Auckland today. Still, I wanted to get out and about for a walk and brought my Nex 5n along as it frequently gets left at home for the pocket friendly GRD. In addition to this I brought along my Ricoh 35mm camera, for which I have a few B&W frames left on the film to finish still. I went for a stroll around North Head and its old wartime fortress remains. Shortly into the walk it started bucketing down and the sony stayed put in my bag. My cellphone, for which I have less value for proved trustworthy in the rain and I managed to get some pictures. Todays image is of some of the old guns on the hill. Backed up by a massive disappearing cannon, these guns from WW2 were never used in anger, and only used for ceremonial activities. Long since decommissioned, they remain as part of the reminder of New Zealand’s wartime activities.

    As above, todays image was taken on my mobile phone, Samsung Galaxy i5800 (3mp), using the vignette app, and post edited in photoshop with a slight bump up of contrast. There was nothing to see but a cloud of rain in the distance, not particularly great light for photos, but I like the result.

  • City in a Puddle

    Another wet Auckland City image taken on my Ricoh. I was having a walk along the outskirts just after dark when I notice the reflection of the city in one of the larger puddles. Unedited from the camera, I love the colors and the lines. Perhaps a ‘rats eye view’?

     

  • The Orb

    Painting by light

    Friday! I was busy taking and editing work team photos this afternoon, so didn’t get a chance to head out and take any shots after work. So – another from my archives. I have always liked long exposure evening shots – both in film and on digital, waiting to see what the lighting looks like when it is dark to the naked eye. Some time last year I came across a guy called Dennis Smith and his ‘painting with light orbs’ – give him a google, some breathtaking images. Following this I built a basic orb maker and went out to take some shots. It was a lot of fun and i’ll have to go do some more some time to try and perfect it. This one was taken on a Sony A230. It wasn’t my best orb, but I likes the color and how it was floating in between the trees.

  • By the Lake

    On my way home today I stopped for a wander on the local lake on Auckland’s North Shore, Lake Pupuke. The ‘Pump house’, featured in the photo, now a place to see small theatre, was in 1894 a functioning pump house supplying the lakes fresh water to residents on the North Shore. Local Maori legend tells of a couple who cursed the god of fire. In retribution for her, the god of earthquakes and volcanoes destroyed their home – the lake being the result. Todays its much more peaceful and used for various recreational activities from fishing to windsurfing.

    Taken on my GRD IV and converted in Gimp to B&W with the contrast up a notch. Also resized to a similar aspect to the ‘Golden Ratio’

    One more weekday to go!

  • Lost Sunset

    I have mentioned that with Winter approaching the days have been getting shorter and shorter. As a consequence, it’s often dark as I leave and go home from work during the week. Today I left just prior to sunset. It was a particularly amazing red sunset tonight, glowing off a mass of clouds. I battled the traffic to get to a local beach to catch it, but missed most of the sunset but the time I got to my destination… never mind!

    Taken with the GRD set to ‘cross processed’ and with the saturation bumped up in post process, I caught the last ray of color before it all vanished.

    Happy mid week!