• 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.

  • 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!

  • 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.

  • Some weeks it seems like Friday has taken a long time to arrive. This week felt a bit like one of those. With a questionable weather forecast for the weekend ahead, I made sure I had time to go for a bit of a wander after work to get some fresh air, unwind and get a few shots in before sunset. The light was particularly nice this evening and I managed to get a number of images to choose from for todays post. I settled on this macro shot of a small wild flower staring out across the grass at the ocean below the cliff top. I think the image reflected my mood to unwind, forget the working week and begin to relax for the next few days ahead. Taken on my ricoh with rounded boarder and a slight brightness adjustment in post processing. Have a great Friday!

  • 95% of the time I either carry or are at arms reach to one of my handful of cameras. Every now and then, as with the above photo ‘Pink Flowers’ I find myself seeing an image I like, but not having a camera on me – not a traditional dedicated camera anyway. Mobile phone cameras have come a long way from those initial .5MP sensors a few years ago. This image, taken on a Samsung Galaxy 3 (not S3), whilst not as high a quality as my usual cameras, still does a fair job when one is stuck without a camera. Although the recent release is playing up on my phone, I rate the android app Vignette (used for this image). It has a host of customizable options and filters etc. For some impressive mobile phone photos, head over to mobilephotogroup.com – I came across them recently and am impressed with the images some people are pulling out of their iPhone’s, Galaxy’s etc. Todays image, taken on a crisp cool morning caught my eye as the sky was a rich blue and the morning light gave the pink flowers a soft glow.