photos and other things…
Out for a stroll we ventured to the Beach Haven Wharf. Looking North West’ish has us looking up to the end of the Waitemata Harbour.
Long been used as the areas main anchorage point (pre european), the harbour is sheltered from the ocean by Rangitoto Island and other small surrounding islands. The modern translation of Waitemata is ‘Sparking Waters’.
Shot on the Sony Nex with pancake 16mm
I mentioned it not long ago, but looking around my local area, we sure have a lot of dry areas. Fire services around the country have been busy putting out bush fires, and rain, aside from one day earlier in the week, seem elusive in Auckland.
Today’s shot is of the weather station up Mt Victoria in Devonport, with the ‘toadstools’ (I think I have featured them in the past) in the foreground.
Shot on the Sony Nex with 16mm pancake lens. In Gimp I added a adjusted ‘National Geographic’ filter, rounded boarder and resized.
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!
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!
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