Tag: bush

Wall of Colour

As mentioned the over the weekend during one of my walks, I came across an old abandoned/condemned area which had had a lot of erosion and landslips. Some of the track had gone with it, but you could make out an alternate track that ‘adventure walkers’ had made, and I followed.

Part of the fenced off area included a large reinforced concrete area, where today’s photo came from. Although there is a difference in my head between street art and graffiti, one thing for certain is its full of bright attracting colour. If it had not been for the colour, this area would have blended in with the bush.

Shot on my Sony Nex 5N and the Sigma 2.8/30 lens. In Gimp I added black boarder and resized for the net.

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‘Follow the Yellow Brick Road’

So…its not a brick road, or a yellow one at that, but ‘follow the orange flower trail’  didn’t have quite the ring to it that came to mind when I took, or view today’s image.

When out in the bush, in general, we get an amazing mix of forest colours – browns and greens essentially. These orange flowers that had fallen from the trees really stood out when we went through a trail in Fiji. When I captured the image, I was drawn to the trail of orange disappearing into the path ahead.

Originally captured in portrait, I went for a square format in my post processing – keeping all the subject matter in the image and not loosing anything of any relevance. Some people shoot a lot in square format – whether it be the traditional medium format 6×6 film, cropped digital or various smart phone apps. I do quite like the format, so may look at doing some more, probably B&W in it at some stage.

Cropping aside, I also pushed the saturation a bit to make the flowers pop, and slightly sharpened the image also.

Shot on the Ricoh GRD IV.

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The Bridge

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!

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The Fan

Taking a different route home today I passed by a small bush area called Stancich Reserve. In the middle of suburbia, the reserve contains a 1/2km bush-walk around one side of the reserve. Well covered/floored, the track proved popular for locals out for a walk and people training. It actually took a minute of waiting to get a clear spot for the photo.

As I passed through the track I came across this small fan/windmill that someone had stuck into the side of a tree. The bright yellow stood out amongst the forest greens and browns as I leaned out from the walking track to line it up for the shot.

Taken on the Nex, again with the 16mm lens, in post production I used Gimp to crop the aspect ratio, slightly change the contrast, and resize for posting.

Last day at work tomorrow before heading off on holiday – I’m ready for it!

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Hiding from the Sun

‘Hiding from the Sun’ came from one of my bush walks over the last month – I think Smiths Bush. I always love how the light filters through the canopy and down to the floor of the forest. Often one does not even realise how dark it is in the bush until you hit a pocket where the sun has broken through to peer inside.

Shot on the Ricoh, I resized for the net, but otherwise it is untouched.

Looking ahead to my Fiji trip in a little over a week, I am toying with the idea of taking a cheap and nasty (/fun) film camera along with my Ricoh. I will likely shoot in digital most the time, and rather then my Rollei 35, I’ll use something for a bit more of the lomography experience. We will see…I’ll look through what I have, and what I am waiting for in the post (have ordered a plamodel kitset camera for some fun) and make a decision closer to the time.

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The Epiphytes

The other week I took a journey through Smiths Bush. To one side of Smiths Bush is a main highway, and on the other side of that is what I assume is the far ‘lost section’ of the bush. A very short 5min walk from one end to the other, its mostly used by school kids as a short cut from their school to the nearby road I suspect.  In saying that, it was well kept and void of any rubbish and litter some might expect to come from a bush area so close to a school.

Being such a short walk I started scanning a little closer to the ground and trees, looking for something to get a shot of. Like the larger Smiths Bush, the trees were full of an array of epiphytes- mostly way up in the canopy, well out of detailed reach of the 28mm Ricoh. Across the trunks of several trees however sprung a collection of smaller leaved plants. I framed them up and caught today’s image.

Using Gimp, I then pushed the contrast and saturation up one level each and resized for the web.

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Smiths Bush

As spring slowly approaches the days are starting to lengthen out again. This still does not leave much light when I finish work, but left enough today for me to take a brisk walk around Smiths Bush in Northcote on Auckland’s North Shore.

It must have been about 5 years, possibly more, since I last went through the bush. It has turned into a wonderful local walkway there one could spend three quarters of an hour on a loop trail. The tall trees with mixed canopy, along with rotten fallen trunks really gives one the sense they are out in the bush/jungle.

Armed with my GRD and light fading fast, I captured a number of forest shots. In post processing in Gimp I played around with a few contrast and special layers, with the result being today image. When I get some more time I will definitely visit Smiths Bush again!

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New Life

Walking along a small bush path I came across a fern with a number of seedlings growing from its leaves. From memory I don’t recall ever seeing this before. There were a number of similar ferns around, but this was the only one with seedlings on it. Getting up close I caught this image. Its not crystal sharp, but I like the softness of it combined with the limited colors and dark background.

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Into The Jungle

I took a trip to Parry Kauri Park in Warkworth today. Located about 30min out of Auckland it is home to a small Kauri forrest, some being a few hundred years old. Its quite amazing when you look at the shear size of some of these tress that can live for more then several millenia – todays being babies! Tane Mahuta, New Zealands largest Kauri is estimated to be between 1250 and 2500 years old! – thats a lot of generations of people.

Local volunteers maintain a track that loops through the forest park. Its entirely boardwalk, which is good as there is a Kauri disease called Dieback that threatens our great trees that is spread through soil. If you come to visit the great forrests, please do wash your shoes with the spray disinfectant supplied at at risk areas. Anyway, walking through the park I took a number of shots, ‘Into The Jungle’ being todays chosen image. It was in a more open area of the walk – some of it gets quite dark due to foliage.

On a busy day when I don’t have time to take a shot I might post another image from the park. A great stop to make when heading north.

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Nature

One of the things I love about New Zealand is how close we are to all aspects of nature, even if we live in the central city. The beach, mountains and forests are all relatively easy and quick to get to. I had some time to kill after work, on the way to a mates house and stopped off for a quick bush walk. One minute in and you are away from the cars, traffic and people. The lush green freshness radiates the senses and offers a calming element to ones busy lifestyle. We are approaching winter at the moment, so it gets dark fairly early. Looking up at the moon through the rapidly darkening bush, I caught this shot with my GRD IV. With some minor editing I placed it into a square format and bumped the contrast a little to make the clean black silhouette of the forest.

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