theonlyD800inthehameau
Photography by theonlydeadheadinthehameau
Ropes and Rigging
Posted on November 21, 2016
I’m participating for the first time in the ‘Mundane Monday’ challenge hosted by PhoTrablogger. There are two aspects to the challenge: to find beauty in mundane objects and/or to place the mundane in a beautiful or interesting frame.
This image takes the second option. It was captured while on a late afternoon boat trip on Sydney Harbour a few years ago. The canoe at the centre of the photograph is a fairly mundane object in itself (although it was nice of it to be orange against the blue water). However, the rigging in which it is framed provides the real interest and – literally – focus.
To Scale: Sydney Harbour Bridge
Posted on July 29, 2016
The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a very large object, so certainly qualifies for Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge this week.
Wikipedia can give you all the statistics, but to get a visual idea of how big it is, look at this image of the central part of the metalwork and consider the fact that those are people standing on top of the structure, immediately below the flags. It’s possible – if you’re that way inclined – to take a tour of the bridge’s superstructure. I imagine the views are spectacular.
How To Foil A Cat
Posted on July 24, 2016
A smart way for the staff of the Botanical Gardens in Sydney to protect the trunk of this tree from the unwanted attentions of cats:
Weekly Photo Challenge: Cherry On Top
Posted on July 23, 2016
Having a sometimes overly literal frame of mind, finding an image to fit this week’s topic of ‘cherry on top’ presented some intial difficulties: i.e nothing in my collection with cherries on.
However, there is this photograph (which I admit to posting before, as part of Cee’s Compose Yourself Photo Challenge) of a performing seal at Taronga Zoo in Sydney that comes reasonably close to the mark.
Hugh’s Weekly Photo Challenge: Week 19 – Gap
Posted on March 29, 2016
In the gap betwen two high-rise buildings in central Sydney, here we see the New Year’s Eve firework display (with the added bonus of reflections in the plate glass). This was a 0.5 second exposure, but I think the resultant slight blur makes the light from the fireworks even more dramatic than it actually was.
Geometry
Posted on March 28, 2016
For the latest step in Cee’s Compose Yourself Challenge we are asked to consider the geometrical shapes within our images. Unusually, I had no problem finding potential candidates for inclusion in this selection. Quite the reverse, in fact, which is why, as an extra challenge, I confined myself to photographs that I took in Australia – mostly in and around Sydney – a few years ago.
This first image – of an upturned boat on the beach at Watson’s Bay, across the harbour from the city – contains multiple geometric shapes, in terms of both subject and composition:
Below are pairs of images featuring the most common geometric shapes. Hover over any picture for a (slightly) fuller comment.
Circles
Triangles
Rectangles
Hugh’s Photo Challenge: Week 16 – Behind
Posted on March 9, 2016
Before & After: Boat
Posted on February 19, 2016
I took this photograph of an upturned boat at Watson’s Bay, near Sydney. It was a bit of a snatched shot and while the subject is interesting, it’s a little frustrating because I didn’t capture the entire boat, cutting off the prow (at the bottom of the image) and the sides. Furthermore, the horizon (waterline) isn’t straight and the colours are rather bleached – partly because it’s a pretty weatherbeaten vessel in the first place and also because it was taken around noon – so I was probably on my way to lunch, which probably explains why it was a snatched shot.
Before
After
I cropped out most of the boat, the shoreline and the surrounding sand, and also added a light Vignette. This brought the real interest, the bottom of the boat, and especially the ‘trident’ effect of the struts, properly to the fore.
This produced an almost abstract feel, which was reinforced largely by reducing the Luminance and modestly tweaking the Saturation of the key colours, blue and orange
Colour basics
Posted on February 15, 2016
Cee’s Composition Challenge has now moved on to colour basics (I’m sorry; I just can’t bring myself to spell colour without the ‘u’), beginning with the difference between the warm and cool ends of the spectrum.
Cool
To begin with, two cool images from the United Arab Emirates; on the left, a mosaic ceiling panel from Wafi Mall in Dubai, while on the right is part of the landmark blue glass-plated façade of the Bainunah Hilton on the Corniche in Abu Dhabi.
Warm
By contrast, two notably warmer images: on the left, my grandson crawling through a brightly coloured tunnel in a childrens’ playground in Abu Dhabi. On the right a bunch of flowers from a table in the music room of Chateau d’Amboise.
Finally, two pictures, one warm and one cool. These were taken at the entrance to a cafe in a shopping mall near Circular Quay in Sydney. They are two individual images, as shot, illustrating that the same view of the same subject could be either warm or cool, depending on the light.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Trio
Posted on November 21, 2015
This photograph was taken at Circular Quay in Sydney, and is a detail from a sculpture depicting a settler family. It’s one of a series that commemorates Australia’s early days.
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