The end of a hot (40c) heavy day; Gaia in a heated sullen mood. No breeze, the sea had barely the energy to roll, just oily and hummocky. Yet then she put on this beautiful sunset, all golden yellows, oranges and reds. A promise for the next day when a soothing breeze sprang up and the temperatures eased a little. She is not without mercy. Ok I gave it a bit of a boost in photoshop; she is a lady and appreciates a touch of blusher and a little lippy.

When I was 17 and again when I was 20 I did a youth hostelling trip to Norway; in each case spending a few days in Sweden. And all I could afford to eat in Sweden was boiled potatoes and meatballs sold by street stalls; their only redeeming feature being that you could help yourself to as much pickle as you liked. I was not very impressed by Sweden.

Last weekend I went back for the first time since those youthful days. I ate fresh salmon and new potatoes, veal & risotto, and beautiful hot smoked salmon with potato salad. And on the pretty island of Hono I sat in the warm summer sunshine eating a slice of pecan pie accompanied by a glass of pear cider and I reflected on how much nicer Sweden seemed now.

And as I sat there I watched boats coming in and out of the harbour, some modern fibre glass hull boats, yet a good selection of traditional wooden boats. And I started photographing one such boat and suddenly realised there were interesting reflections as the prow cut through the water. I only had time to get off a handful of shots before the boat’s angle and direction changed. This is one of those images with a lovely 3 way reflection. I like Sweden.

And yes this is very similar to the previous post yet it an emphasises an important point. It is similar yet it is not the same. It was based on a photo taken a few seconds later. And water is so … well fluid 🙂  so the image is constantly changing. So, if you have a digital camera then get a large memory card then if you spot something interesting then take lots. Even if it’s not water then slightly different exposures, shutter speeds, framing etc all create potential variation. Have fun.

So, my muse and mentor is in the country and I am being challenged to think about why I am writing this blog and what I want to do with my image making. A hard question. The emotional answer is that I love photography and with the discovery that I could take it to another level then that is exciting and fascinating.  But then I have to try and think it through a stage further. Hard, vey hard. And yet thoughts emerge. Over the years I have taken many tens of thousands of photographs; some of them happy personal memories, some of them junk and some images that really please me. And it is this latter category that forms the material for this blog; sharing with others images that I hope will achieve a reaction … ‘wow’ is always good, yet I hope for thoughts of beautiful, interesting, exciting. Even irritation is a reaction as, with the others, they might encourage all of us to create more images and more reflection, in my case, particularly upon this beautiful planet we inhabit. And every day there are vast numbers of photo opportunities, most of which get missed; plenty for all.

The image below is just such an image. Reflections in a Copenhagen canal at Christmas  time. Most were taking photos of the elegant buildings; I loved the reflections in the water…. A tweak in  photoshop and here we are.

Well it has been a while since my last post; my muse and mentor has been in the country and that has kept me occupied. So now a time to finish (for now) the story of that trip to the East coast of Tassie. And yes the promised storms never quite materialised and Gaia put ion her pretty clothes instead. And yes the sky and sea were very blue, and the rocks were quite pink (pink feldspars in the freycinet peninsula granite). A lovely end to the trip.

And the next morning the sullen stubborn storminess persisted for a while as we travelled down the SE coast of Tasmania. And this first photograph shows just that, an expectant lull before the storm that never happened. The first image has had nothing done to it. It is, to my mind, rather flat and lifeless, giving little of the feeling of the pent up energy that was the actuality.

But I felt it had potential, so … So I pushed it. Pushed the sharpness and the colour a little. Darkened the sky to bring out the rolling turbulent clouds and then added some different lighting effects; experimenting as I went along and producing many versions along the way. I like this particular version as it has the feel that was closer to the actual day, far more energy than the original and with hints of the blue sky that was to come a few hours later.

Yet I did have some fun and produced the next image from one of the earlier versions. I think I read too much Lovecraft in my youth and this is a rather sinister other worldly strange beings vision. Hope you like the image, but perhaps avoid the books unless you want some sleepless nights … hahahahaheheheaaaaaaaargh!

So whilst we waited for the fire to die down (see previous post) we went to the coast near a village called Falmouth. It is actually on the estuary of a stream called the River Wey, so it should have been called Weymouth … or not. The place names are interesting in Australia, some aboriginal, some given in flattery to political/public figures back in the UK; and some just given by the ragtag collection of convicts, freed convicts, free settlers and soldiers, sent there 10000 miles from a home they could never hope to see again. So they named places after home, a collection of names muddled from all over the UK just as they were. Bittersweet to see the names, to see how some prospered into towns and how some remained just a couple of houses.

And this image was taken on the beach, still stormy with great billowing dark clouds, threatening the downpour that never quite happened. A beach so covered in beautiful shells that you almost regretted each footstep for the beauty it was crushing; but then the next few tides would wash up their replacement.

In February 2012 I was travelling up the central highway (!! It’s one lane in each direction) in Tasmania and then turned east towards the coast. There had been a couple of rainstorms and then the sky grew some ominous clouds like a huge storm was brewing. Gaia in a wild mood; or not as the storm never happened. But the temperature plummeted to 21 (toasty for a Pom)  and the lovely guy who ran our B&B had lit a blazing fire and laid in a big supply of coal and logs. Not liking to upset him we said ‘great’ and went out for a drive to the beach and then meal whilst the fire died down.

I have often commented on the beauty and ever changing nature of water; after all, Tethys was Gaia’s daughter 🙂 And I have also commented upon the need to utilise the capability of the digital camera to take many images, both to capture those ever changing moments and also to try slight variations in framing, shutter speed, aperture etc. And I have had many exchanges (!) with camera club diehards where they insist on the need to get it ‘right’ first time every time in the camera. But there is no ‘right’, it is what pleases you and perhaps others, and the ability to capture moments and create images from these moments. This image was taken at the same location, just a few seconds apart from the preceding image in this blog. Yet I cropped it hard and pushed the colours in photoshop to create an abstract that has the feel and vitality of the underlying subject. So I encourage you to use the capabilities and potential of digital; and if you are still using film (and yes I still have and use film cameras) then it is simply a different mindset, neither better nor worse, but different. Don’t listen to the diehards; have fun and create instead.

Water is fascinating; waves and waterfalls, streams and ripples; it moves and changes shape by the second and is constantly changing. Even apparently still waters will have ripples, currents, motion. And no two photographs will ever be exactly the same; a photoimaginators playground with room to experiment with exposures, apertures, shutter speed … and imagination.