In the earlier Uluru image I talked a little about the limitations imposed by a camera of modest specification; the lighting was too harsh and  with an 8mp camera of limited specification, no auto exposure bracketing and in a tour group that needed to move on before I could try multiple angles, exposures etc the  result was nice but could have been better. The moral is to try lots of alternatives on the same view; and have a great camera … well maybe. Yes it helps in difficult conditions, but this image was taken with a 5mp compact. It was a time when my main cameras were a 35mm SLR and a beautiful Bronica medium format. But I had the compact as I could buy an underwater housing for it and go diving with it.

And on a whim I took it along when climbing a mountain called Blencathra in Cumbria; not exactly diving terrain in a pond about a metre deep! And the lighting conditions were not so harsh, and when my son and I had puffed and panted our way to the top, he waited patiently whilst I took many photos. And whilst the shots on film are better this shows that even a modest camera can take a beautiful photo. What you need is an eye for composition, a brain to recognise the opportunity, oh and a beautiful model.

Well  I was going to move on from waves for a while yet a few new people have registered, so in the belief that they like my waves, this is me waving hello.

I was on a beach on the Mornington Peninsula and getting wet. I was glad to get wet as standing in the dry meant I was getting bitten mercilessly by  Aussie horseflies, and wet seemed a better option. Despite the flies and the wet I took a lot of photographs. Beautiful rollers, bright blue sky and a fresh wind … but next time I will remember industrial strength insect repellent … who says you don’t have to suffer for your art … and sometimes Gaia likes to bite a little.

This photo was taken at Uluru (the aboriginal name for Ayers Rock). It is a strange and beautiful place. Before I had even arrived I had decided not to climb it (to the aboriginals it is an important spiritual place; and it being their place they feel responsible for those who die whilst climbing it) and when walking around the rock and I got to the climb point I thought ‘good call Ash’. It is steep and with few features … once you start to fall there is nothing to stop you. Yet there are a few odd features, strange pits and holes where the imagination can see heads or mouths or eyes, and the aboriginals have woven many dreamtime tales around these features. And one of these features is this wave formation. Now as an ex geologist I know what causes this; it is torrential floods of water trapped in a gully or ravine carving its way into the sides. Only this one is weird; on one side is the rock, and though there are occasional storms, on the other side of the rock there is … well vast undulating desert … nothing to stop the water spreading out into this plain and hold it against the rock in order for it to carve this wave. So it is puzzling; and no one I have talked to can explain it. So I photographed it; not a great image; using a camera of modest specification in fiercely contrasting light; yet an image that interests me.

This image is truly hot off the press. It has been a difficult Spring in the UK; Gaia reluctant to cast off her Winter woollies and put on her pretty new year clothes; cold and grey. Yet yesterday was a good day. I drove to the Dorset coast, one of the few day-tripable places near me where you can get waves crashing on rocks. The weather was glorious, still cold but bright and sunny and, optimist that I am, a Spring feel at last. I took my cameras and went for a sprightly walk over the cliffs on the Jurassic coast. What a battering it had taken from last year; the footpath down to the beach had been partly washed away and there were huge falls of chalk on the beach where sections of cliff had fallen away. Very beautiful and dramatic, white chalk cliffs, grey Jurassic limestone outer cliffs, a beach of fine orange pebbles, turquoise/grey sea, blue sky and white breakers. Lovely. Yet a dangerous lovely; At times the wave I was photographing decided to play and I got soaked, thigh level, and it was a cold day; and the undertow will have been fierce on a steeply sloping beach. Now, from a person who has (albeit some time back) hung onto a cliff top with one hand, whilst digging out fossils with another, a warning thought.  You do have to balance, getting the image with not getting killed. Taking photographs from the car park is safe (well other than the eedjit drivers around) yet what you tend to get is safe photographs. Yet dying for my art is not on my life plan. I saw a quote on Facebook today … ‘Life’s journey is not to arrive safely at the graveside with a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting ‘holy shit! … what a ride” ‘. Here’s to getting the mix right.

Now I like waves; no surprises there for anyone who has been following this blog. Big crashing waves are exciting and create many fascinating shapes and textures. Even quite small waves have their moments.

I also like sunsets. The trouble with sunsets is that no matter how beautiful the sunset is; someone, somewhere has photographed a better sunset, or even got a slightly better angle on your sunset.

So there I was taking a stroll at sunset along Port Phillip Bay near Melbourne. And they were having an unseasonal (March) heatwave, temperatures in the mid 30s, wind didn’t have the energy to blow, waves didn’t have the energy to wave, just a shallow torpid roll, almost oily looking (and the bay is clean!). Yet there were patterns of light and textures in the water; a wavy sunset photograph. The untouched version was good but I still played in photoshop, feeling there was more to discover … sharpen, push the contrast and then I pushed the colour. This is the result, an almost abstract quite aboriginalesque (I am a big fan of Australian aboriginal art), that pleases me intensely.

Oh and a plug … if you go to Melbourne, go to the Authentic Aboriginal Art Shop on Bourke Street. It is run by a lovely lady called Alexis. She is incredibly knowledgeable, enthusiastic and helpful about the art.

Well I went to Brighton to have lunch with some friends. And after we parted I took a stroll along the seafront. The sky was dramatic and the sea calm; perhaps Gaia had had a good lunch with a couple of glasses of decent pinot noir too. The images were lovely yet looked a certain oomph. So I played in photoshop; pushing the contrast, lower the brightness. Definitely more oomph. So then I pushed the colour to the extreme; now I was getting somewhere yet the image lacked focus. So I stole a yacht from an image (something I have just learned how to do) from my much loved West Wittering; actually I stole it twice, What you see is the result. Hope you like it.

So; moving on from waves … or maybe not. This is taken at one of my favourite locations, West Wittering beach and although nit is not an image of waves it is an image of the actions and movements of waves have sculpted and moved on. And these shapes and textures will remain only until the next tide, when the waves will sculpt something new, every time something new, down to slight differences in tides and winds and currents.

Waves have so many shapes, so many textures and forms. I could watch the sea for hours; oh yes … I do.

There is an episode of Frasier where Frasier and Niles go into a coffee shop and the barrista asks them if they want their usual. And Frasier is so pleased to have a place where someone knows his usual … so OK it is a comedy show and they have walked into the wrong coffee shop and are mistaken for someone else. Well my usual is to go for powerful colours, strong contrasts and intense textures. So one day I was playing with this image and did the opposite; pushed the brightness up high, lost most of the detail and muted the colours. The result, an impression of a wave; just the hint. I like it; so perhaps we all need to lose the usual at times.