This is taken from the other side of the pier from the previous image; many of the same comments apply

Another image that started with a photo taken using the 10-20 lens; actually it required very little tweaking; some adjustments to verticals and horizontals though (see below). It was taken on a day of contrasting weather on the Mornington Peninsula in Australia (near Melbourne). Bright sunny periods were broken by fierce squalls and downpours; always windy though, with big rollers ocean side of the peninsula and strangely quiet water bay side. The image shows the next squall approaching, bay side, and I feel I have captured some of the ‘quiet before the storm’ sense. Being up close to the pier created challenges for horizontals and verticals, yet the power of the pier and the lines converging to the horizon appealed. As often, there is no obvious subject of the image; the image is about patterns, textures and light. And the moral … even without an obvious subject there may be opportunities to take the non obvious; think,  always, think.

Well I am new to blogging, old to photography (50+ yrs) … and new to Photoshop Elements; PSE. And I love PSE’s ability to allow you create interesting, challenging and exciting images from your base photograph. Also its abilities to correct flaws in the photograph; and I am still learning about both.  Now the West Wittering 1 image (below) was shot using a 10-20 ultra-wide zoom, set at 10, crouching close to the beach. And no matter how much I tried a certain amount of distortion of verticals crept in; introduced by the slightest deviation, at that setting, from holding the camera precisely flat & horizontal. Camera designers please note, a plumb line and spirit level indicator in the viewfinder would be useful. Yet the image was close, and it appealed to me, even with the slightly distorted groyne pillars (made them look a bit like Easter Island statues J ) . Then I noticed an item under the ‘Filter’ menu … ‘Correct Camera Distortion’  … played with it a bit and whoopiedoo I can now ameliorate that vertical distortion. The moral is to never stop learning, never give up, never surrender … I can improve.

This was taken at Birling Gap on the south coast of England. I used an ultra wide zoom, 10-20, set to 10 and was pressed close up to the cliff face. The zoom creates the exaggerated convergence of lines and the view had multiple bands of colours from the cliff, various points on the beach, tidal rocks and sea. A little touch in PSE to control the contrast in the cliffs and Gaia had done the rest. Beautiful

BTW If anyone wants to try the same spot please be careful; you can see huge boulders where sections of cliff have come away; I took my chances and it is up to you how you manage yours

Some images can be just about pattern and texture. The base photograph had some nice patterns of waves rippling into the shore with a stormy channel off in the distance. So I pushed the contrast, sharpness and colour and created this image.

One day in Spring earlier this year I decided to go for a walk on the River Wey Navigation (near Guildford, Surrey, UK). And of course I took my camera with me. When I got home the results looked quite disappointing. What I took to be a bright day was actually a misty moisty day. The colours were washed out, there was no contrast, even the patterns and reflections looked dull. Many photos got deleted yet some I continue to work on; feeling that there was something there. The photograph below is the original; muted colours, sky washed out but yet I liked the composition. So I darkened the sky in the hopes of bringing out fluffy Spring clouds and blue skies. What I got were the power cables stretched across the river that my eye/brain had edited out. Almost gave up … but then I cropped it, which gave the boat more prominence and lost the power cables; but still washed out. So I flipped it over to black and white; that gave it much more impact and a bygone days feel. So then I gave it tints; sepia, green and blue. Sometimes you have to give up on an image; sometimes you have to persist. I hope you like the result (original first then the processed image)

So there I am, on the beach at West Wittering (near Chichester Harbour, SE England), one of my favourite locations. And there I am using an ultra-wide zoom and bent double to get as much as possible of the foreground, lining up a shot of the sun, the beach groynes, and the reflections/patterns in the sand. Almost there and then there is this Mum with her kids and one of the kids runs into shot and drops his bucket. ’Bother’, I thought, or words a bit like that and waited for him to pick it up. And waited, and waited and was about to ask Mum if I could move the bucket, when I realised that though it was not the shot that I had planned; it was better.  Moral of the story … don’t get too fixated on what you intend to photograph; try and observe the opportunities that are there. Think, always, think.

And I love the blue of the sky, the patterns and light in the sand, the bright sun, the dark groynes; and the bucket, well the bucket kind of pulls it all together.

‘The true mystery of the world is the visible not the invisible’. Oscar Wilde

A E Wainwright once, I believe, described his books as a love letter to the Lake District. Whilst nature is not the sole inspiration for my work it does inspire much of it. And it was down to that first trip to the Lake District when I was 11. My upbringing was in the suburbs of London. Holidays until that trip were to the coast, mostly Bournemouth and one trip to the Adriatic coast (tantalising distant vistas of the Appenines, but nothing close enough for inspiration). By no means under privileged yet the countryside was a mysterious and alluring place. And that first trip changed it all. I find the light, shapes and textures of nature fascinating, both in the grand vistas yet increasingly in the small details too. So I will call her Gaia, and Gaia dances; sometimes prettily and seductively, yet sometimes furiously and destructively; she is not tamed whatever some may think; sometimes capricious, yet not vicious; and so beautiful. And the images are my love letter to Gaia.

Well this isn’t the image I tried to upload but then I am a beginner at this. This is Humbug aka Duchess

This is my first attempt at creating a blog so forgive any errors and watch it improve (I hope)