Imagine walking along a well populated inner city street, in a world famous city, and seeing a giant rock on top of a car in the middle of the road. The rock has landed right in the middle of the car’s roof and would have either seriously injured, or killed the occupant of the car on impact.
A well looked after garden is always nice to look at. I recently discovered a tourist attraction which has created new meaning to the art of gardening. This place is amazing, and sits amongst wineries in the famous Hunter Valley. It is appropriately named Hunter Valley Gardens.
Here is their austere Border Garden:
Taking photographs of high contrast landscape scenes can be a bit problematic. Generally, you have to give up something - wash out the sky, or dramatically underexpose the foreground. These are the choices I recently had to make. It would have helped if I had a graduated Neutral Density (ND) filter…
Here is a sunset shot. I really wanted to capture the amazing colour in the sky, so underexposing the foreground was the only choice. But, I happen to like the silhouette look that results - it makes the image a little more dramatic.
Wine tasting can be considered an art. Likewise, the winery itself can also be a work of art. Recently I visited the Hunter Valley in Australia, just over an hour north of Sydney. It’s a beautiful region and full of diversity.
Take two of the wineries as an example - one is ultra modern, and the other captures the atmosphere of an Italian villa….
Here is the more modern winery - all sleek lines and a chandelier hanging from a metal ceiling:
Photos that are taken front on can tend to look a little flat. And, even if you’re following all the rules of composition, it’s fun sometimes to bend them a little.
On a recent trip to Sydney, I was looking for different angles for the sights I know so well. Here is a way to ’shake things up’ - particularly if you’re very familiar with the subject.
Following on from last week’s blog post, here are some photos of reflections - cast by the glass from the Q1 building at Australia’s Gold Coast.
Some things just visually catch your eye, and this scene below was one of them. Atop the Q1 building on the Gold Coast (77 stories up), the afternoon sun was setting behind the mountains, and cast great big shadows of the high rises, over the beach at Surfer’s Paradise. The tallest shadow is Q1, which stands out like a sore thumb. You wouldn’t want to be getting a tan at that time of day!
Photographing through tinted glass was also interesting…
Have you ever wanted uninterrupted ocean views, from the comfort of your couch?
Well, who says the couch has to be in your living room???
It’s always nice to try different things out, and it’s funny where opportunities come from. Last weekend, I was invited to a Lexus customer event - you had to be invited by a Lexus customer to be able to attend.
Well, talk about seeing how the other half live - very nice indeed. I didn’t bring my SLR, but wished I had!
I’m sure you’ve heard of the expression ‘it’s a dog’s life’. Well, that was extremely evident this past weekend at the beach. I have never seen so many dogs romping around in the surf!
Here is a funny pair just waiting for their owner to throw the ball so they can see who is fastest. This is a great place to get some action shots. I’ll make a mental note to go back with my SLR, telephoto lens and tripod. I might look a little conspicuous, but maybe if I wear seaweed on my head??? 
