I love black and white photography and I try to aim for the moon. I look for compositions and light that works well for the genre. Here are my offerings.
“Aim for the moon and even if you miss you will land amongst the stars”
Lighting in the landscape sets the scene for stunning scenery be it stormy or calm waters or even over the top geography of rural roads.
Flowers and vegetables have interesting textures that often work well in black and white.
Sculpted statues are some of my favourite subjects to capture in black and white.
So what do you do when you wake on the first day of a three day holiday and it is raining…? Jump in the car and go on a rainy day road trip, of course.
On the way we found a wet sheep and a rusty old broken down barn…
The river was raging under the road bridge…
We stopped and splashed across the road to the old Langford store…
At last the rain stopped and we found the rainbow…. a great reward to end our rainy day road trip.
I love seeing birds in the wild doing what birds should be doing – flying free and catching their own food – even if they do feast on my fruit trees!
I have captured seabirds catching crabs both at home and on our travels.
Catching crab
Catching crabs
Once I fed a big seagull my ice-cream – or rather it stole it by dive-bombing from behind me and knocking the ice-cream from the ice-cream cone. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry but the amused onlookers thought it was hilarious. Needless to say, I didn’t get that photo – just a big fright! Does that count as feeding the birds?
Seagul.
I was so excited to see a hummingbird for the first time when in Oklahoma a few years back. The feeder attracted this one long enough for me to capture this image
Hummingbird
Taking time out to feed the sparrows in Paris
Feeding frenzy
My own bird feeder
Bird feeder
I love walking along a local pathway alongside the beach to find the baby shags being fed .
Lunchtime
So although watching the wild birds in their natural habitat is my preference, I have a friend who cares for rescue birds like this cockatoo. Sam the cockatoo likes to choose her own cookie. I’m not sure if it is the pink colour she was attracted to or the little seed-like sugar bits. She is quite a character and whilst she no longer flies, she can climb freely and loves being fed in this tree. She has been known to climb too high sometimes so her caregiver pretends to drive away and down she scrambles.
Not all that is red are flowers. This really was a challenge for me.
Red is not my favourite colour and I find it tricky to photograph its true colour so I couldn’t find too many in my archives. As I’m not able to hold my camera whilst wearing a sling, this is as good as it gets this week.
A very red grand piano – this beautiful instrument was provided to the people of Christchurch not long after the devastating earthquakes so they could play and/or enjoy some inspiring amidst the chaos.
Roses are red – and so are petunias and begonias
Red flowers not only roses
Fungi can also offer some reds in Autumn when life is not always rosy and colourful.
Frilly skirts
Red fungus
And here is my taonga/ treasure -my pounamu/greenstone “The spirit of life” I keep it in my little kit (flax bag) adorned with rosy red feather when I’m not wearing it. It brings me balance.
I’ve fallen behind – having shoulder surgery will do that! Currently typing with my left-hand. The next 8 weeks in a sling will be challenging.
Fall – although we call it Autumn down under.
Autumn/Fall
Falling apart
Falling Apart
Fallen down – and the rain was falling. No wonder that sheep looked at me like I’m crazy
Fallen down
Falling off – the diet – recovering from surgery means taking painkillers = eating comfort food to protect stomach lining = best excuse for balancing the diet ever!
Such happy travel memories of our Croatian trip.Plitvice lakes and Krka waterfalls – so many water-scapes and waterfalls. Walking alongside, walking across, around and above the waterfalls was a magical experience. Water, water everywhere.
“Plitviče Lakes National Park is a 295-sq.-km forest reserve in central Croatia. It’s known for a chain of 16 terraced lakes, joined by waterfalls, that extend into a limestone canyon. Walkways and hiking trails wind around and across the water.
Plitvice Lakes – Croatia
And when we got to Krka we could swim close to the waterfalls. How lucky were we to have this experience when we visited in 2018.
2020 was the final year in which visitors to Krka National Park were able to swim in Skradinski Buk, the largest and most-popular water asset situated there. From January 2021, the practice of swimming in this section of the park has been banned.
“Krka National Park is situated along the Krka River in southern Croatia. It’s known for a series of 7 waterfalls. Skradinski buk is one of the most attractive parts of the park. It is a massive, clear, natural pool with high waterfalls at one end and cascades at the other. It is the lowest of the three sets of waterfalls formed along the Krka river. In an area 400 m in length and 100 m in width there are 17 waterfalls and the total difference in height between the first and the last falls is 47.7 m.
Krka National Park – Croatia
Swedish landscapes
Where my Swedish family live in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Sweet memories of our most recent overseas trip in 2018 – who knows when we will return?
Boat harbour
Southern Archipelago, Gothenburg – Sweden
NZ landscapes A little closer to home – these images of the South Island of New Zealand are special to me as a ‘mainlander’. Taken over several road trips around the South Island in differing seasons, each has been a particular highlight.
Aoraki, Lake Pukaki and Lake Tekapo- the magical mountains and lakes of the Mackenzie region. Aoraki / Mount Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand. Its height, as of 2014, is listed as 3,724 metres (12,218 feet). It lies in the Southern alps, the mountain range which runs the length of the South Island.”
Aoraki
Aoraki reflected in Lake Pukaki
Lake Pukaki
Lake Tekapo
Aoraki/Mt Cook – Aotearoa/NZ
Hurunui Hinterland – we explored the Hurunui River from the source at Lake Sumner, a remote high country lake through the hinterland and Canterbury Plains to the Culverden basin and thence to the coastline of the Pacific.
“The Hurunui River is one of the most diverse braided rivers in Canterbury. It has two main branches, each with distinctive attributes originating east of the Main Divide in New Zealand’s Southern Alps. Some 150km long, the total catchment area of the river is 2671 km2.”
Road to Lake Summer
Hurunui Hinterland
Hurunui
Hurunui River Mouth
Hurunui North branch
Hurunui River – Mid Canterbury NZ
My last image has to be an especially favourite landscape though – it is the point of light at the end of the beach where I live. No matter how far I’ve travelled, there is no landscape like the one I live in – at home.
LightWriteLife 