Reach For The Sky

Photographers Are Going Great Guns

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

I had a Sky Watch Friday post ready to auto-publish, when I scrapped it after having a lunchtime wander with my camera yesterday. While most of you are gearing up for summer, we're only a fortnight away from winter. Despite that, the sky has been a startling blue most of the week, with daytime temperatures around 20 Celsius.

The blue of an unsullied Australian sky is really something to feast your eyes on. So while I'm sure you have plenty of wide blue skies above you at the moment, I thought I'd give you a taste of what Melbourne looked like at lunchtime yesterday. This shot (above) was taken down at Southbank, looking across the Yarra River at the central business district. I had taken a few shots of the ferries when I looked at the clock tower of Flinders Street Station.

Realising it was almost one o'clock, I looked straight into the sun, shielded my eyes and reached for my camera. There's nothing better than shooting straight into the afternoon sun to produce a great effect across a camera lens, with lots of light flare across the frame.

Then I shot this frame (above) to prove that you can take a sky shot indoors! I was standing on the central stairwell at Southbank, shooting upwards. Not only can you see the clear sky through the glass atrium, the composition also provides an interesting combination of geometrical patterns - there is the graceful arc of the balcony and the handrail above it, as well as the sharp white triangles formed by the roof struts.

Finally, this shot (above) depicts a royal-blue sky above the gentle silhouette of a graceful metallic awning. For the next couple of days we'll have rain and hail and cloudy skies, but yesterday our sky looked like a giant blue riband under which we are privileged to live.

For other participants in Dot’s concept, go to Sky Watch Friday.

Right Angle

Right Time, Right Place, Looking The Right Way

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

Can you figure out what this photograph (above) shows? If you're not certain, let me repeat what I say when I get asked for the single most important piece of advice for budding photographers. Without exception, my advice is always to look around for the best shot, because it invariably comes from an angle or a viewpoint that you would least expect.

Now look at the second photograph (below). It shows a sunset, captured from the top of a hill here in Melbourne. Following my own rule, I checked to see if there was a good shot at a different point of the compass - and then I saw the same stunning sunset reflected in the windscreen of my own car. The first shot is simply that - the sunset reflected at the unusual angle of the windscreen.

It was just a lucky shot, I guess, because my car was parked in a random spot. But if you want another great example of why you should always look around you when you're shooting a really arresting scene, just go to Blue Riband.