Bright Idea

Ray, A Drop Of Golden Sun

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

Sometimes, Nature inspires us when we least expect it. The study in our home is a warm, inviting place, blessed by the sun right through the day, from sun-up to sundown.

There are floor-to-ceiling bookshelves with a treasure trove of literature from around the world. There are comfortable chairs. There are musical instruments. Sometimes, when I’m not looking, there is even an errant school bag tossed on the carpet.

More than anything else, it is an inviting place. It is an all-inclusive place. It is an embracing place where (frequently loud) music exists in harmony with time for reflection and creativity.

I have always been an early riser and I am frequently in the study before first light has crept across the vast Australian sky. Recently, I was working at my desk as the clouds teased the horizon, bringing gentle rain to a parched land.

Then, a solitary sunbeam broke through the moody sky, shining straight through the study windows. Despite the early hour, it was a strong burst of light and the shallow angle created this wonderful shadow across my desk. I quickly leapt up, strode into the next room and snatched my camera from its bag.

Sometimes you just have to seize the moment. Which moment? The moment at which images become more important than words.

Visit Mama Geek and Cecily, creators of Photo Story Friday.

The Sunday Roast

Mama Mia, She Has So Many Talents

This week's interview is with MamaGeek,
who writes the blog What Works For Us.

The first of the standard questions. Why do you blog?

First and foremost, for the community factor. I never imagined to meet and greet so many people through blogging. Secondly, it gives me a photography platform that forces me to practice on a more consistent basis since I always post a photo I took with every post.

What's the story behind your blog name?

Oh, I hate this question. It was the very first thing that came into my mind. In hindsight, I wish I'd named it something else or at least thought about it for more than 3.14 seconds. OY! My blogging voice has changed so much since I first (rather naively) started.

What is the best thing about being a blogger?

The best part about being a blogger, for me, is having a creative outlet to both share and learn from.

What key advice would you give to a newbie blogger?

Blog on your terms (when you want, what you want) and always remember, it's the honesty that keeps 'em coming back.

What is the most significant blog post you've ever read?

If I had to pick only one, I'd pick this - I'm a fan of anything written by Janet.

What is the most significant blog post you've ever written?

Being a whacko for macro, it's a photo I shot: Raindrop Reflections.

Today's Sunday Roast with MamaGeek is the 31st in a weekly series of interviews with bloggers from around the world.

A Frond In Need Is A Frond Indeed

Cleopatra Would Have Been A Big Fan

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

This post is dedicated to a (very) young man in Britain who is possibly my youngest reader. John (for obvious reasons, I won't identify him) asked his mother to contact me when I wrote the post Palm Reader, because he wanted to know if I had shot any other images in that sequence.

Yes, I did, and here they are at John's request, along with the story of why and how I actually shot them. We were on holiday on the Malaysian island of Langkawi at the time, and I was still blogging because I had my laptop with me. The weather was fairly stormy on the morning we flew in and while we explored the beautiful 40-acre property of the resort, I happened to spot this banana tree towering above me.

It took me a few seconds to work out what sort of tree it was, before I spotted the distinctive leaves, which are traditionally used in some parts of rural India as a substitute for plates. I figured it was a banana tree, but I'd never actually seen one where the branches fanned out in such perfect order, rather than growing at random angles.

It made an interesting silhouette against the dark, cloudy sky and I shot just one frame before walking on. The next morning, the weather had cleared, so of course I had to shoot the same scene and this time the bright green of the giant leaves worked beautifully against the clear blue sky. As I hit the trigger on this shot, I thought it looked like a giant Roman fan, of the sort that palace serfs would have held above Cleopatra to protect her from the elements.

But there was clearly a better angle to be had, so I explored the options with the shot below, which was the next one in the sequence. It was only then that I realised the most unusual angle, along with the geometrical precision of the fronds, would be best served if I composed a tighter frame - and you can see the best result here.

Visit Mama Geek and Cecily, creators of Photo Story Friday.

Curtain Call

My View Of An Island Paradise

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

Sometimes, adverse light conditions can be used to good effect. I shot this image last month, on the day we arrived in Langkawi, Malaysia. Our flight from Kuala Lumpur to the island was slightly delayed because of a storm over Langkawi and when we landed there was little more than a drizzle. Nonetheless, as we left the plane for the short walk across the tarmac in the tropical air, there was a veritable army of red-white-and-blue umbrellas for the passengers to use.

After we had checked in to our hotel and road-tested the pool, the pool bar, the a la carte menu and the amazing hillside villas, it was time to start taking some photographs. The chill of Melbourne’s winter long behind us, we began soaking up the heat.

The clouds were still grey, late on that first evening. But the weather gave me the perfect opportunity to frame an unusual shot. We were sitting in a quiet cabana near the restaurants, overlooking the pool, the beach and the great view of the Andaman Sea.

I left the family for a few seconds, confident in their ability to order the long, tall, dewy drinks - while I made the best use of the sky and the soft arcs formed by the transparent drapes of the cabana.

Visit Mama Geek and Cecily, creators of Photo Story Friday.

Post Of The Day

Today's joint winners are Katherine with Embedded; Dawn with Deconstructing My Past and Mama Geek with Buzzed. The other top contenders were Colleen with What's In A Name; House of Lime with Short Skirt, Long Jacket; Kathryn with Thursday Thirteen; Blog This Mom with Observing Force; Quilldancer with The Courageous Dragon Hunter; Hilary with Neighbourhood Hippiefest; The Goat’s Lunch Pail with Almost Done; Daryl with Thursday’s In The Hood; Almost There with Nature Lover; Ramblings Around Texas with Double Rainbow and Miss Understood with Great News. Do pay them a visit and leave a comment if you have time.

You can nominate a post too. Just leave a comment here with the URL or link - and tell us the name of the blogger you are nominating. Righty-o, then, it's over to you ....

The Wild Blue Wander

There’s Always Time For Clarity

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

About a month ago, I’d planned to take a lunch break and to walk out into the city with my camera. But the weather closed in, not surprisingly, because we’re still in winter here.

The rain stopped just after two o’clock and so I ventured out, ready to seek shelter if the weather deteriorated. I only spent about half an hour in the city and was on my way back to work. I had replaced the lens cap on my camera, but I was still looking around for any unusual shots.

Because it was very windy, a tiny patch of sky began to clear as I walked down Elizabeth Street. A couple of minutes later, by the time I got to the pedestrian crossing at Flinders Street, I could barely believe what I could see. The little patch of clear, unsullied blue was almost summery in its intensity – and it sat regally above the central clock tower of Flinders Street Station.

While I waited to cross the street, I knew I had to take the shot. Off came the lens cap and I fired the shutter exactly where I stood, using the zoom to compose an unusual view to include the silhouetted outline of the traffic lights to the left of the frame.

A couple of minutes later, I was back at my desk at work and showed this shot to a colleague of mine, a graphic designer who is also a keen photographer.

"Nice shot," he nodded. "When did you take it?"

"Coupla minutes ago," I explained, as he shook his head in disbelief.

You see, the huge window near our desks gave us a splendid view of the Melbourne skyline, completely shrouded in grey, threatening cloud cover.

I guess it’s a bit redolent of life experience. It doesn’t matter how many problems loom on the horizon, we just need one solitary, brief flash of clarity or inspiration to see our way forward.

Visit Mama Geek and Cecily, creators of Photo Story Friday.

In The Pipeline

Happy To Go With The Flow

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

You could be forgiven for thinking that this was shot in Spain, where the red-and-yellow colour scheme would be a great representation of the colours of the national flag. But no, this was taken in Malaysia.

It was our first full day in Langkawi. A brief early-morning storm had just gone through and the sky was starting to clear. I was fairly high up on the hilly 40-acre property that is home to the Sheraton and I’d shot a series of skyline shots, as well as some close-up frames of raindrops glistening on flowers and shrubs.

I guess it’s funny how your perception is heightened when you have a paintbrush, a sketch pencil or a camera in your hands. Every object in your immediate surroundings becomes a potential focus of interest.

With this in mind, I began walking downhill towards the hotel’s swimming pool, which is set against the backdrop of the Andaman Sea. That’s when I spotted this pipeline on the side of one of the villas that dot the property.

My initial instinct was to compose a tight horizontal frame, concentrating on the large lug nuts and segmenting the frame into a yellow-on-top and red-on-the-bottom essay. As I was about to hit the trigger, I noticed the green creeper emerging from the lush soil below.

Immediately, I changed the composition from horizontal to vertical, with the aim of including a solitary leaf. I guess that’s a gentle parable of life, isn’t it? No matter how heavily we rely on technology and man-made objects, we can never ignore the power of Nature.

Visit Mama Geek and Cecily, creators of Photo Story Friday.

Post Of The Day

Today’s winner is Mama Geek with Some Things You Can’t Un-See. The other top contenders were A Mask To Hide Behind with Folk Law; Menopausal Old Bag with Pollyanna And God Preserve Us From Her; The Texican with Olio; Woman In A Window with Forgetting Time; Nessa with No Stopping Any Time; Jules Stones with Cove Palisades; Pea Green Boat with What Not To Wear; Sandy Carlson with White Flower Farm; Lavinia Ladyslipper with Intriguing People Part II and Daryl with Odd Shots. Do pay them a visit and leave a comment if you have time.

You can nominate a post too. Just leave a comment here with the URL or link - and tell us the name of the blogger you are nominating. Righty-o, then, it's over to you ....

Thank you for your amazing support - this blog received more than eight thousand visits (and many more page views) in June.

Arch Weigh

It's All About Looking At The Big Picture

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

For a bloke who’s fairly observant, there are some things that completely escape my attention. I can multi-task, but sometimes – just sometimes - my powers of speech desert me while my brain nimbly juggles several equations.



Take Wednesday evening, for example. I was marshalling about six different thought processes on a very busy, very gusty, very cold, sub-Arctic evening when I announced to the beautiful Mrs Authorblog and the Authorbloglets that I was going to put the pork steaks in the washing machine and that I had already put the swimming gear and wet towels on the barbecue.



They trust me. No, really, they trust me.



All Mrs Authorblog did was to raise one eyebrow. And yes, I assured her the swimming gear HAD been correctly programmed in the washing machine. And yes, the pork steaks DID get sensationally cooked on the barbecue, even if the wind chill on the summit on Everest was considerably less cruel than it was in wintry Melbourne.



The same sort of thing happened when I shot these photos a few days ago. Let me just ask you this question – do you, like me, think through your lens when you have a camera in your hands? Is your thought process governed by what you see through your viewfinder? If you answered yes to both of the above, then you’ll empathise with what I’m about to tell you.



I was walking down Elizabeth Street when I noticed these graceful arches on the side of a building across the street. I liked the weather-beaten effect on the building’s façade, and the intricate work on the horizontal columns. So I shot the first frame (above) in a tight composition governed by the shape of the arches.



Then I thought it would be nicer to get another point of reference into the shot. Without putting the camera down, this is what I did next. I kept looking through the viewfinder. I had the camera in my right hand, comfortably gripping the stock of the Pentax. At the same time, I used my left hand to manipulate the focal length of the 18-125 lens. It’s kinda standard practice for me.



As I opened up the frame slightly, working the lens anti-clockwise, I saw a yellow-and-orange signboard below. Yup. The colours were the perfect foil for the grey exterior of the building, as you’ll see from the shot below.



``Bookstore,’’ I thought to myself as I hit the shutter. It was only a split-second later that the light came on in my brain and I realised what kind of bookstore it was.





Visit Mama Geek and Cecily, creators of Photo Story Friday.

Caption Hook

Don’t Get Left Behind - All Right?

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

Never heard of a hook turn? No worries – I hadn’t heard of 'em either, until I first came to Melbourne as a visitor, back in my days as a globetrotting sportswriter. Because trams operate in this beautiful city, some intersections in the central business district are designated with hook turn signs, to keep traffic moving smoothly.

Let me explain. We drive on the left of the road (you knew that, didn’t you?) but at these intersections you have to make right turns from the left lane. Er, no, I’m not kidding you.

To get the definitive method of performing this splendid manoeuvre, check out Hook Turns and next time you’re in Melbourne, give me a hoy so I can show you exactly how it’s done.

I shot this image this afternoon. Why? Because the sign was crooked and I thought it would make an unusual shot, along with an explanation of one of Melbourne’s quirky road rules.

We go left to go right. Which makes perfect sense, in a laconic Australian sort of way.

Visit Mama Geek and Cecily, creators of Photo Story Friday.

Seeing The Light

It Was Like The Stairway To Heaven

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

A couple of years ago, I arrived in Montreal on the second leg of a photography assignment for the Canadian Tourism Commission. I dropped my luggage off at my hotel and immediately set out on foot to explore the city. It was not long before I found myself at the Notre-Dame Basilica or Basilique Notre-Dame, as the locals refer to it.

Instead of walking straight to the basilica, I took several shots in and around the square before walking over to the front of the great cathedral. To my good luck, the time lapse while shooting scenes in the vicinity worked to my advantage.

Right in front of one of the large banners proclaiming "And Then There Was Light" was a maintenance worker. He was up a ladder, replacing a light globe. He noticed me as I got my cameras out. Catching my eye, he courteously asked me if I would like him to get down and move the ladder out of the way so I could get an unobstructed view.

I grinned. I told him not to worry. I could get a shot of the basilica at any time. But it would take a huge effort to choreograph someone changing a light globe in front of a sign that said "And Then There Was Light" – at such a magnificent place of spirituality and worship.

As far as timing goes, I could not have been luckier. Maybe there was a little divine intervention on my behalf.

Visit Mama Geek and Cecily, creators of Photo Story Friday.

Is That Grey, Zane?

Yes, There Is Beauty In A Dull Winter Afternoon

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

I went for a walk at lunchtime this afternoon and, as always, I had my camera with me. As you know, it's winter here in Australia and today was one of those dull, cloudy days when there are endless possibilities with a camera.

The Yarra River was a long ribbon of silver-grey and I wondered how I could possibly capture some of that in isolation. Then, as I walked across Princes Bridge I saw this ancient tree between Federation Square and the riverbank. Its glossy, dark burgundy foliage was the perfect foil for the rippling surface of the river.

This post is in response to Mama Geek and Cecily's new theme, Photo Story Friday. Pay them a visit and see how easy it is to take part. In Mama Geek's own words: "Post photo(s) that you took and simply tell the story behind it. Explain why you pressed the shutter button, what memory it invokes, what we don't know, why you love it or why you don't. Any subject."

Anything to do with photography, you can count me in ... even on a cold winter afternoon. Who said grey wasn't gorgeous?

Post Of The Day

Today we have a triple tie for first spot. The winners are Sandy Carlson with Acceptance And Rejection: Two Sides of the Same Coin; Mama Geek with Raindrop Reflections and Carolyn with On Making Babies and how to Talk To God. The other contenders were Mother’s Pride with Hair To Dye For; Maggie May with My Mother; Us in France with Watch Your Ps and Qs; Crystal Jigsaw with Between The Lines; Crazy Cath with It Was Worth Every Bit Of It and Sue Nicholson with Long. Do pay them a visit and leave a comment if you have time.

You can nominate a post too. Just leave a comment here with the URL or link - and tell us the name of the blogger you are nominating. Righty-o, then, it's over to you ....

Post Of The Day

Today's winner is Mama Geek with Jock Itch Aisle 4. Among the other leading contenders were Casdok with Happy Mothers’ Day; Nicole P's Surrendering to Moon Sand; Seamus with Critter Bits; Shrinky with If It Ain’t Broke; Miss Sniz with I Want A New Drug …; Melissa with Royal Delivery and her sister Melinda with Sunrise Sunset; Sandy Carlson with Andrew Needs A Real Dog and finally, two of the briefest posts you'll ever read - Dawn's Note To Self and Bart's I’m Not Saying. Do pay them a visit and leave them a comment if you have time.