Design found in Nature

Made last weekend at Chewton Lake in Central Victoria this image makes use of several key design elements. The water runs, in a diagonal line, from top left down to bottom right. This line leads the eye through the frame. The softness of the flowing water provides a strong contrast with the hardness of the [...]

Abstraction through Shape

Abstraction allows the artist to present the world in a way somewhat differently to how it would normally be perceived. I believe there are three ways by which the photographer can present the world: realism, by that I mean depicting the subject in a recognizable manner; suggestion, where the object is photographed in such a [...]

Composition_Foreground, Midground and Background

I’ve visited this location many times while running workshops in the Castlemaine area of Central Victoria. On my most recent visit I noticed how the reeds near the lake foreshore were illuminated with warm, soft light. I moved in close with a wide-angle lens to place extra emphasis on the reeds and contrast their warm [...]

Frame Within a Frame

Here’s a very straightforward image, and a pretty accurate representation of the actual scene. But why make the picture? And what’s it about, other than the sign and the message it contains?
While the sign and the color of the dam and surrounding landscape drew my attention, I didn’t think that was enough to make a [...]

Water Detail

 
Here’s an image that was shot very much from the hip. I saw the patterns in the water, raised the camera to my eye and, with one or two adjustments, made the exposure.
While the image features water it is really a study in design concentrating on shape, pattern, repetition and contrast (both tonal and color). [...]

Architecture Bathed in Light

This is a largely design based image. Made at sunrise on Mandalay Hill in Mandalay, Myanmar (Burma) I remember being drawn to the scene by the color and shape of the architecture and the lovely quality of the light. I organised the composition to emphasize the line, shape, repetition and colors within the scene. I loved [...]

Photographing Reflections

 
Photographing this scene was an incredible experience. I was spending the night camping with a few photography friends at the Pink Lakes National Park in Sunset Country 70 km west of Ouyen, along the Mallee Highway, in far North West Victoria, Australia. The Pink Lakes get their name from the deep red pigment carotene that [...]

An Exercise in Design

 
While this image features subject matter that is familiar to many who visit Thailand it was, in fact, made over the border in the far less visited country of Myanmar (Burma).

Texture – A Key Design Element

 
 
A key design element, particularly in black and white photography, texture describes the relative roughness or smoothness of a surface. While a rough surface has a more highly textured appearance than a smooth one, it is the correct application of light that enables the viewer to perceive surface details.
Maximum texture can be achieved with a relatively hard light, [...]