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Posts Tagged ‘water’

PHOTO OF THE DAY #353

Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged , , , , , , , , on April 23, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

“Fountain Rainbow” : Tokyo, 18th March 2012

I walked around the grounds of the Imperial Palace in central Tokyo, only to be disappointed in finding that the eastern section, the only part normally open to the public, was closed due to it being a national holiday.

Nearby, however, I found an interesting little park with a fountain, which although not too exciting in itself, proved to be a rich hunting ground for interesting details like this tiny rainbow suspended in the cascading droplets.

Of course, this is flawed in that I didn’t use a high enough shutter speed to properly freeze the liquid, but still I think it makes for an interesting warm, fuzzy kind of image more akin to a canvas than a photograph.

Click here to see a larger version of this photo.

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PHOTO OF THE DAY #310

Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged , , , , , , on March 11, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

“Frozen Fountain Flow” : Rome, 28th March 2011

Another shot from my last day in Italy almost a year ago (see Photo of the Day #304).

This time I went for monochrome as it seemed to highlight the sheet of water more, and by now I was pushing the shutter speed up 1/3200th of a second to really freeze the flow (technical aside – I had to increase the ISO to be able to shoot at such high speeds, which resulted in slightly poorer image quality).

Hmm….this reminds me that I don’t do enough experimentation in my photography these days. Let’s try to remedy this soon…

You can find a larger version of this photo here.

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PHOTO OF THE DAY #304

Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged , , , , , , on March 5, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

“Fountain Frozen in Time” : Rome, 28th March 2011

It was the final day of my three-week trip to Italy last spring, and I was back in Rome with just a few hours to spare, finding myself in that strange transitional state between the freedom and excitement of holiday and the dread of returning back to the mundane routines of ‘real’ life.

I did a final loop around the central sites of my favourite city, then found myself on the Piazza del Popolo, where I became intrigued with the fountains at the base of the Egyptian obelisk in the centre of the square, and spend ages working out how to get the exposure right for freezing the water in the air.

Here’s one of the results : far from perfect, but quite satisfying nonetheless.

I suppose in a way, my sudden idea to delve into the world of high shutter speeds was an echo of my desire to freeze time itself and thus prolong my stay in the Eternal City…

You can see a larger version of this photo here.

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PHOTO OF THE DAY #272

Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged , , , , , , , , , on February 2, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

“Famous Fountain” : Rome, 4th September 2010

OK, tonight we’re getting really touristy and I’m throwing out a shot of that Roman magnet the Trevi fountain.

In my defence, I’ll say that in comparison with another well-trodden sight in the city, the Spanish Steps, this one really is quite wonderful, as long as you go at night when the floodlights and the good-natured international crowd that swamp the place make for a very pleasant atmosphere. Keep a close watch on your valuables, though…

This shot was nice in colour, but turned out even better in monochrome, the particular treatment I used bringing a strange look to the cascading water.

You can see a larger version of this photo here.

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PHOTO OF THE DAY #207

Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged , , , , , , , , on November 28, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

“Nature’s Mirror” : Strasbourg, France, 1st September 2011

There’s a whole side to the French city of Strasbourg that most tourists don’t get to see.

Once you leave the quaint picturesque timbered medieval houses of the old quarter, there are the grand boulevards and impressive public buildings of more recent times, giving way to the university, the botanical gardens and then the area dedicated to the assemblies of the European Union.

It was on the edge of this latter region that I stumbled upon this beautiful, and somehow typically European scene, bringing out the latent landscape photographer in me.

Incidentally, this will be the last photo from France for a while, since I have now finally begun processing the pictures I took in the last third of my summer trip, which took me to Portugal, so expect a change of atmosphere.

As usual, you can glimpse a larger version of this photo by clicking here.

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POST OF THE DAY #203

Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged , , , , , , , on November 24, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

“Drowning Statue” : Strasbourg, France, 31st August 2011

There he is, the water up to his lips, and yet he looks so calm, so resigned to his fate…

I like these kind of artistic juxtapositions, the melding of a classical image with an absurdist situation, they really stimulate the imagination.

As well as having to contend with immersion in water, this poor giant head had to suffer the indignity of being located next to a fairly mundane traffic roundabout.

I didn’t read (or even find) any inscription or label to explain what this was supposed to represent, and that was fine, because it was enough that I had a good chuckle.

But now I’m not sure if this was intended as comedy or not…

Al larger version of this image can be found here.

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PHOTO OF THE DAY #198

Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged , , , , , , , on November 20, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

“Monochrome Monsoon” : Hiroshima, Japan, 16th July 2010

We normally associate monsoons with the Indian subcontinent or south east Asia, but Japan too has a rainy season which occupies six weeks or so at the beginning of summer.

This is a particularly vile period, as the temperatures are already hitting 30℃, so tempers are easily frayed by the excessive humidity and enforced stays at home (or at least for the unacclimatised gaijin, not the stoic natives).

One day last year I decided to record the downpour, so I sat down under the eaves of a balcony and tried a few shots of the rain cascading down in front of me…

See the larger version of this image by clicking here.

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PHOTO OF THE DAY #193

Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged , , , , , , , on November 15, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

“Glassy Waterfall” : Strasbourg, France, 31st August 2011

This wasn’t really a waterfall, or at least it wasn’t a natural one: just part of Strasbourg’s canal system with its locks and swing bridges to let the boats through.

I don’t know why, but I was suddenly captivated by the appearance of the water and broke off from my architectural renderings to try some photographic experiments.

First I tried very fast exposures to capture the water in more crystalline, fragmentary forms, but then I realised I could probably get the best out of it by resting the camera on a parapet and going for a slower shutter speed.

In this way the cascading liquid turned into long glassy streams with bands of intense reflection, further enhanced by later conversion to monochrome.

I have little experienced photographing water, so I was very pleased with how this simple image turned out.

Be sure to check out the larger version of this image here…

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PHOTO OF THE DAY #113

Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged , , , , , , on August 26, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Harbours are always great places to find things to photograph – lots going on, and always the possibility to do something with reflections.

In Oslo, about to board a ferry, and the irresistible colours of the reflected sky and the yellows and browns of the boats, punctuated by dots of red, made for a great image.

For the viewer, the colours shapes and textures are all, and it doesn’t matter where it was taken: for me, there is the added element of the memory of a wonderful trip to Norway in more innocent times…

A larger version of this picture can viewed here at my dedicated website and store, Andy Lightfoot Photography.

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PHOTO OF THE DAY #104

Posted in Photo of the Day, tagged , , , , , , , on August 18, 2011 | 2 Comments »

Verona, Italy, last March : on a rainy night like this, most tourists would be back at the hotel or enjoying a fine meal, but I just had to nip out with a 35mm prime lens on the camera to have a quick look round.

Here, with the ancient Roman amphitheatre behind me on the main square, I precariously balanced my umbrella in one hand and the Nikon in the other because I just loved the warm colours and the lights reflecting off the wet pavement.

The moral of the tale: you don’t need blue skies to make a compelling image, and sometimes you’ll need to suffer a little bit for your art…

A larger version of this picture can viewed here at my dedicated website Andy Lightfoot Photography.

 

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