the wish-list

This is in fact part of small bushes grown in front of a Victorian house on Grattan St, Melbourne. The dark background is the side-wall of the house in white, made invisible in the contrast with the bright foreground. I was walking pass; saw the morning-sun-lit courtyard and made a very quick capture impromptu. This picture was dedicated to my birthday in 2009. Today, my memory somehow swells with it again.

silence

After nearly 13 years, the old wooden Buddha statue on the shelf in front of my writing-desk is one of the few remaining remainders that I once walked on that native land, Myanmar. A souvenir from my cousin, I have kept it with me throughout the years. What beckoned me, I know not; but it was to this statue I looked at when I thought of creating a simple close-up picture in my room.

bathe in gold

There is specific time of a day when the quality of the light is just pleasant. At early and late hours of the day time, the colour of the sun-rays is mellow, rich in warm hues--pink, orange, gold--void completely of any harshness that is associated with the mid-day light. Golden hours; thus do I think of them.

Earthly Mother

I quite enjoy trekking around Dandenong Ranges National Park frequently. Little falls, sun-lit gullies, fern trees, cool air, winding paths--and above all, being around the mountains--all reaffirm my sense of connection with the motherly nature. In all my crisscrossing of these hills, the one place I kept missing, until recently, to stop by was William Ricketts Sanctuary--a quiet refuge of sculptures perpetually attesting one man's love of the Nature.

stay with me

It was purely accidental. Or at least a part of it was. It started with my fascination to take a picture of twin items next to each other, suggesting one of them to be more prominent than the other. My plan to accomplish this was to find two items of the same kind standing side by side, one of them slightly further away from the lens. With an appropriate depth of field, one should be in focus and the other blurry while appearing almost of the same size.

old rail

I remember I was once seeking an old port. I wanted to add a rusty touch to a seascape in dim light. However, my reach to places around is limited, especially at night since I do not own a car--one reason why I haven't fully explored all the beaches around Melbourne. That day, I happened to be at St Kilda. After sunset, I came by this, and decided to settle (for now) my quest with it.

eternal flame

If you travel around Australia, you will see War Memorials in almost every city & bigger town. For the Australians, those fallen in wars have a permanent place in their hearts: lest we forget, these fellows died defending what we are & have today. The War Shrines in capital cities, like this one in Melbourne, are stately, majestic & solemn--a testament to the profound fondness attributed to the fallens.

peace be with you

I usually like to make small items stand taller in pictures. More often than not, I would lie down next to small things on ground, rather than shooting downward. It gives a totally different perspective--what they would appear to be if we were to stand face to face with them--as well as the stature denied to them in their daily encounter with us.

St Paul's Cathedral

St Paul's Cathedral is the seat of the Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne. It has been one of the places that captured my eyes immediately upon my first arrival in Melbourne. Magnificent as the exterior is, I had since wanted to have some interior shots of this one of the landmarks of Melbourne. My somewhat elusive opportunity came on Melbourne Open House 2009 day.

leaflet

I had just got my first prime lens--50mm f/1.8D--and was very keen on seeing what this little cheap glass could do. 50mm on a camera with an APS-C sensor (like D300) translates to about 75mm in a normal format, and thus a moderate tele. As such, not exactly a typical landscape lens. It so happened that my initial test-subjects turned out to be, yes, leaves.

creepy

I often pass by this part of the University when I go for jogging. Strictly speaking, this is one of the 11 residential colleges of the University, and as such does not offer any study program per se. Its main purpose is to provide accommodation with rich academic atmosphere (tutorials, mentoring) and extracurricular programs (sports & activities).

castaway

For me, the integral part of photo composition is arranging of subjects. No, I don't mean physically placing in order the subjects to be photographed. (Some are a little too heavy or strongly-footed to be moved, especially in a landscape.)

formation

Sometimes, we want it slow. Especially with moving water. Water at unrest exposed to slow shutter speed, morphs into silky shroud spanning the defined space. Or so it seems. How slow is slow then? It depends on the speed of the water itself. But often, a couple of seconds minimum is required.

pick me up

It is often said that photos taken from heights other than eye-level tend to be interesting because we normally don't see from that angle of view. When I saw the leaf, I wondered how it would look from its 'height'. When we look at another fellow human being, we see the person and the background that stretches towards horizons.