Blanket Bricks

Chichicastenago, market day. As mentioned in a previous post- this place was bursting at the seams with life. The vibrant colours and design of the fabrics traditionally used throughout this area of Guatemala were literally works of art. Being a backpacker with only limited funds, photos were my only souvenirs. I got snap happy! All the stalls were under tarp and natural light was limited so I shot this with a high ISO to avoid using flash.

1/50|f4.8|ISO400|

Dune Dens

Norfolk Coast, late summer. The day before we had set off on an ambitious drive to the coast to chasing the last remaining days of the summer sunshine. We arrived at our destination late and pitched our tent in a relentless gale and uncertain evening skies. We awoke the following morning to the our sunshine reward. After some breakfast and nearby exploring we set off for a short walk around the coast. Hidden away from the town and harbouring boats we discovered a small sheltered beach with brightly coloured, closed up huts nestled amoung the dunes. 

Photgraphy geek explanation minus descriptive waffle:

I experimented with depth of field here aiming to keep the grass and huts in full focus. The light was tricky as the sun was high and throwing light over my right shoulder and almost clipping the frame, so I hid in the shade of one of the huts and did my best to compose the shot. A less harsh light would have made this splinter easier to capture... returning early evening would have probably have worked a lot better. The  position of the sun also meant I could not take any shots further back- so it was an all round comprimise. I had to do some touch up work on the sky before blogging as the exposure was blown out (something I hate doing as I much prefer to shoot as I see, no edits) ... a filter might have helped here. Also puzzled as to why I set ISO at 400! Despite all that- it still made the lightsplinter cut.

1/320|f13|ISO400|

Iceburg Blues

Bondi Beach, Sydney, looking out across the Iceburg pools and the surrounding bay. The day had started out dull and grey but as the afternoon sun broke through I got to see Bondi at its wave breaking best. I loved the colours and conformity of the lines of the pools with people swimming safely alongside the contrasting relentless rocky ocean breaks. This powershot splinter is an winning example of why I think I now need a wide angle lens for my SLR. So many of my shots I find I flip to the portrait/vertical because I cannot capture the depth of all the things I want to fit in the frame- in this the composition works out ok, but misses the sweeping bay and dramatic edge to the shot which the view gave me. Time get writing that wish list for Santa....

1/1500|f4.5|ISO80|