5 ways to photograph fog.

5 ways to photograph fog.

Fog on the jetty

Fog…a moment in time when one cannot see what’s right in front of you.

Fog adds a dimension of ethereal beauty to our world. What was so obvious the day before is now enshrouded in mystery. For a photographer it is a wonderful opportunity to gaze upon a landscape that is out of focus, magical and vaporous.

One particular morning last week I got up early and photographed the fog lingering along the shoreline. As the sun rose the colours turned from dark grey to pink, then to orange then back to pink, then a purple blue.

Minimal imagery, which I love, is ideally suited to foggy days.The fog limits any background objects and adds a hazy, watery feel to the picture.

A few quotes about fog:

 

Fog stimulates your imagination into places where it may be afraid to go.

The fog always lifts.

You may not see clearly in the fog, but rest assured peace can be found simply enjoying its beauty. 

Sometimes when you lose your way in the fog, you end up in a beautiful place.Dont be afraid of getting lost. (Author, Mehetmet Ildan)

So here are my five points on making some awesome foggy photos.

Birds on the jetty

1. If you dont want just one big haze you must put a relatively close and clearer object in the foreground. In the image above I placed the begining of the jetty in my foreground.

Foggy morning
2. Chose a brighter object in the middle of the fog.  
This can really make the fog stand out. In the image above the sun started to rise and made a perfect scene.
Sunrise on a foggy morning
Seagull on a foggy morning
3. Chose a darker object that is standing out from the fog.
Two sea birds in the fog
Trees in the fog
Yacht in the fog.
4. Find a point of interest to include in your image.
This yacht (above) just caught the morning sun and looked beautiful in the quiet of the morning.
Fishing boat in the fog
5. Be patient and walk as far and wide as you can.
The fog changes very quickly as it moves and then is absorbed by the sun. You can get some very interesting images.
Fishing boat in the fog
Misty morning
Tree top in fog
Sea bird flying in fog
Minimal is probably the concept that comes to mind when photographing fog.  
Remember to adjust your settings to gather in a bit more light.
Lower shutter speed for darker scenes and a higher iso.
But you may need a tripod for those early morning shots. 
For more information on fog photography CHECK THIS OUT

Black and white images of our coastline

Black and white images of our coastline

Black and white ocean with one white cloud

 

Black and white images stand out as being simple and yet bold.

Photographing the coastline and then converting the image to black and white often makes for calming, simplistic and interesting scenes.

 

To make my home beautiful is to make my life beautiful.

The spaces I create around myself must be calming and nice to look at. They should be enjoyable for guests and practical to live, sleep, cook, entertain and move around in.

I have a soft coastal theme in my home. White walls and neutral coloured furniture. My prints and paintings are mainly of the ocean.

Let me try to explain what the ocean vibe does to my soul….. and how I enjoy black and white prints. (Let me say, not all my prints are black and white, I love a pop of colour here and there in my home for a bit of vibrance and that uplifting feel.)

1. Waves have patterns, lines and give you a sense of motion. The creation of a wave is beyond my understanding but they are inspiring and the many different facets of a wave make them wonderful to photograph. From enormous, daunting, misty waves to completely calm and tranquil scenes, sometimes I just sit and absorb.

2. A boat or yacht can convey a sense of freedom. Yachts are one of my favorite things to photograph. The white sail contrasts beautifully with the darker background colour of the ocean.

3. Seabirds also give a sense of freedom. Soaring, flying, gazing. Seabirds make great images which can be converted into black and white.

4. A splash of colour in a dark ocean image, mystifying and elegant. This can draw the eye to a particular object.

5. People…Busy beach scenes seem to be all the go at the moment. If you are in the mood to take a few photographs of this genre, choose a hot afternoon and head to a crowded beach. It’s so much fun planning and instigating a simple photoshoot like this. Take lots of images and then view the details up close. You’ll see people chatting, people eating, swimmers, dogs, children, sandcastles, and all manner of things. These images can be a “Wheres Wally?” to a viewer. Lots of fun and very interesting.

6. Black and white.  When I get my images home I usually transfer them to a programme called Silver Efex so that I can convert them to black and white. I then usually use the structure slider and minimise the hard lines. It’s personal and about what YOU like. Take your time to experiment with your settings and then choose your preferred option.

Black and white is timeless. It will not date as quickly as colour. I encourage you to get your black and white ocean images framed and put them on your walls.

 

Two basic colours at the end of the spectrum provide room for our imaginations. Two extremes of light and dark with many shades of grey in between. It’s perhaps the shades of grey that provide the connections between the black and white. This makes it easier for our eye to roam around the image, appreciating the variations.

 

 

surfer runs up the beach black and white
pink sunset and a distant lighthouse
pink sunset and a distant lighthouse
Big waves and distant lighthouse
sailing boat and waves
Surfer surfing the wave black and white
An amazing wave in black and white
Seabird flying over seaweed
Two yachts
Locating Yorke Peninsula’s lone apostle.

Locating Yorke Peninsula’s lone apostle.

Embarking on a walk over the towering cliffs of the south end of Yorke Peninsula, we made a journey to try and discover the one lone apostle. A lonely fisherman had reported seeing this legendary rock from his boat in the ocean. But no land living creature, that we knew, had ever pointed out this amazing discovery to us.

Did we really have an apostle? Victoria had twelve, (Yeah right!! There are really only eight and rumour has it, there never, ever were twelve, it was simply a marketing ploy.)

Could South Australia possibly have just one for a few isolated adventurers like me and my husband?
Well we were about to find out!
We felt like the explorers of old….phone, water, sun hat, insect repel, camera, good shoes, snake protectors etc.

I think the explorers of old had note paper instead of a camera, old boots instead of good Nike trekking shoes, kerosene as insect repellent, and as the movies depict they always lost their water on the way so almost died of thirst!!

No dying on the journey for us we’re far too clever and modern.

Cliffs South Australian coastline

Above…looking forward along the coastline

South Australian coastline

Looking back you can see the West Cape light house way in the distance.

Coastline
Coastline South Australia

And there it is in all its glory. We found it!

Green sea water

Looking down.

Coastline South Australia
Coastline South Australia
Rough countryside
The lone Apostle South Australia
Waiting for the surf to come up

Yeah that way mate!

Two kangaroos
Rough terrain
The lone apostle
Beautiful rock formation

TIME TAKEN: Just under one hour to walk there, 30 minutes of taking photos and resting. Basically it took the best part of two and a half hours.

APOSTLE LOCATED: Yes bought a tear to my eye… majestical.

LIVING CREATURES: One shingle back lizard and quite a few kangaroos, and crows.

SIGNS OF HUMAN ACTIVITY: Not a single beer bottle, or cigarette butt, or foot print, now that’s worth seeing!

YES, South Australia does have an Apostle, difficult to find, but picturesque and worth the walk!

Photography a heart and soul process.

Photography a heart and soul process.

 

If you could photograph with your heart and soul, what would your photos look like?

Art is what you see in your soul. Art is a dream you have inside your heart.

 

How do you transfer what you feel in your heart and soul into a photograph???

1. I photograph what I consider to be some of the most beautiful elements of our earth. Then I add my own interpretation of how I see this picture in my heart. Therefore photograph what you consider to be beautiful. Photograph the things, the people, objects or landscapes that give you pleasure.

2. A painter can paint the thoughts of his heart. A photographer must photograph a scene that is, as it is. If you know what I mean?
Therefore I will remove a piece of rubbish, or add an extra star, or colour the sea a shade greener….and so on. I love to add the painters element to the things I see with my eye. So let your heart dominate when you are editing.

3. Photograph when you get that awesome feeling of…..YES this is what I have been waiting for. Get up early or stay up late. That feeling is often not there, but that is what we wait for. It can be pure chance that the light is right, the land is right, the weather is right….etc. The first image of the lighthouse was one of those days for me, truly magnificent.

4. Some images are when things were not quite in alignment with no awesome feeling, but I practised my art regardless. The sun does not always shine and the moon is not always full.  There are days when things just don’t go right. Persist and persist again.

5. Be passionate about your art. Don’t leave it alone for too long. Your passion will come out in your images. They say… “Out of the adundance of the heart the mouth speaks!” We could change that phrase and say. “Out of the abundance of the heart, art is created.”

 

 

My images are of the distant lighthouse. Most times the lighthouse stands alone on these sparse and dangerous outcrops of land. Beacons of hope for sailors in the night. The wild ocean is to be revered and auspiciously navigated.

A lighthouse illuminates that which is to be avoided.

A lighthouse gives us direction, a lighthouse can be a metaphorical word for a sailors safety…Psalm 119.105. Your word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.

 

pink sunset and a distant lighthouse
Big waves and distant lighthouse
Yacht and lighthouse
A sunset of soft orange and a yacht
waves and Althorpe lighthouse
Yacht race
Light house in the distance
Seaspray
West Cape
West Cape in the big storm
Yacht and Althorpe Island in background
West Cape light house sunset
Cape Spencer lighthouse
Cape Spencer lighthouse

 

A side note…The Althorpe Island lighthouse in many of my photographs is accompanied by three cottages. Three families lived there for many years manning the lighthouse. Their only access to the island was by boat.  A life devoted to preventing shipwrecks.

 

 

 

How I overcame a lifelong habit of rushing

How I overcame a lifelong habit of rushing

Girl running

I do tend to like this idea of slow living.

One of the things you need to train yourself out of as a photographer is the modern day disease called ‘Rushing”. You may be able to pin point how this condition took over your mind and body or otherwise you may need to simply develop new habits that slow you down.

I often find I am in a rush. I have this anxious feeling of rushing through all my daily tasks, to bring them to completion asap.
This anxious, rushing, feeling, I can trace back to my childhood. You see from the age of seven, I have had to deal with migraine headaches. Very debilitating and painful.

From somewhere around my teenage years, I felt I had to rush to get everything completed in case I got sick with a migraine and had to spend hours in bed with a massive headache. This became a very deeply entrenched habit. More especially in the years I was raising children, you see everything had to be perfect and in order in case anything went wrong.
But as I got older, I have had to retrain my brain and remind myself, why the panic? Tomorrow is another day with a new beginning and a little mess is not going to hurt. If I need to rest then I must rest!

SLOW DOWN, and focus on the fact that this is only temporary, soon the events that I am drowning in at the present moment will not last.

A wonderful side note, as I grew older those terrible migraines lost alot of their severity. I no longer vomit for hours and the headache is quite mild. You see, life can change!

Just how do you slow down?

*Gather less stuff. We take nothing into this world and we take nothing out when we leave. I have found it liberating moving into a smaller home and making myself throw out things I am fairly sure I will not use again

*Read the bible and pray. Dwelling on the good things the bible has to say is very relaxing and calming. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

*Begin the day with peaceful, positive thoughts. Your self talk will set you in the right direction if it is life giving and positive.

*Retrain your mind to stop and enjoy. This process took me awhile to achieve, but some grim determination and a healthy stance against fear has helped.

*Be grateful and make an effort to thank God for all the good things in life.

*Find an interest or hobby that you love and enjoy. When I am out photographing, I find my mind and body are totally unaware of worries and lifes distractions. I am fully involved and absolutely loving what I am doing. The peace and fulfilment after the day is over keeps my mind thoughful and certainly has the effect of slowing me down.

 

 Photography has slowed my mental state down as it involves seeking out and being in the presence of beautiful things.

Below are some images that have brought peace to my heart and soul.

 

 

Yacht in a beautiful golden sunset
Yacht sails in a beautiful blue ocean
Fishing boat in the distance
Yacht sails around Cape Spencer Yorke Peninsula
A fishing boat moored at Pondalowie Bay
Beautiful pink evening and a yacht moored in the bay