Capture: Someone, Somewhere, In Summertime
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Tried so hard to capture the black backed seagulls updraft-soaring at Pt Chev Beach today. It's amazing to watch, but hard to make a good shot of. Basically they hovered effortlessly, lazily sweeping from one end of the beach to the other without flapping except to make tiny corrections occasionally. I got the impression some of them weren't doing it for any purpose other than fun. It's like sailing, but in the sky. I've only ever done it in a flight sim with a glider, but it's easy to see the appeal. They're careful to stay in all the right zones - if you go too far past the apex, you get caught in downdrafts, and have to either make a run with the wind for the next peak, fighting like hell for altitude. If you go too far forward of the slope, the updraft just dies off, and you're back to flapping. So what they do, to minimize all effort, is big circles. Ride the draft as high as possible, then start falling forward and sideways off it, making up for low altitude with high speed, and sweep the entire length of the beach (probably looking for fish), before banking back and up, to rinse and repeat. Or they just sit up on the ridge like a cushion of air, wafting left and right. Occasionally they appear to go in formation, although it's chance meetings and makes me think it's the mechanics of the soaring process that lead to that illusion. Maybe, like following someone who is speeding on the open road, it's just a way of looking a little bit into the future - if the leader drops suddenly then it's probably a gust to watch for. Can pay less attention to flying and more to fishing.
Sometimes one would appear to be making a long haul towards Te Atatu, but after about a kilometer, they'd sweep around and absolutely race back before the wind, and then rest back on the updraft cushion. Perhaps they saw something that looked like a school of fish, and just went to check it out. Maybe that's a team effort thing, everyone has to take their turn.
However, to a camera, it's a bird, flying against a white backdrop. Usually blurry. Meh.
Then my 3yo started squealing in excitement "Whale! Whale". I looked seawards, but could see nothing. He turned me, and showed me what he'd been working on. I asked him if he drew it on purpose, or had just found it, or accidentally drawn it, which he simply answered by adding the spout you can see.
ETA: I had to resist the urge to ask him "Sperm whale?". It's like one of those diagrams from sex ed.
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Blue lake, St. Bathans
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Maniototo
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Maniototo. Same place, camera pointing a different direction
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Lilith __, in reply to
a bit of driftwood
Crikey!
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ChrisW, in reply to
a bit of driftwood
Crikey!Nah, that's not a bit of driftwood.
(A response I rejected as too crass - until yours Lilith, in such appropriate dialect, made it irresistible :-)
- Te Oneroa/Midway Beach, Gisborne, October 2010) -
I am not completely sure what I am doing here but I have created a space on FB, to see if people would like a PA get-together on Feb 2. Details at : http://www.facebook.com/events/145583345596244/?context=create
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This not our garden (which is more confused) but you might want to make a side excursion to the Hamilton Gardens (the Italian Garden here)
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Sacha, in reply to
basic details for those of us who don't do Bookface?
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Geoff Lealand, in reply to
Oh, certainly. February 2 at 637 Grey Street, Hamilton East. Noon, or whenever people arrive. I can supply travel details if it is a goer,
We don't have a pool but do have a biggish back yard, bigger trees, .deck and ample seating.
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Sacha, in reply to
Ta. Pencilled in.
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Hey Geoff, in FB, it says Friday, Feb 1.
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Geoff Lealand, in reply to
Oh, bugger! I will fix that.
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Jackie Clark, in reply to
Have invited all PASers on FB
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Geoff Lealand, in reply to
Many thanks . Wasn't quite sure how to connect the worlds of FB and PA. a length of string didn't work.
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Jos,
Sunset over Ohiwa harbour
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
Sunset over Ohiwa harbour
the crack of dusk...
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Islander, in reply to
O yes, sir! Yes indeedy
(rushing away to a dictionary to learn how to spell – but hey! Loved your wordplay
anyway…) -
Long exposure function on the camera – this one was 30 seconds, long enough to detect the stars and way long enough to get the trees lit by my outdoor light… o, and the tripod, or table, or ledge or whatever – keeps everything pretty still, except the leaves blowing around in the wind : )
So, tripod I don't have (for the moment), is this with a digi or non-digicam? Got a shot in mind I just might attempt...
Thanks too the JacksonP for those Gannet shots. Read my kids Janet the Gannet a lot and took them to Murwai last time we came home. Was delightfully windy.
Sunset over Ohiwa harbour
Homesick.
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Paul Williams, in reply to
to see if people would like a PA get-together on Feb 2. Details at
One day, I'd dearly love to get to one of these... not this one sadly. Maybe, I'll host a Sydney meetup.
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ChrisW, in reply to
Fabulous - the crack of getting-on-for-sunset indeed - enhanced by the cropping, but especially by the way the hard-edged window letting the sun's crepuscular rays down is so far back, that those rays all terminate abruptly behind that sharply defined lower ridge. Never seen it just like that myself - will be on the lookout henceforth!
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Nora Leggs, in reply to
So, tripod I don’t have (for the moment), is this with a digi or non-digicam? Got a shot in mind I just might attempt…
That was with a digi-cam - but the concept is the same with film. With film you might be best to take a couple of shots of different exposure lengths. Tripod;s very handy, but you can use anything that the camera can sit on and stay still. Give it a go! : )
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Nora Leggs, in reply to
Sunset over Ohiwa harbour
Black velvet and gold thread!
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Nora Leggs, in reply to
I really am a sucker for headlights.
I’ve posted pic of this one before, but how about these little bug-eyed headlights?
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Another glowing dahlia, and if you want to see more……..
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