Taken on vacation trips
Creative photography on family trips can be tricky time-wise. One way around this is to sacrifice sleep by waking extra early and that is what I did exactly for this shot. Braving the colder morning, I explored the quiet stretch of the Tamar River just outside our hotel in Launceston, Tasmania. The moody mist-filled river banks provided the perfect setting for a short session of morning photography.
Once upon a time (almost 30 years ago), I was the vice-chairman for my school’s astronomy society. In light-polluted Singapore, we would be lucky to see the planets and the major constellations and if you knew where to look, the occasional star cluster with the naked eye (the Pleiades anyone?). I dabbled a little in astrophotography using ISO 3200 black-and-white negative film but was limited by what I could do. When we heard news that there might be possible sightings of the Southern Lights during our vacation in Tasmania, I took the trouble to wake myself in the middle of the night to look for them. We did not really get to see the Southern Lights in the end, but the experience of seeing the Milky Way with the naked eye and getting the opportunity to capture it on my digital camera were worth the sleep we sacrificed.
I am back from a long overdue family vacation to Tasmania, Australia. Serious photography and family vacations are not the best possible combinations especially with the young children we have. I was lucky to squeeze in some decent photography along the way. This was taken just at dusk at Coles Bay within the Freycinet National Park making full use of the “blue hour”. I was surprised that I managed a decent long-exposure shot without a tripod (I stabilised the camera on the railings overlooking the scene), resulting in the final surreal effect. This is one of my favourite shots from our trip.