me, hipster?

It was his expression while looking intently at me that made me think: is he the original hipster that started the trend?


adapted Kodak Cine 102mm f2.7


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Texture and patterns in the bokeh

I am drawn to the abstract pattern that a lens can create when the the whole subject can not be in focus resulting in some areas of the image blurred.
Much can be said about bokeh and it's rather impossible to be fully quantified or describe it but most purist cherish the "smooth" out-of-focus backgrounds.
I, on the contrary, prefer to find lenses that offer "texture" in the blurred areas of my images.


refitted projector lens 35-KP 1,8/120   1/640sec

I do understand that such traits in these lenses are not so well suited for subjects where the attention should remain in the in-focus areas but a lot of my photographs are often of close-up and semi-abstract subjects where a "busy" bokeh might be the crucial component of an image


adapted Pentacon 50mm f1.8  1/1600sec

Initially my visual adventures were concentrated on "bubbles" in the bokeh; now I am pursuing the textured, busy and "weird" bokeh.
Some lenses are specifically sought after for those incredible traits and unfortunately my favorite looks are out of my price range (like the Dallmeyer Super-Six 102mm f1.9 lens)

Slowly I am starting to understand which subjects, what patterns and what light will be a suitable theme for my experiments. Repetition of small objects and lines, combined with the correct subject/background ration and lens will reveal surreal images.
And it's a look that the mighty iPhone has not conquered yet :-)


adapted Kodak Cine 63mm f2.7  1/50sec



refitted Helios-89 30mm f1.9 (from FED Mikron)  1/4000sec



refitted Russian projector lens 35KP-1,8/120  1/800sec


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Mushrooms in the forest

The excitement was palpable when I stumbled across a group of mushrooms that looked like "porcini" (Boletus Edulis). As a kid I used to roam in the forests near my house and find them occasionally; it was like hunting, the thrill of the find.


adapted Kodak Cine Anastigmat 63mm f2.7  1/60sec

It turns out that those mushrooms were not porcini but instead very bitter and not really edible, even if not toxic.
The real reward came from the variety of mushrooms that I stumbled across and instead of looking at them as dinner trophies I observed them with my camera


adapted vintage cine lens Kodak Anastigmat 63mm f2.7  1/60sec




adapted vintage cine lens Kodak Anastigmat 63mm f2.7  1/20sec




adapted vintage cine lens Kodak Anastigmat 63mm f2.7  1/160sec




M.Zuiko 14-42mm EZ    1/13sec



adapted vintage cine lens Kodak Anastigmat 63mm f2.7   1/125sec


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Immortality

It was sun-setting and I rushed to reach the top of a prominent rocky outcrop, I wanted to catch the last rays.
I was suddenly very disappointed when I came across this totally vandalized large sandstone lookout: names and dates have been carved into the soft rock.


adapted cine lens Kodak Ektar 25mm f1.9  1/1000sec

Upon reflection, I am now in two minds with the message behind this image: is it environmental vandalism or is it the primeval urge to mark one's presence?
Initially I was miffed to see this rock totally covered in carved graffiti: there are a few declarations of love but mainly I noticed persons' names and dates.
Then it came to me: humans have been marking their presence on earth before history, almost like to preserve their spirit to immortality .
We all have the need to belong and the want to be needed, it's part of being human. Is marking our presence the fact that we existed and a way to preserve our memory?

Blind snake

The weather was just a bit cooler when walking off-track I came across this coiled snake; her head was buried, sleeping.
After a few moments of me trying to get closer she woke up to smell the air.
I looked at her and I noticed that the right eye was milky opaque, not the usual bright with a sharp iris.
Was she blind?


adapted lens Pentax-110 70mm f2.8

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Frozen explosions

A very rusty old shipwreck caught my attention on the beach.
I became intrigued how salt over time can weaken and destroy even the hardest steel.
I love the great display of warm colored shades.


Pentax-110 70mm f2.8(fixed)  1/800sec
Details on rivets and fixture appear as a frozen explosion about to burst.
Like the layers of an onion the structure of the steel is revealed after all these years.


Pentax-110 70mm f2.8  1/80sec



Pentax-110 70mm f2.8  1/640sec


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Shadow running

Late afternoon, along the river, it's his way to keep fit.


Argus Cintagon 35mm f4.5  @f8   1/200sec

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Details of nature

I see beauty in the mess that old tree trunks can create.
At closer inspection there are details that are intriguing, almost man made.


Vivitar 28mm f2.0   @f4.0   1/500sec

High tide tangled some grass around this old trunk. It almost seems that somebody has carefully knotted the straw around the bleached wood, but it is indeed the waves that managed to tangle it.


Industar-61 50mm f2.8 @f4  1/15sec

The insects have been working under the bark of the fallen tree; now the weather has exposed their tunnelling.

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Rainforest trees

In the dense subtropical rainforest the trees are overwhelming; I rarely see the whole tree.
The close proximity of the giants keeps my view focused at the base of their trunks, observing the intricate shape of the roots and texture of the bark.


G-Lumix 14mm f4.5  1/4sec

The light is diffused and the moisture allows for vines, lichens and mosses to grow, sometimes creating abstract paintings on their bark.


G-Lumix 14mm f4.5  1/15sec

And the root system is at times rather bizarre, nothing like I have ever seen in a European forest.


M.Zuiko 9-18mm f4.5  1/15sec

Cascade at Spencers Creek

Thousands of years needed to sculpt these stones.


Lumix-G 14mm f9.5  1/15sec

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Granite spires

Granite spires of the high country in the Australian Snowy Mountains.


G-Lumix 14mm f5.6  1/500sec

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Textured sea rocks

The sea's edge, at low tide.


Zuiko 38mm f1.8 PEN  @f8  1/3000sec

Detail in orange

Maybe is the color what drew me closer to the shape of this paper daisy.


Meyer Optik Trioplan 50mm f2.9 

Beach puddle

Every tide shapes the beach with new sand waves, renewing the shore to a new texture.


PEN-F Zuiko 38mm f1.8  @f5.6  1/15 sec

Water Dragon

He allowed me to get pretty close before puffing up just a bit and then running away.


M.Zuiko 40-150mm R   f6.7 1/350sec

Old scars

Bearing the scars of a life subjected to beauty.


Meyer Optik Trioplan 50mm F2.9 @f8  1/90sec

Born not to grow free its body shaped to please, now paying the toll.
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Old yards

It has been a while since this fence has seen cattle. Now only kangaroos roam the paddocks since the land has returned to no longer be grazed by domestic animals.


SMC Takumar 50mm f1.4 (@f2.8?) 1/1000sec


SMC Takumar 50mm f1.4  1/3000sec