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User / John's Photo Philosophy / Sets / Lighthouses
Luminosity 7 / 98 items

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This photograph looks like it's been glued together from two different exposures (for the sky at least). That is purely the result of the brightness of the sun on the left and the relatively darker sky on the right. It is a wide angle shot and cropped, not a true panorama, but it's nice to have so much room to crop with the D850 RAW files.

These rocks are so interesting we'll spend more time examining them tomorrow.

Tags:   Luminosity7 Nikon D850 Launceston Tasmania Australia Low Head Low Head Lighthouse Wide angle shot Rocks Seascape Sea Early morning light Sunrise Shooting into the sun

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Today I'm starting a new series based around the historic Low Head Lighthouse in northern Tasmania. The photographs over coming days were taken from the period just before dawn to an hour or so after sunrise. I have experimented with different styles and techniques, all to bring into relief the wonder that is a lighthouse.

It was very cold this late Autumn morning. When I left home in Launceston the frost was on the ground and by the time I'd finished the half hour drive to George Town the temperature had risen to 3 degrees Celsius. But I hadn't reckoned on the wind chill factor which I estimate drove the temperature down at least 5 more degrees. I know, because I forgot to take gloves, and within minutes of the short walk up to the lighthouse my hands were frozen.

As with all dawn shoots speed is the essence. In the evening you seem to have endless time for long exposures. At dawn you usually get one or two chances to make the shot and then you have to move on. Planning is vital.

I spotted this shot as soon as I walked up the path and struggled to set up the tripod with my hands now feeling quite numb. It was very dark and the only light around was from the Light itself. Focusing in the dark is a nightmare (AF is out) and manual focusing depends on being able to see enough of your subject to get the focus right (especially this close). Add to that my fingers which had lost all sense of feeling, and I was always going to struggle here.

So my disclaimer is the focus here is crap, but the composition and colours is exactly as I imagined it would be. So I'll call it impressionistic and give you a look at it anyway. But man it was cold!

Tags:   Luminosity7 Nikon D850 Launceston Tasmania Australia To the Lighthouse Lighthouse Low Head Low Head Lighthouse Dawn First light Dark Impressionistic Light Silhouette Long Exposure

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This shot was taken looking in an easterly direction. The wide angle allows us to scan the horizon, which I have framed with some bushes on the left and the corner of a house on the right. In the middle we catch a glimpse of the first light in what is called the "civil twilight" (half an hour before sunrise).

When tourism is in full swing, the house on the right (which was built long after the light was automated) is used to accommodate people who would like the experience of living near a lighthouse. Today, of course, it is empty.

Tags:   Luminosity7 Nikon D850 Launceston Tasmania Australia Low Head Low Head Lighthouse East at Dawn Early morning light First light Horizon Silhouette Night sky Landscape Civil Twilight Long Exposure Dawn

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In the previous photograph I showed you the moment when the light from our sun is getting near to crossing our horizon and bringing its warming rays to bear on the landscape. It needed to since it was freezing out here under the cloudless starry sky.

Here we have turned around 180 degrees from where the previous shot was taken and can see the old lighthouse in all its glory. Lights blazing still. No problems with focus this time, but my hands are still numb.

As this series unfolds over coming days I'll give you more information about the Low Head Lighthouse. For the moment though it is suffice to say that this is the third lighthouse built in Australia (and the second in Tasmania), and a light has been running continuously here since 1833. The current tower, however, dates from 1888.

lighthouses.org.au/tas/low-head-lighthouse/

Tags:   Luminosity7 Nikon D850 Launceston Tasmania Australia Low Head Low Head Lighthouse Early morning light Dawn Lighthouse Night sky Lights Darkness Colour Red stripe Glow

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These navigational lights help sailors to get their bearings coming into a treacherous channel in the Tamar River estuary. This is no less true for life in general.

I said in the previous picture that the Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) method is a good way to break free from the tyranny of appearances. I use that word tyranny deliberately, because I also happen to believe that while rationality is a good tool, it is next to useless as a way to get our moral and spiritual bearings.

We need to break free. And freedom is the essence of being an individual made in the image and likeness of God.

So I let this image shake a little and thus shake the foundations of what we think we know about life itself (Being). What exactly is this? Quantum physics has shown us clearly that most of what we call matter is in fact empty space (void).

If the whole universe at the beginning of the "Big Bang" was squeezed into a bundle of energy so minutely small as not to be visible under anyone's microscope, then you surely have to question what really is. If it weren't for quantum energy the whole universe would fly apart in the twinkling of an eye. It would be no more. But is that the end of the story?

Tags:   Luminosity7 Nikon D850 Launceston Tasmania Australia Low Head She Oak Point Light Intentional Camera Movement ICM Finding My Bearings Early evening light Lighthouse COVID-19 Covert Photos Diary Quantum Universe


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