City of Angels

Posted on January 29, 2019 by Mike Nelson Pedde — Leave a reply

Hi Folks:

On most evenings, around sunset, you’ll see groups of people gathered along the Dallas Road walkway that runs along the south shore of Victoria. Every sunrise and every sunset is unique, but sometimes the Earth just outdoes herself. This was January 24, 2019, at Holland Point.

Marcia’s image first. This is a composite of 10 cell phone images, joined up with Autopano Pro and pushed around a bit in Lightroom.

Mike recently received a new Sony A7RIII camera and has been playing with it a bit. Three images here, at different focal lengths:

57mm

24mm

12mm

Obviously, the sky and the ocean deserve most of the credit here. Okay, that’s it. Now go out and make some photographs!

Hugs,

M&M

Photo of the Month – Winter Storm

Posted on January 8, 2016 by Mike Nelson Pedde — Leave a reply

Hi Folks:

At the end of the year the pull of the moon and the changing ocean currents combine to give us both winter storms and very high (and low) tides, known as King Tides. It’s a subject we’ve written about before, both in 2010 and in 2012. Every experience is different, and fortunately (unlike in 2010) I didn’t get swamped by a rogue wave this time.

The image below was made at Holland Point on December 12. The rocks that appear in the mid-frame are actually bedrock extrusions, and the one on the left stands about 12′ (~3.7m) above the surrounding seafloor. I went out at night on December 23 and not only could I walk out to this rock, I could almost walk around it. I’ve never seen the tide that low before.

Okay, that’s it. Now go out and make some photographs!!

Hugs,
M&M

The Earth is Singing

Posted on June 21, 2015 by Mike Nelson Pedde — 6 Comments ↓

The other day I walked down to the ocean, stepped past the rocky shore and the water hid my sandals as the waves lapped playfully around me. I walked knee deep out to my island, where I’ve never been except at low tide, and had the ocean racing around and around the edges, flinging drops up playfully to tickle, to caress. I haven’t felt that alive in a long time.

And as I sat there, with all of the world behind me and only the ocean in view, she began to sing, just for me.

I realized that the old tales of Sirens being evil, luring men to their deaths on the rocks was wrong – that the sailors gave themselves to the water gladly, with full hearts, just to feel wrapped in that sound.

Hugs,
M&M

Photo of the Month – Ocean Waves

Posted on February 2, 2013 by Mike Nelson Pedde — Leave a reply

Hi Folks:

I didn’t do a lot of photography this past month, but did escape down to the shore for a bit one afternoon. I love the endless patterns in the way the water meets the shore, and have photographed it with varying degrees of success. Today’s ‘photo of the month’ is one of these but processed a bit differently. Rather than trying to illustrate the water itself I played with the colours and contrast in Lightroom, adding a blue split tone value to the highlights to render an abstract image of swirls and shapes. Could be water… could be marble… could be…? I trust you’ll enjoy it.

Now go out and make some photographs!

Hugs,
M&M

Photo of the Month – Winter Storm

Posted on January 8, 2013 by Mike Nelson Pedde — 4 Comments ↓

Hi Folks:

Through the winter months we can get some very high tides (and consequently very low ones) known as ‘King Tides‘.Â Winter hereÂ also tends to involve a fair bit of rain and some really powerful winds.Â The combined effect isn’t as strong here in Victoria as it is on the west coast of the island, but it can still be pretty amazing.Â I went out a couple of years ago to try to photograph this remarkable occurrence and ended up with my camera (and me) getting swamped by a rogue wave!Â Both of us survived the encounter, chronicled here: Photo of the Month – Winter Storm. Continue Reading →

Photo of the Month – October

Posted on October 30, 2011 by Mike Nelson Pedde — 2 Comments ↓

Hi Folks:

End of the month again, and while Hallowe’en is tomorrow, I’m not going to post pictures of zombies, ghouls, ghosts or other Hallowe’en characters.Â I thought I’d mention something else entirely: serendipity.Â Roughly defined as a ‘happy accident’, serendipity from a photographer’s perspective often comes about from having a camera at just the right moment, to capture something you might otherwise have missed.Â Most of my photography is landscape work, and while I do go out on photographic expeditions, I usually have a camera with me wherever I go – even if it’s just the camera in my cell phone. Continue Reading →

Photo of the Month – Winter Storm

Posted on December 31, 2010 by Mike Nelson Pedde — Leave a reply

Hi Folks:

Today is the last day of December, and that means it’s time for the ‘Photo of the Month’ post. Being December 31, it’s also the last day of 2010. There’s an old story about spring coming in like a lamb or a lion, and if that also applies to winter, this one could be interesting!

I was walking back from the grocery store on December 20, and when I got to Dallas Road the wind was just howling and the waves were crashing into the beach. Despite this, the sun was still shining. I later discovered this is known as a ‘King Tide‘ event, a biannual event caused by the alignment of the sun and moon that creates extremely high tides. All I knew at the time was, “I’ve got to shoot this!” Continue Reading →

Photo of the Month

Posted on December 1, 2010 by Mike Nelson Pedde — 2 Comments ↓

Hi Folks:

In our last ‘He Says, She Says…‘ post I mentioned that we’re currently house sitting for a friend, and that our new (if temporary) home is only six houses away from the ocean.Â Therefore, it only seemed fitting to make November’s ‘Photo of the Month’ an image of the mountains in Washington across the Juan de Fuca Strait.Â I was walking by there yesterday and the light was so incredible I had to stop and make a few images.Â This one is combined from 7 images using Autopano Pro, and finished in Lightroom.