Start every day with a smile and get it over with.  –  W.C. Field 85mm, ISO 2000. 1/13th sec at f7.1. Flash, 10000 deg K  

 When we are unable to find tranquillity within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere.  –  de La Rochefoucauld 85mm, ISO 2000. 4 secs at f2. 5000 deg K

The future is purchased by the present.  –  Samuel Johnson 28mm, ISO 2500. 30 secs at f10

Do not dwell on the past; do not dream of the future. Concentrate the mind on the present moment.  –  Buddha 85mm ISO 2000. 1/10th sec at f5.6. Flash at 10,000 deg K

The real difference between people is energy. –  Thomas Fuller 85mm, ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f7.1

Through the friendly silence of the soundless moonlight. – Virgil 50mm, ISO 500. 30 seconds at f16. Flash

The love of life is necessary to the vigorous prosecution of any undertaking. – Samuel Johnson 50mm, ISO 2000. 13 seconds at f8. Flash

Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction. –  J.F. Kennedy 28mm, ISO 2000. 30 secs at f8. Flash

It is madness for sheep to talk peace with a wolf. –  Thomas Fuller 85mm, ISO 2000. 10 secs at f4.5

There is no duty we so much underestimate as the duty of being happy. Being happy we sow anonymous benefits upon the world.   –  Robert L. Stevenson 85mm, ISO 2000. 1 sec at f16. Flash

To have made a beginning is half of the business; dare to be wise  –  Horace 85mm, ISO 2000. 30 seconds @ f11

I confess that the head gardener has long asked for a moonlight photo of these louts, here at home. On the wrong side of a trellis, the artichokes are shaded from the full moon until after midnight; they’re also exposed to the sickly orange of streetlights. To fix the first problem I togged up after […]

Backlit by moonlight. 2.47 am, 11 November 2011 Most of us swim in the ocean of the commonplace. –  Pio Baroja Although I’m not really satisfied with this, returning for another attempt wouldn’t deliver the same magic I first found here. While commonplace as to foliage, the light on this scene was striking, being an […]

Friendship is a sheltering tree. –  S.T. Coleridge Peering through a suburban cabbage tree involved an awkward set-up on sloping ground; every slight adjustment of the tripod also changed the ponga ferns relative to the foreground. I was however nicely sheltered from a frigid gale. I’ve used a conventional depth of field method known as […]

Experience is the comb that nature gives us when we are bald.  –  Anon Another split focus, single frame experiment; the hairdresser’s quote is suggested by the full-frontal flash on the flower stalks. For the rest of the exposure the lens barrel has been swiftly rotated, moving the focus closer to infinity. This gives reasonable […]

  Fern and farm, autumn night. 8.58pm, 19 May 2011 Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance. –  Samuel Johnson Taranaki is so wet that ferns thrive even out on their own, as here on farmland close to town. The extra lighting is from a penlight, and far more subtle than in […]

  There are no innocent desires. –  Luis Bunuel (attrib.) This well lit figure stands by a pond fringed with planted natives. The pond is also fringed by the suburbs; it’s on a reserve within walking distance of home, one which is a pleasure to reach without having to take the car. There is plenty […]

  Plan for the future because that’s where you are going to spend the rest of your life. –  Mark Twain But why plan for the future when it’s already here? While waiting for a late moonrise I saw this spectacle, looming above the top floor of a parking building. Flash-assisted in deep twilight, the […]

Time is the reef upon which all our frail mystic ships are wrecked. –  Noel Coward Here you see no ships nor port, but a curious effect of some tricky experimentation. Changing the focus manually during exposure gives two planes of focus! For technical reasons this works best on telephoto, using flash before a time […]

The truth is more important than the facts. –  Frank Lloyd Wright I clambered up a cutting for this welcome perspective, then waited a while for a car to complete the picture, a 5 min 35 sec exposure. The car is actually a police car looking for me. A strange vehicle has been reported down […]

Too much light is like too much darkness: you cannot see. –  Octavio Paz Mt Taranaki and the Southern Cross. I’d had this viewpoint in mind for sometime, as it has a convenient carpark and a sweeping bend. Much depends on car speed, headlight direction and high or low beam – plus ISO choice and […]

The thing always happens that you really believe in, and the belief in a thing makes it happen. –  Frank Lloyd Wright Using the smallest aperture on the bridge I got both the near bones and the distant peak into sharp focus with a telephoto lens. A lower ISO was needed to extend the exposure […]

Live as long as you may, the first 20 years are the longest half of your life.  – Southey A composition in classic thirds. The quote is personal, referring to my first return to Waikanae Beach since spring 1976, with some ardent memories attached. Youthful impressions can be deepest on the sand! Bright shore means […]

Wisdom comes with age, but sometimes age comes alone. –  Anon Any “ordinary” photo of floodlit buildings will be lifted by background twilight, an obliging moon and the selection of an artificial light balance. Lady Godiva obliging on a white horse in front of the dark tree would’ve helped too, but unfortunately she was already […]

No state of affairs is ever perfect. –  Horace On a mild spring evening a slip of a moon comes down the starry sky to a calm sea. What a marvellous programme! A bench seat was provided but there was no admission charge,  applause or intermission – and no commercials. Truth be told though, I […]