It’s a poor sort of memory that only works backwards.  –  Lewis Carroll 28mm; ISO 2000. 10 seconds at f2.8. Incandescent light balance  

Change is the very essence of life.  –  Anatole France 28mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f11. Light balance 2500 deg K  

To live is so startling it leaves little time for anything else.  –  Emily Dickinson 28mm; ISO 2000. 30 seconds at f4  

If you never did, you should. These things are fun and fun is good.  –  Dr Suess  28mm, ISO 2000. 15 secs at f8. Col balance 2500 deg K.

Yet my moon always hung faithfully in the sky: constant companion, luminous and remote, gentle symbol of mystery, femininity and noctural wisdom.  –  Michael Leunig 85mm, ISO 2000. 10 secs at f8  

Let it go, let it out / let it all unravel; Let it free and it can be/ a path on which to travel.  – Leunig 28mm; ISO 2000. 30 secs at f8. Incandescent light balance  

 The problem with the youth of today is that one is no longer part of it. – Salvadore Dali 50mm, ISO 2000. 30 secs at f11. Flash  

Live courageously, and produce.  –  Vincent van Gogh  28mm, ISO 2000. 3 secs at f8. Sodium vapour light balance

My imagination makes me human and makes me a fool; it gives me all the world, and exiles me from it.  –  Ursula K. Le Guin 28mm, ISO 2000. 1 sec at f11. Flash  

If only I could stand on a street corner with my hat in my hand, and get people to throw their wasted time into it!  –  Bernard Berenson, U.S. art critic Taken last year at Te Hapu, Golden Bay and recalled by our more recent stay. Moonset before midnight always means a crescent moon, a simple […]

Blend a little foolishness with your wisdom: it’s nice to be silly at the right moment. –  Horace 28mm, ISO 2000. 30 secs at f8. Flash  

Health is the greatest gift; Contentment the greatest wealth; Faithfulness the best relationship.  –  Buddha 28mm, ISO 2000. 123 secs at f22. Flash

A fool sees a tree, by moonlight. 11.49pm, 10 January 2012  A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.  – William Blake 28mm, ISO 2000. 30 secs at f13. Flash

The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.  –  St Augustine  28mm, ISO 2000. 30 secs at f11

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

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 […]

Correction does much, but encouragement does more. –  J. von Goethe Driving back after sunset from an amble around Stratford, Taranaki, I was pleased to see this dramatic church in Inglewood, the next country town. The magnificent kowhai tree in front was laden with blossom, while a branch hung down above the main floodlight. Not […]

Our wealth lies not in what we have, but in what we enjoy. –  Anonymous So where the clear light of day would need only 20 seconds for preparation and never more than a second for exposure, I choose the half-light of evening and belabour the task for far too long… It must be the […]

Three lights at Paritutu, New Plymouth. 9.36pm, 10 September 2011 I have memory, which is the idiot’s talent. –  Francisco Umbral The three lights are moonlight (at sea), nearby industrial lighting and flash for the foreground. This shot has a cool feel because the incandescent (tungsten) setting was used to cool the light on the […]

Life is made up of marble and mud. –  Nathaniel Hawthorne It’s surprising what you find close to home when you can’t venture far. Apart from their starriness, this scene matches with the previous one, Marahau before moonrise, in one  sense: use of f4. However their shutter times demonstrate how far apart light levels can […]

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted. –  Aesop Last full moon I spent many happy hours over several evenings tackling the budding magnolia next door. This one worked better at f5.6 than at f16, to my surprise, but with f16 needing nearly 5 minutes the risk of a breeze was […]

Desire is something irrational for which one always has to pay a high price. – Pedro Almodovar On biting winter evenings two strategies can help prise the moonlight photographer from homely warmth. Either go out while it’s still daylight, or stay close to home – for an easier retreat. For this extended exposure in the […]