Stitched

Some views of nature are just so big - great when you are there just absorbing them - in the moment - but capturing and sharing them can be disappointing when you have a simple lens or an Iphone camera. But I have now got a new app for the phone called AutoStitch which as the name implies can take multiple photos you have taken as you pan a panorama and stitch them into one panoramic shot.

I have shared one such panorama before but though I would share the two from Dugong Beach in Alyangula and two from Little Lagoon at Umbakumba.

Barry Smith © Dugong Beach at dusk - stitched

Barry Smith © Dugong Beach at night - sticthed

Barry Smith © Little Lagoon West - at dawn - stitched

Barry Smith © Little Lagoon- Umbakumba - East - dawn - stitched

The small screen does not quite do them justice but I hope you enjoy sharing the vistas.

Barry Smith © Dragonflies at sunset - looking east - Little Lagoon - Umbakumba

And just before we left Umbakumba there was this swarm of Dragonflies at dusk - hope you can see them - there were masses of them.

A different take on grasses

On our daily walks I have been captivated by the abundance of grasses after the long wet - so many seed heads and shapes. I also thought some of these would be good subjects for alternation with iPhone apps.

So first up a few photos of the grasses taken with naked iPhone camera.

Barry Smith © Matted grass heads

Barry Smith  Grass bounty

Barry Smith © Grass against the sky

Barry Smith © Grass heads by the stream

Barry Smith © Roots on the sand

Barry Smith © Spiky grass

And then the creative effects.

Barry Smith © Grass against the sky - altered

Barry Smith © Grass heads by stream - altered 

Barry Smith  Matted grass heads - altered

Barry Smith © Grass bounty - altered 

Barry Smith © Spiky grass - altered

Barry Smith © Roots on sand - altered

And a seaweed washed up on the beach - a sort of sea grass?

Barry Smith © Seaweed/sponge on the sand

Barry Smith © Seaweed/sponge - altered

You can see I'm still having fun with the iPhoneography. One thing I have found is that you do need to find the right effect for the light and texture of the photo - you can't just use any old thing - you have to play around trying a few different things with different saturations and gamma application.

Rocks on Dugong Beach

As with any beach there are many features. Those that stand out on Dugong Beach are the piles of ancient coral being ground out of the lava rock; the rock formations and colours themselves; the drift wood and silvered roots of dead trees; the sunsets; the dragonflies; and of course the peace filling gentle roll of the waves and lapping of the water.

Thought I would share a few shots of the rocks including those that have attained unusual colours with the action of salt in crevices.

Barry Smith © Ancient bleached coral between the rocks

Barry Smith © Rock crevice blued by salt

Barry Smith © Rocks with drift wood

Barry Smith © Slashed and blued rocks

Barry Smith © Full and half moon rock?

Barry Smith © Rocks - Dugong Beach at sunset

All the shots are simple naked iPhone shots. Thought I'd add one of Fiona taking yet another macro shot as the sunset colours the beach.

Barry Smith © Fiona - intrepid photographer - sunset Dugong Beach

Sunset over Dugong Beach

Fiona and I are in Alyangula for a few days so that we have mobile and email access to do some work-work and catch up with friends and blogs etc. We are staying at the only available non-mine or non-community accommodation - Dugong Resort which gives us great access to a number of small beaches with rocky outcrops - very old stone formations - lot of old lava formations with lots of coral and shells embed in the lava stone.

We usually walk the beaches at dusk to take in the cool and also the fading light and sunsets - the sun is directly facing the beach as the beach faces west.

Though I would just share a few photos taken with the iPhone.

Barry Smith© Sunset with rocks - Dugong Beach

Barry Smith© Sunset - unusual light - Dugong Beach

Barry Smith © Dragonflies at dusk

Barry Smith© On fire - Dugong Beach

Barry Smith © Pathways on the water - Dugong Beach

However the following photo is created from 7 photos that have been stitched together using a new app I bought.

Barry Smith© Sunset panorama - Dugong Beach

Celebrating a day of trees

Whilst I have blogged today already I was reminded that I might join Suzi in celebrating trees.

Today Fiona and I started our day with our morning walk in Umbakumba. We always pass a stand of Paper Bark trees growing in wetlands - always marvel how these trees thrive so well with such wet feet.

Barry Smith © Paper Barks at dawn - Umbakumba

Barry Smith © Paper Barks at dawn - Umbakumba

And we ended our day walking on a beach - Dugong Beach - Alyangula - and were stunned by the beauty of the place and whilst I will blog on this beauty later I wanted to share photos of mangrove trees growing in seawater amidst the rocks. Again - how does nature do that - such inhospitable situations yet such beauty and survival.

Barry Smith © Amazing trees 1  - amidst the rocks

Barry Smith © Amazing trees 2 - amidst the rocks

Barry Smith © Amazing trees 3 - rocks and sea water

So it made me reflect on survival and beauty - nature has such tenacity to survive and provide the lungs of the earth - maybe we could give a hand?

The beauty of clouds

Thought I might share a few photos of clods and sunsets on Pirlangimpi and Umbakumba.

The clouds above Pirlangimpi were in the south east so picked up the relflected light of the sun setting in the west.

Barry Smith© Clouds Pirlangimpi 1

Barry Smith© Clouds Pirlangimpi 2

The sunset in Umbakumba started with striking reds but as it waned it picked out great pastles in the ribbons of clouds.

Barry Smith© Sunset - Umbakumba Burnt Purple

Barry Smith© Sunset - Umbakumba Haunting Grey

Barry Smith© Sunset - Umbakumba Pastles

Th unusual red photo below occurred by accident - I photographed the sunset with the flash of the iPhone on and this was the result.

Gliding on the airwaves

Both Pirlangimpi and Umbakumba are island communities in the NT.  One pleasing outcome of their locations is that there often appears to be a sea eagle or a kit hawk cruising the thermals with a keen eye out for a fish meal - either in the water or the discards of fisher-people.

I tried to capture some of this on the iPhone - not easy with a far away moving target and a pretty simple camera. Though I thought the distant silhouettes against the overcast skies are subtle images and give a sense of gliding high.

Barry Smith © Sea Eagle over Pirlangimpi

Barry Smith © Sea Eagle over Pirlangimpi

Barry Smith © Kite over Umbakumba

 And of course because they were taken with the iPhone I played with them to see if I could give the images another mood. Given the proximity to water I though the FX water overlay was apt for a Sea Eagle; and the FX-SFX x-ray gave the Kite a moody mysteriousness.

Barry Smith© Eagle - FX water overlay

Barry Smith© Kite - FX - SFX

Though the iPhone camera is not brilliant I do find I am seeing a different side of nature through the screen.

Published - artists' books

As indicated on my website artists' books are one stream of my art work. Though a quick look at the portfolio gallery on the site will reveal that my 'books' are three dimensional and usually made of metal and wood.

Recently Linda Douglas invited me to submit an article for  her journal - Australian Book Arts Journal. I accepted the invitation and submitted my article and photos; and hey presto, the article on Sculptural Books (Beyond the Object) has been published in Issue 4 March 2011.

The article is on pages 10-11.

And there is a good photo of a piece called Spiral on the back cover.

Barry Smith © Spiral

I conclude the article by saying that "I believe my sculptural bookworks are more than simply objects; they also communicate content as would any book."  I was making the point that a book could be made from any material and take any shape as long as it also carries some content - a poem, a message, a saying, and instruction etc.