Abridged Version

Someone's Been Keepin' Me In The Dark Again

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

As you know, I always take my camera everywhere. So when I saw these jewel-like reflections on the surface of the Yarra River, I was able to take a photograph immediately. This is not the best view of the Melbourne skyline, and you have to strain your eyes to see the Swan Street bridge spanning one end of this frame to the other - but it's just a "different" view of the city I live in.

To achieve this effect, I didn't shoot it in "panorama" mode; I just shot the whole scene and then cropped out the sky and the river to concentrate on the lights. I never crop my images or modify them in any way, but this was one time I felt it was warranted. As for the deep purple tinge to the sky, that's fairly normal here in Melbourne at this time of year.

Ribbons Across The River

Even In Darkness, You Can Find Colour

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

Sometimes you see something that just stops you in your tracks. This was taken some weeks ago, in pitch black conditions. But the thing that really caught my attention was the ribbon-like pattern of the lights on the inky surface of the river.

My good friend, the Canadian blogger Allan Cook, reckons when I have a camera in my hand, I am irrevocably drawn to water. You know what - I think he's right. Maybe it's the fact that I spent my childhood a stone's throw away from water. Or maybe it's because you never know what mysteries you'll see on the surface of the water. On this occasion, the shimmering colours below the Swan Street bridge were impossible to resist.