Starry Night

Mogumber, originally uploaded by graham_wa.

This...just...takes my breath away. A sky full of stars, the shadows, the colours and night. I have nothing else to say except... I just love this photo.

The Right Place at the Right Time

windyedit, originally uploaded by ShutteredDimensions.

It is time for my own work to make an appearance. This is one of my favourite photos. Why? Because it illustrates that perfect moment when subject, camera, and environment came together to create something that looked planned but wasn't.

No, there isn't a wind machine hiding behind that chain link fence just out of shot. Her hair is flying in the wind of the underground train that happened to go by just as i was about to take a shot. No, I didn't pick this location because of the train. I picked it because it was accessible, low light and industrial and that was exactly what I was looking for.

It goes to show that photography doesn't have to be perfectly controlled to be interesting. Which is what this shot taught me. You can dress, pose, and and choose your angle but sometimes life intervenes. In this case it took a mediocre shot and made it into one that is at this point one of my best.

A Ride in a Tea Cup

Mad Tea Party, Disneyland Park, originally uploaded by Mastery of Maps.

This photo has been a favourite of mine for quite some time, and for that reason deserves honourable mention. Why? Because it combines four things I love. Colour + Night + Tea Cups + Lanterns. I have seen a few pictures of the Mad Tea Party ride at Disneyland on flickr, but this one by Mystery of Maps is my favourite.

Something about this photo is nostalgic for me even though when I went to Disneyland I never went on it. There are certain things that have that effect on me. The Mad Tea Party is one because it brings into focus and reality an element of fantasy that we often as adults lose our grip on. But it has weighed heavily on my mind since I have found this photo. Should I ever find myself in California again I am going to go. Will it live up to the fantasy? Likely not. Regardless, it has become one of those strange goals and fascinations in life, and this photo is solely responsible for that.

Sickly Sweet

Sickly Sweet, originally uploaded by boopsie.daisy.

At the moment I am going through a bit of a candy phase. No I don't want to eat candy, but I do want to photograph it. Because of this I hit flickr pretty hard last night for brightly coloured candy images.

The above is from an entirely brilliant flickr user boopsie.daisy that sets up candy coated scenes but adds figurines, dolls etc... I thought this was a particularly excellent example of her work because the figurine is expressing such a strong emotion that works so well with its surroundings.

Who hasn't as a youngster been drawn into the magnificent world of candy only to eat so much you become ill? I know I have done it. I remember eating a little jug of tropical flavoured bubblegum only to puke it up violently later that day. Yes, I swallowed the gum, but hey I was a kid. Unfortunately, to this day I have an aversion to tropical flavoured foods. Sometimes memories are the strong and small experiences can impact us in large ways. I think this image captures that perfectly. So much human emotion packed into one image without a single living human subject.