The mysterious moon

The moon is an awkward thing to photograph. Due to the way our minds work the moon always appears bigger than it really is. So when we try to photograph it the results often disappoint but the moon appears to be tiny in the photo.

Longer lenses and a good tripod can capture some impressive shots of the moon but I actually like an image where the moon isn't the main focus but it appears in the sky as a tiny white orb. In a way it brings some scale to the picture and gives a sense of our play in the universe. It breaks us out of the bounds on the photo's border and reminds us that there is more out there than we are seeing.

This photo of a tree in silhouette could be far out in the country, away from civilization but, in fact, is on a hill overlooking a large town in the South East of the UK. A 30 minute train ride from central London. If were slightly higher and able to look down beyond the hedge we would see the sprawl of houses, shops and industrial building in the valley below.

A continuing obsession with clouds

Long before I became interested in photography I was obsessed with the patterns and colours of clouds in the sky. Their brief and transitory nature made me yearn to some how capture their beauty before disappeared.

However, I realised that the true beauty is in that passing nature of the clouds. It is a brief moment in time that must be appreciated, there and then, for what it is. No image can ever really do justice to the sky and whenever I have tried to capture it the results have always been disappointing.

That said, I often can't resist snapping certain cloud formations and the interplay of light with the ground that they create. Now I try not to capture the moment as it truly was but to create something new and pleasing in itself. I still try to take a Zen-like approach to the clouds themselves and bask in the moment before they, or I, have to go.