The art of flight has never ceased to amaze me. But at no time do I feel that sense of wonder more than when standing near a cliff face with birds passing me from behind. Larger birds such as eagles and cockatoos fly freely into the valley below, and their size allows me to follow them for a very long time. Cliffs provide a real sense of perspective, a real sense of depth: many of the ridges in the Blue Mountains drop straight down for as much as 300 ft.

Cockatoos in the Grose Valley, Blue Mountains

Like many youngsters I’ve always wanted to get my wings but have not gotten far yet: just an introductory flying lesson. And without a good reason to fly often I’ll leave it at that for the time being: one really needs to keep up one’s hours to be a safe pilot.

A mailrun in the Australian Outback could be such a reason. Perhaps someday I can call myself a mailman–with wings… Or buzzing around in an ultra light with my camera in hand — that would be even better.

Until then, I’ll content myself with creating websites for the aviation industry (currently working on Aero News Network), read up on the subject (such as the classic “Flight Without Formulae”), or simply be flown around by those lucky enough to call themselves a pilot.

How do you know but ev’ry Bird that cuts the airy way,
Is an immense world of delight, clos’d by your senses five?

— William Blake, ‘The Marriage of Heaven and Hell,’ 1790.

Our former ISP had stuffed up. I won’t go into details, but the result was that the ADSL connection on our premises was down for nearly two weeks.
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Polarisation filters are among the most useful tools a photographer can have in her toolbox. They can make colours brighter and limit unwanted reflections. If you’re not familiar with these filters check out this Luminous Landscape article.

You can overdo it however. And that’s what I did. The tricky thing is that what was displayed in the viewfinder didn’t look all that bad. After transfering the images to the computer I was soon convinced otherwise: a very noticable discolouration, and not at all the effect I had in mind. Unless this is the unnatural effect that you’re aiming for, it really is worth heading the warnings by professional photographers when using extreme polarisation in combination with wide angle lenses.

Judge ye self: