Is The Sky Afire?

Melbourne's Gearing Up For A Hot, Dry Summer

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

Sometimes it's hard to predict what the evening sky will be like. Actually, let me amend that sentence. Most of the time, it is utterly impossible to work out what the sunset will be like.

But on Tuesday evening, when I took this sequence of shots, I knew we were in for something quite extraordinary. There was a clear horizon. There was a flaming sun. And there was a smattering of cloud. That's generally when you get some great colours, after the sun has sunk below the horizon.


Still, nothing can prepare you for the swiftness with which the colours ebb and flow - or how dramatically they appear. Nor can anything prepare you for how swiftly they vanish, leaving just grey streaks.

You have to be quick, you have to be decisive - and most of all, you have to be lucky. In this case, I was able to use the nearby plane trees as silhouettes, to highlight the sulphurous yellow that flickered across the wide expanse of Australian sky.


When I took this sequence of shots, there were several people on their evening walk. They were all concentrating on negotiating the hills, or lost in the music of their iPods, or simply engrossed in thought.

Not one of them was looking at the sky. Truly, I think they missed the best part of the day.


For other participants in Dot’s concept, go to Sky Watch HQ.

Right Angle

Right Time, Right Place, Looking The Right Way

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

Can you figure out what this photograph (above) shows? If you're not certain, let me repeat what I say when I get asked for the single most important piece of advice for budding photographers. Without exception, my advice is always to look around for the best shot, because it invariably comes from an angle or a viewpoint that you would least expect.

Now look at the second photograph (below). It shows a sunset, captured from the top of a hill here in Melbourne. Following my own rule, I checked to see if there was a good shot at a different point of the compass - and then I saw the same stunning sunset reflected in the windscreen of my own car. The first shot is simply that - the sunset reflected at the unusual angle of the windscreen.

It was just a lucky shot, I guess, because my car was parked in a random spot. But if you want another great example of why you should always look around you when you're shooting a really arresting scene, just go to Blue Riband.

On Cloud Nine

The Sky's The Limit On An Autumn Evening

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

At dusk yesterday, I suddenly looked outside and saw streaks of pink across the sky. I grabbed my camera and rushed out, thinking I would get in the car and drive to a nearby hilltop vantage point. Quick mathematical calculation. Three minutes' driving time. Hmmm. Sky palette changing rapidly. Hmmm. Not good. So I abandoned the plan to drive. Instead, I stood on the street and shot rapidly as the colours ebbed and flowed. I took these frames about fifteen metres from my front door, taking care to utilise a roofline and a couple of trees to get some stark silhouettes into the spectacular sky. Not bad for the first week of autumn. And of course, regular readers of this blog would know that I do not manipulate my images in any way, electronically or otherwise. What you see here is what I shoot. In this case, God provided the artwork. I just lined up the lens and captured the scene.