Crossing the Bridge

October 19, 2011 By Mufidah Kassalias in Photography Tags: Abstract Photography, reflections, Sheffield Park, Sussex 12 Comments

This is the second of my Sheffield Park reflections, shot from across the lake with an aperture of f/5.6, shutter speed 1/125 and ISO 125. I like the way the people have become elongated, in particular the two people to the right of the bridge who appear to have been looking directly at me as I took the photograph. I generally do my best to capture only reflections in the frame, with nothing solid and ‘real’, but in this case I felt the patch of water lilies on the left added more interest to the shot, leading one to pause and question the image.

Picnic at Sheffield Park

October 18, 2011 By Mufidah Kassalias in Photography Tags: Abstract Photography, reflections, Sheffield Park, Sussex 4 Comments

On our trip to Sheffield Park last Saturday I took some time, whilst taking pictures of the grand lakes and foliage, to point my lens directly at the water to capture the incredibly clear reflections in the lakes, a technique I used in my Reflections in the River Ouse series. Once imported, I rotate the images 180º (aka flip vertically) in post-production. The great thing about rotating reflections in this way is that you end up with a more painterly effect, some being more reminiscent of oils or acrylics, others of water colours. And where some images are more abstract than others, ones like this can fool the eye on first glance, then as you begin to notice the broken people and the ripple in the sky you realise that something’s not quite as you expected.

Technical info: For this shot I used an aperture of f/16, set the shutter speed at 1/125 with ISO 800.

Sheffield Park Garden

October 15, 2011 By Mufidah Kassalias in Photography Tags: reflections, Sheffield Park, Sussex 6 Comments

It’s been a gorgeous day here in Sussex. Although the temperatures have dropped considerably since our Indian summer which ended just last weekend, the combination of clear skies and lack of wind resulted in a gloriously warm and sunny day. Seizing the opportunity we headed off to nearby Sheffield Park, cameras in hand. This is a classic shot looking over Ten Foot Pond towards Sheffield Park House. It’s a curious name for a pond since it’s clearly much larger than ten feet — in either direction! I also shot a couple of images that are pure reflection, inverted, which I’ll post next. In the meantime, do take a look at my Reflections series, which will give you an idea of what to expect.

Houses on the Banks of the Ouse – Reflections in the River Ouse

September 27, 2011 By Mufidah Kassalias in Photography Tags: Abstract Photography, Lewes, reflections, River Ouse, Sussex 8 Comments

The inspiration for the Reflections in the River Ouse series came to me on the Cliffe Bridge where I paused early on a glorious mid-summer morning to watch the river flowing slowly, languidly out to sea. The air was still and the reflections in the river unusually clear. I pulled out my camera and started shooting, capturing only the reflections in the frame.

In contrast to that first morning of calm waters when I shot reflections of the West bank, the wind was blowing strong gusts the evening I photographed the East bank, making the water quite choppy and the reflections more abstract.

All ten photographs were taken at dawn or dusk – the golden hour – when the sun was soft and warm, and in all cases at high tide.