Photo of the Week – Mike Acquesta

The Possibilities Are Endless With Photography

Swing Ride at the NC State Fairground - Oct 2009

Swing Ride at the NC State Fairground - Oct 2009

This could be a finely detailed woodcut or a reversed pen and ink drawing but it’s actually an excellent image captured with a Canon 40D. Mike was taking a course at Wake Tech to get up to speed on digital technology after some years away from photography. The class visited the State Fairgrounds in Raleigh to practice night shots and the use of a slow shutter to indicate motion. “I decided to try it as B&W because there were basically only 2 colors in the picture, the yellowish lights of the ride itself and the black background of the sky. I think it works nicely because of the stark contrast”, says Mike. There is a grace and lightness in the almost feathery tracings of light radiating from the center that makes the photograph something special. In spite of all the lines, it’s clean and uncluttered.

Photo of the Week – Kelly Clampitt

Nature Is The Ultimate Artist

Uluru in Ulu?u-Kata Tju?a National Park- Central Australia

Uluru in Ulu?u-Kata Tju?a National Park- Central Australia

Uluru (also known somewhat lamely as Ayers Rock) is a giant sandstone monolith in Australia with a circumference of 5.8 miles which reaches a height of 2,831 ft. above sea level. As impressive as these facts may be, they do nothing to describe the delicate beauty of the scene Kelly captured during a visit in May of 2007. In her words, “When it rains the rock catches water which runs down basins and gullies formed over the millennia to the ground where catch ponds form. There is almost always water running down from somewhere on this monolith. Thus the area immediately around the rock is like an oasis for plants and wildlife and magical to the Aboriginal people who request certain areas of Uluru, which were used in specific rituals and ceremony, not be photographed. I was fascinated by the feminine aspects of the etched stone, the reflections, and the silvery color of the light in the reflected water trickling down into the very quiet pool fringed by green plant life.” The colors, shapes, lines, textures and overall composition contribute to a totality that defies description. The gentle diagonal curve of the quiet pool is the final touch.