Michael Larkin

@cloudmaker.bsky.social

238 Followers 229 Following

Australian landscape photographer www.cloudmaker.com

A narrow line of clouds is set against a sky shading from blue, through lavender, lilac and salmon to pale pink. The pink band is an atmospheric phenomenon known as the Belt of Venus.
An aerial view of a sharp edge mountain ridge, curving up to a peak, with an ice-filled cirque to the right of the ridge and a steep sided rock face to the left. The ridge has a covering of snow, but the black rock shows through where it is too steep for the snow to accumulate. In the background are other peaks of New Zealand's Southern Alps.
A line of bare, dead trees, stand in a straw yellow field of grass with smaller myrtle green eucalypts and acacias scattered in the background. Uluru provides a vast backdrop of rust-red stone, like the flanks of an enormous beast.
A vertical format closeup image made in Antarctica of an iceberg, with ridges running diagonally from bottom left to top right. The ice is scalloped, like scales, and is a turquoise blue colour. There is a light dusting of snow, like icing sugar, along the edge of the ridges in the ice.
A black and white image of a six month old golden retriever, lying on the grass but looking up at my wife (out of frame) with love and mischief all over his face
An Adelie penguin stands alone on an iceberg, his flippers out and his head turned to the side as though he's been caught in the middle of a dance move. It's a crystal clear, sunny day, the sky in the background is cloudless blue and there is a hint of turquoise in the iceberg.
Ridges layered in dark blue silhouette as the sun has dipped below the horizon. The last of the light illuminates high, wispy clouds in pink, salmon and orange.
A waterfall cascades over several rock platforms from the upper left of the image to the bottom right. It is late in the day, so the shadows are deep and the water has blurred like angel hair due to the long exposure. The rock faces are covered in moss and the steep sided gully is filled with ferns and glistening dark emerald vegetation
A weddell seal lies on its back on the volcanic sand beach near Baily Head on Deception Island in the South Shetlands, sound asleep despite the ruckus from chinstrap penguins passing back and forth along the beach
Closeup of dried grass and snow, the dried grass forming a y-shape like two rivers joining. The dried grass is a warm golden brown colour and contrasts with the austere whiteness of the snow.
A close up image of the tiles on the exterior of the Sydney Opera House's "sails", showing a series of joins, radiating from the bottom left corner, like the ribs of a fan, and the diamond patterns of the tiles. The tiles are reflective, and the tiles in the upper right half of the image reflect blue sky, while the tiles in the lower left half of the image reflect the off-white of another of the Opera House's "sails".
View of a jagged series of ridges, lightly covered in snow, rising to a peak. In the foreground is a meadow, the grass pale and yellow. At the foot of the mountain is a forest of pines and a row of birches, skeleton like and bare of leaves. The also grow on the ridges of the mountain, but thin out as toward the peak, which is bare, sharp rock. The sky is overcast, promising bad weather, and a band of mist clings to the slopes.
A stream flowing through a field of, with lush green grass growing on the banks of the stream. Two boulders protrude from the middle of the water, each with ferns and grass growing on them and there is a wood on far side of the stream. Dark clouds can be seen beyond the tops of the trees, and a rain spots can be seen on the gently flowing water.
The view through the narrow walls of Stanley Chasm, the rock wall on the left is mostly in shadow, while the wall on the right is glowing orange-red. We get a glimpse though the gap of a rocky landscape beyond, with a few gum trees clinging to the rock faces.
Uluru, in central Australia, in silhouette at dawn. With the sun yet to rise above the horizon, the sky in the background shades from red, through amber, gold and pink to deep indigo
An abstract image of a brick wall which is rendered and painted in an off-white colour. In the upper left, the render has been cut away in a square shape, exposing the brickwork underneath, which still bears traces of plaster. The square cutaway intersects with an arch shape that spans the bottom right two thirds of the image. Within the arch is a smaller square where the render has again been cut away, exposing the bricks, this time with no plaster remaining, so they are a darker red-brown colour compared to the bricks visible in the top left. The paint is peeling in the lower right, exposing random shapes of grey cement render.
Three Adelie penguins in single file, their flippers extended for balance, follow a path made by penguin traffic in snow atop an ice field.
A stream runs through temperate rainforest toward the viewer from the upper right of the image to the lower left. The water is blurred by long exposure as it flows around and over rocks in the stream, and the banks are a jumble of moss and lichen covered boulders and fallen tree trunks.
A ridge line is silhouetted against golden morning light flooding in below a low deck of clouds. The sun is just out of the left side of the image. The ridge itself steps down from the right to a saddle known as Gabe's Gap, and through the gap we can see the outline of the Blue Mountains escarpment in the distance.
Detail of the facade of the Harpa concert hall in Reykjavik, Iceland, comprised of three dimensional multi sided hexagonal 12 foot high glass bricks stacked in columns, which are inspired by the columnar basalt found throughout Iceland. The varied angles and use of coloured glass create a range of colours from dark blue to pale cyan.
Looking straight down at a short-tailed shearwater feather embedded in the sand of Ocean Beach at Strahan in Tasmania. The feather is a darker brown colour against the sand, and individual filaments can be seen with grains of sand interspersed along the length of the feather's shaft.
A clump of small black spruce trees in the foreground face into a blizzard. The scene is almost a white-out, although there is a second row of trees visible in the distance, fading into the blowing ice and snow. Some of the trees - known as flag trees or krummholz - are stunted by the wind, with branches only on one size, being the one facing away from the prevailing wind.
A ribbon of smoke is reflected in the waters of Great Sandy Strait, the sky above it a pale blue, while below it the gold of late afternoon sun lights up the horizon. It is low tide, and a triangular point of land juts out into the water, with a channel marker just visible where it meets the water, and a yacht can be seen on the horizon with its sails furled.
A lichen covered boulder in the foreground is surrounded by button grass tussocks lit by the afternoon sun. The middle ground is in shadow, the ground rising gently to the dark and brooding grey dolerite columns of flat topped Mount Oakleigh at the horizon.
A range of mountains spans the horizon, blue in the distance. In the foreground is a lichen covered boulder, its sharp outline reminiscent of the mountains. In between are expanses of button grass, green-gold in the late afternoon sun.
Looking across small glacial tarns fringed by cushion plants toward a stand of pencil pines with the flat topped dolerite columnar peak known as Solomon's Throne behind. Patches of blue sky can be seen through the clouds and reflected in the water.
Image of a slow flowing river, the water stained a dark tea colour by tannins, with a large fallen tree trunk projecting out into the flow across a coarse shingle shore. The far bank of the river is a wall of tree ferns and dense vegetation.
The image shows a rockface composed of dolerite columns at Weindorfer's Tower in the Cradle Mountain Lake St Clair National Park in Tasmania, the lichen, jointing and sparse vegetation creating a sense of texture, while behind the main rockface the ridge line and further craggy peaks recede into the mist.
A mangrove tree is silhouetted against the afterglow following sunset, the sky shading from deep blue, through mauve, lilac and salmon to a fiery orange at the horizon, with the colours reflected in the mirror still water.
A blue sky with wisps of cloud, along with a series of ridges, blue in the distance, are reflected in a mostly still Lake Pedder.
A peninsula jutting out into Lake Wanaka in New Zealand sits in shadow, while behind it, mountain peaks fade into the haze of late afternoon light.
Early morning light on ridges and spurs highlights the texture of grass and shrubs in shades of gold, green and bronze.
A triangular peak emerges from blowing most and cloud, with patches of snow adorning its flanks, and a further ridge just visible in the background
A few patches of blue sky peek through wisps of cloud surrounding a mountain peak which is lightly dusted with snow
A girdle of mist surrounds two mountains, the early snow is patchy on the peaks, so the ridges show through like ribs providing a contrast of dark earth and rock against the white. Low hills in the foreground are carpeted in the green and bronze of autumn.
A lioness is sitting in long grass, partially obscured, although we can clearly see her mesmerising golden eyes looking directly at the camera
An black currawong, with droplets of rain beading on its feathers, shows off the startling yellow of its eyes as it turns to stare down the barrel of the lens
A slightly damp golden retriever looking at you with a mischievous expression holding a fish in his mouth - proud but a little wary because it’s definitely his fish, not yours …
A harbour seal is lying on its side on a rock in bright overcast light, scratching its lower jaw, allowing us a good view of its mottled grey fur, long whiskers and the nails on the end of its flipper
A cluster of green and yellow succulents with droplets of moisture from heavy mist poking out through the black volcanic sand of Reynisfjara Beach in Iceland
Moss and lichen covered boulders in the midst of cascades and autumn coloured heath in the background at Hundafoss waterfall in Iceland
Aldeyarfoss waterfall in norther Iceland, where the river drops around 20m into an almost circular basin ringed by columnar joined basalt
Sunlight bursts through the clouds above Loch Lurgain from the slope of Stac Pollaidh in Assynt on the west coast of Scotland
Icebergs in shades of grey, white and turquoise jostling against each other at the mouth of Jokulsarlon lagoon with storm clouds in the background
Waterfalls flowing out of porous lava rocks in multiple cascades, framed by bushes and foliage in vibrant autumn colours.
Sunlight glitters on a small, translucent chunk of ice, shaped like the island of Iceland, against a background of black volcanic sand
Moss and lichen covered boulders in the Westfjords of Iceland surrounded by autumn coloured heath
Sunshine through the clouds over the Iceland highlands like curtains of light
Twisted and contorted crevasses in an outfall glacier in Vatnajokull National Park, Iceland