I have some other shots that I took over April / May but have decided to jump straight ahead to this week's one.

I was originally going to do a streetscape at dawn. Then I drove out and thought "What the...?" The entire coast was smothered in thick smoke. I checked the "Fires Near Me" page of the Rural Fire Service. Nothing near us, only some fire hazard reduction burns in the Blue Mountains far off to the west of Sydney, and in Nowra, far to the south of us. But yes, it was indeed the Blue Mountains one. Apparently cooler overnight temperatures locked the smoke into the lower parts of the atmosphere and the result was irritated sinuses, bronchial flare-ups and depleted visibility across the city and allll the way down to us. And rubbish light and clarity for a streetscape shot.

Still, it did make the sky look like something from the outer suburbs of Hell.

Let's head for the beach then!

When I get there I find... cargo containers, also known as TEUs or 20 Foot Equivalent Units, sitting on the lush green of the parkland. You what? Hazarding a guess they're related to the refurbishment of the Thirroul Bathers Pavilion, though that's way over the other side of the pool. No matter; sharply defined urban object? Check. Offsetting signs of nature? Check. Small figures dwarfed by the scene? Check. Hellooooo Jeffrey Smart.

The weird smoke-affected light of the morning just added to the atmosphere.

This is a 4 image HDR composition from -4 (1/25th) to + 2 (2.5s). I considered getting rid of the blurred woman (de-ghosting didn't help, she was already ghosted in the -4 EV frame) but decided that I liked the balance of blue and pink. Besides, it also provides a contrast to the sharp lines of the container. I also wanted the sign on the left as a man-made item to balance off against the container on the right, but obviously it's an asymmetric balance.