Golden Hour- a world apart

When I first became interested in photography-a very long time ago- the most authoritative source of information and news was a weekly UK magazine "Amateur Photography" and due to a stroke of luck a keen amateur photographer at my father's work bought it every week and passed it onto me via my father every week as soon as he had read it.That unknown benefactor--I never met him or even knew his name - single handedly nurtured my lifelong enthusiasm for photography.An amazing piece of luck.
One of the things that AP taught me was the concept of the"Golden Hour" the one hour after dawn and the hour before sunset when under the right conditions the light has a golden,magical quality.Many of my best photos have been taken in the Golden Hour because it still holds true today as it did 50 years ago.

Here are two "Golden Hour "photos taken in the last few months and they could not be further apart.

The first was taken at the gate into the beautiful old town in Ceret in Languedoc-Roussillon in the south of France back in June by me on my Leica X1 digital camera.Two neighbours enjoying a chat in the fading summer light.

The second was taken ten days ago on the beach at North Avoca in NSW, Australia on one of the last evenings of winter with two girls enjoying an evening dip whilst the local surfers enjoy the breaking surf.Surprisingly this photo was taken on my Vintage Hasselblad on Kodak Portra 400 film with a 150mm Zeiss Sonnar lens.
A contrast in seasons,locations,generations,technologies and pace -all they have in common is the Golden Hour and the photographer.