Day 356: Submerged Selfies

We went to the pool this afternoon and I took the waterproof camera for a bit of a play. The result was a bunch of selfies and some very sore eyes from the chlorine. I liked this one for the bubbles running up my cheek and the little one caught in the corner of my eye, that and that it wasn't blurry like many of the others. The underwater camera has been lots of fun so far.

Day 335: Red Curly Things

Belinda bought these red curly things, they're in a vase instead of flowers. I was a little sceptical at first but the red looks good in the vase and it makes for a nice contrast against the white walls. I also like the the shadows that these red curly things cast, particularly with the flash on my cheap little Fuji point & shoot.

I used the Fuji for today's photo for a couple of reasons: First, I like the harsh light of the flash in this picture and second, I had the Fuji with me and couldn't be bothered going to find my Nikon.

Day 334: Swimming Selfies

To keep Henry entertained while we were waiting for his swimming lesson to start I got the phone out and put the camera on so he could see himself on the screen. Henry took around 20 photos in a matter of seconds and I decided to use this one for today's photo.

By the way, that is a Santa hat that Henry is wearing, he found it in his toy box this afternoon and insisted on wearing it to the pool. He did get a few funny looks in his little one piece bathers and the Santa hat but he didn't mind. It's nice that Henry's getting in to the Christmas spirit just under a month away from the actual day, I think this Christmas will be a lot of fun with our little man.

Day 330: Estuary Excursions

The wedding yesterday was really nice, the reception was great fun and it went on until quite early this morning. We checked out of the cabins and decided it was a nice day to recover at the little estuary just south of Bermagui. The weather was great so we found a little spot on the sand beside the little river that was flowing into the ocean. Henry took a little while to come out of his shell so to speak, I think it was the feeling of walking on the sand that took him a while to get used to. Once he got past that it was like he went into hyper Henry mode to make up for the slow start. He had enormous fun running around in the sand and splashing in the water.

I went for a bit of a wander to play with the new waterproof camera and found some interesting sea slug type things on the rocks and the odd hermit crab as well. As I was walking back toward our little position by the water I noticed this octopus drifting along in the current, it drew a bit of a crowd of onlookers and I think it was actually a bit curious about the people gathering on the shore. It swam right up to the edge of the water and even stuck one of its tentacles out onto the sand. I took the advantage of  having the waterproof camera with me by sticking it in the water and trying to aim it in the right direction while pushing the shutter button. It's not that easy to aim the camera when you can't see the view finder.

I managed to get a few shots before some feral children decided that rather than watching and appreciating an experience that in all likelihood they will never have again, it was best to try and hit the mollusc with their boogie boards. All I can say is 'dickheads'. At least the octopus didn't seem terribly concerned by these brats, it just kind of casually swam off.

It wasn't too long after this that we decided to head home, Henry was exhausted and asleep within minutes of being strapped into his car seat. Belinda and I stopped in at the fisherman's wharf for a late lunch of delicious fish, scallops, calamari and chips before making the 3 hour journey home. This was a very good weekend away.

Day 313: A New Perspective

It's Thursday again so we're back at the pool for Henry's swimming lessons, only this time I've got the waterproof camera I bought on the way to Philip Island last weekend because I forgot to bring my 'real' camera.

I decided to have a bit of a play with it after the lesson and I took a few under water photos of Henry... unfortunately they were pretty much henry from the shoulders down because he doesn't like putting his head under the water just yet. They were interesting though, I liked how from under the water, the surface reflects what's underneath it like a mirror. I didn't use one of those though, I chose this one instead.

Henry likes to play on the steps into the big pool, he wades in until he can't touch the bottom and them climbs along the edge for a bit before making his way back the way he came. He also likes to swing on the hand rail where it meets the water. Henry's turning into a bit of a water rat... just like his sister. It must be in the genes.

Day 308: Forgotten Camera

Today got off to a good start, Pete & Andy came to collect me at around 7am and I had some coffees in travel cups organised so we were ready to go. We loaded my gear into Andy's ute, hooked the trailer up  and hit the road.

It was roughly 45 minutes into the trip that I realised what I'd left behind. The bloody camera. Despite my best efforts to convince the guys that we should stop, unload Pete's bike and let me ride it back to retrieve the camera and I'd catch them at Nimmitabel where we could load Pete's bike back into the trailer, we decided it wasn't really worth it.

Speaking of Nimmitabel, I've been trying to get one of their famous pasties (their pies are great too) but every time I've missed out. On more than one occasion I've missed the last pastie by one customer and once the last customer was Andy. This time I was adamant that I'd get one so I jumped out of the ute when we arrived and rushed to the bakery before Pete & Andy could gazump me. On my way to the bakery I saw a guy walking out with one and thought I'd be in luck... unfortunately that wasn't the case. I'd missed the last pastie by one customer again. One of these days I'll get one...

Our next stop was for lunch at Bairnsdale where I tracked down the local Dick Smith to buy a cheap little camera to get me through the next few days without my real camera. What I ended up with was the one pictured: a FujiFilm XP thingamajig that's waterproof. I didn't really go in looking for a waterproof camera but I figured that since I was buying another camera I might as well add something to my existing photographic capability. Time will tell if it's any good.

Day 269: Expanding Capabilities

This little gem arrived in the mail today, it's a funky little adaptor that lets me us Nikon F mount lenses on my Nikon V1 camera. I'm now looking forward to actually using this with some of Belinda's lenses and might even look into buying some F mount lenses of my own.

It's quite a heavy little thing, and it's got all the contact points to bring power to the lens so it will auto focus. The local camera shops were asking a lot of money for one of these and they didn't actually carry them in stock either. By shopping online I saved close to 40% and had delivery within a week. I wonder how long it will be before retail outlets are a thing of the past?

Day 256: Not So Local Landmark 2

Last time I was in Sydney for work I forgot my camera and ended up posting a crappy photo of Luna Park taken with my iPhone. I hated not having my camera and swore I wouldn't leave it behind the next time I was away with work. I'm back in Sydney with work for the next two days and this time I came prepared.

My flight was a little late this afternoon and I didn't get off the plane until just after 8pm. I ended up catching a cab straight to a little restaurant with a couple of colleagues for dinner, If you're out around the Rocks I can recommend both the food and the service at Sailors Thai. After dinner the decision was made to walk from Sailors Thai to the hotel we were staying in and along the way we passed this little scene.

I really like this photo, there's so much going on in it: The bridge looks great from this angle, there's a cool starburst from the lamp on the left, the crushed car in the centre of the roundabout is different and the Australia Day flag on the right was being blown by a bit of a gust of wind which blurred its edge in the long exposure photo. Have I mentioned that I love my Nikon? So glad I didn't leave it at home this time.

Day 249: Spring Has Sprung

It's a sure sign spring is here when Commonwealth Park is closed off and the Floriade Ferris Wheel is lit up. I only noticed this as I was heading home from the pub tonight and I assume Floriade will be in full swing within the next couple of weeks. For now though, there's only fences and mounds of dirt... so far as I could see in the dark anyway.

I had a few attempts at this photo and it's times like this that a tripod would have been handy. I ended up sitting the camera on a rock wall so I wouldn't wobble during the 2 or so second exposure. It seemed to work out ok.

Day 145: May Task - Something New

I've been threatening to upgrade from the old hand me down Canon since a blog entry in January, I even mentioned it again a few days later in another post about my planned upgrade path.

About a week ago my gorgeous wife became so frustrated with my constant complaining about 'really needing to get a better camera' that she offered me a solution: I'd had Birthday and Christmas presents that were never 'cashed in' so lieu of these she would buy me a new camera. I of course accepted this proposition very quickly and we ordered my new Nikon J1 twin lens kit online. The J1 doesn't have a built in flash so I also ordered the Speed Light flash as well.

Today's photo was obviously not taken with my new Nikon, instead I used Belinda's point & shoot Sony. Now all I need to do is get used to the new camera and take more photos. I've already discovered the flash is amazing and that I can shoot in rapid fire mode at 60 shots per second... it doesn't take long to accidentally take 200 photos.

Day 46: The "Arty Farty, Had Nothing Else To Blog" Post MkII

Yep, I did it again... Another day without any blog fodder which I've used as a good excuse to play with Belinda's camera again. I really do need to upgrade so I can play with my own toys.

Last time I did this, I ended up driving the streets searching for subject matter until close to midnight. This time I only had to walk outside and look up, but I was still up until close to midnight trying to get a shot that I was happy with.

It wasn't easy. It was pitch black which makes the composition very hard to see through the camera's viewfinder, the LCD screen on the back of the camera was even less use in this respect. Then there was the amount of time each photo took, followed by almost that time again while the camera processed the image and let's not mention the enormous mosquitos

After some experimentation I ended up with what you see above, I think the shutter was open for somewhere between 20 and 30 minutes. I wish I could be more exact than that, but I really can't remember as I wasn't timing & taking notes like I should have been if I ever wanted to recreate this type of image with out going through all the experimentation again. It was obviously long enough that the rotation of our planet made the stars draw lines across in the sky. I also used Snapseed to enhance the final product a little and add the frame.

Overall I'm quite happy with how it's turned out.

Day 22: Bug Rescue / Moron x 3

I spent a fair bit of time in the garage this afternoon making room for the new race bike I bought last weekend, it's being delivered next week (more on that later). I made some serious headway and there is now a clear path from the front roller doors through to the back door, previously one had to step over and around various bits & pieces including the old race bike that needs an engine transplant (probably more on that later too).

During my cleaning, culling and general re-arranging of things I came across the subject of today's photo. He (she?) just fell from the ceiling and landed in front of the broom as I was about to sweep more dirt, dust and detritus out the door. I let him (her?) crawl up on my finger so I could release him (her?) into the wild that is our backyard, as I had my camera on me I thought I'd test the Macro setting out. It was quite a challenge. The auto focus just kept focusing on the foliage behind the subject, it was starting to bug me... so to speak. Eventually I managed to grab a couple of shots that were OK, the in focus strike rate was around 1 in 10.

In other news and in light of the trials I faced trying to capture today's image, I spent some more time researching camera upgrades... I think I've narrowed it down to the brand and even the model, it's just the variant I need to decide on (more on this later also).

Stay tuned, there are 3 lots of more (on) to come.

Day 18: The Upgrade Path - Part 1

You'll never guess who didn't take a photo for today's entry... but it's ok, being the resourceful fellow that I am I decided that tonight I'd show what has become a nightly event for me and share my thoughts on what's involved and what's required.

This blogging thing has taken over my evenings. The time is spent between stringing sentences together in a loosely coherent fashion and editing the photo of the day. The photo is usually played with using the Snapseed app on the iPad and I also use some of the effects in iPhoto on the MacBook I inherited from Belinda. Usually the photos are taken on the Camera that was handed down to me by Belinda's mum. So of the tools used for my nightly activities it's only the iPad that is truly mine.

This brings me to the 'Part 1' in today's post title: My plan is to make certain upgrades throughout the year. Part 2 will probably involve an upgrade to photo taking implement, I'm undecided as to what form the upgrade will take as yet but whatever it is it will need to be more responsive and take better indoor photos wile still being compact. Part 2 might take a while with such vague requirements and so many cameras to choose from.

By the way today's photo was taken with my phone.