October 29th, 2007 at 5:40 pm (General, Photography)
Imagine my surprise… This photo was judged ‘Photo of the Day’ for 28th October 2007 in the ‘Karma’ Group on Flickr.
Taken on my 2007 trip to Tassie, I cropped it a bit, changed it to black and white and upped the contrast. I didn’t really take too much time or put much effort into the taking or the post-production. Yet there it is as Photo of the Day. You just never know what’s going to attract peoples attention.
October 27th, 2007 at 9:21 pm (General, Quotes)
“To be oneself is a rare thing, and a great one”
Ursula Le Guin (Author of the Earthsea novels)
October 21st, 2007 at 7:07 pm (Birds, Family, General, Trips)
Today saw Cheryl and I go for a drive. We hadn’t been on a Sunday drive together for ages. She was either overseas or not well enough due to her back problems. So today we decided to go for a drive up the to the ‘hills’.
First of all we went for a bit of a look at The Basin, a rather nice area that we both wouldn’t mind living in some time in the future. Then I took her to where I had taken some close-up photos of cockatoos – Grants Picnic Grounds. We bought some refreshments at the cafe and whilst Cheryl sat on the grass and chilled out, I went stalking birds.
Later we went to Olinda Falls and whilst Cheryl sat and read a book under the shady Mountain Ashes, I strolled down to the falls, took photos and then trudged back up the hill. It was a good job that Cheryl didn’t go for the walk – her back would have given out. Even I with my excellent level of fitness, was puffing like Puffing Billy on the way back up.
A few photos are on Flickr for your enjoyment.
(NB: the blog title is also a song title from a band called Maximum Load)
October 15th, 2007 at 9:01 pm (Birds, Family, Friends, General, Photography)
Sunday 14th October saw our traditional 2nd Sunday in the month photo walk (I’m sure that doing something more than once constitutes a tradition). It was Michael‘s turn to choose the location and he chose the suburban streets, lanes and alleys of Collingwood and Fitzroy. Michael, Richard and I all used our ‘nifty 50′ lenses and Chris used an 17-40mm L series lens that he stole borrowed from a friend. I am still impressed by the sharpness and quality of the ‘fantastic plastic’ lens – marvelous for the price!
Michael conducted a bit of a Scavenger Hunt – we pulled subjects from a plastic bag; I got ‘framing’, ‘black’ and ’4 in a row’. The suburban environment was a challenge for me and although I was forbidden to take any pictures of birds, I managed to sneak a few in.
After a gourmet lunch at a convenient Macca’s, we returned to Michael’s house. Richard had to leave for a BBQ so Michael, Chris and I took a stroll down to the local duckpond where I could slap on my 70-300mm zoom and take ornithological pics to my heart’s content.
We also had a try at ’10 photos’; this is where one of us would choose a subject and we’d have to take 10 shots of it. We did a dead tree, a park bench and a power pylon. It certainly makes you think when you have to do that kind of thing. Was a lovely day!
October 12th, 2007 at 5:49 pm (General, Mammals, Photography, What the?)
Funny how you read something and you immediately form an opinion even though you know nothing about the actual facts of the case.
Take Sir Paul McCartney for instance. At the moment he is appearing at the High Court in London trying to reach a divorce settlement with Heather Mills, the ex Lady McCartney. Although I have done no research at all, I am sure that it’s all her fault. After all Paul was a Beatle and I am following the press tenet that I shouldn’t let the facts get in the way of a good story.
Back to the point. I read an article about the divorce and straight away I thought of a photo I took at the zoo the other day.
“Lady McCartney, who had arrived in the morning with a blanket over her head, shielded her face as she left later.”
Perhaps I am just weird…
October 11th, 2007 at 7:10 pm (General, Work)
Today I had to relieve at the Melbourne office while the staff there had a Corporate Morning Tea. I only spent a couple of hours there but it’s a completely different situation from my home office. By the time I had changed printers, installed some programs and seen a few clients it was time to go home, pick up the car and go to Chelt.
Nice for a change though…
October 11th, 2007 at 7:06 pm (Birds, Family, Friends, General, Mammals, Photography)
Wednesday saw Richard and me visiting the Royal Melbourne Zoo. We had a great time taking photos though I was a little worried about Richard – I had taken a hundred odd photographs whilst he had only taken fifteen. There was many a corny joke and pun told during our ramble. I’m not sure whose jokes were the worst – and I take some beating when it comes to corn! See my Flickr account for some of my pictures.
*Zoo Time was a BBC series featuring Dr Desmond Morris way back when I was a kid.
