Mr Hoot

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!

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.

Message from Cheryl:

Ciao.  Rome is beautiful.  Did city tour.  Thirty-five degrees.  Loving every sweaty minute.  Cheryl.

End message.

Yesterday (Saturday) saw me driving down to Chris‘ house in Frankston with Richard. We all had our camera gear and went on a shooting spree. We started off a Mornington pier where we snapped lots of seascapes, birdscapes and boatscapes. Then, after a bit of lunch at the local Subway, I drove Chris and Richard down to Portsea to have a look at London Bridge, a rock arch. Both of them had never been there before and they had a ball getting their feet wet in the ocean and photographing the surf, sand and stuff.

Chris ended up taking 629 shots, Richard 694 shots and me only a measly 245. It was a great day which we ended up at a La Porcetta for dinner.