A Photography and Football based blog

Trying out my new Xmas gear

Sun, 8 Jan 2012 16:51:52 +1100

Had a classic family holiday at Merrijig, which provided an excellent opportunity to try out some new gear. Of particular interest was this bad boy...

It is a 6 x 12 format holga - basically two holgas welded together! The camera worked a treat, as you can see by the photo above. It was a VERY bright day and that was with iso100 in the camera. All the iso400 stuff worked much, much better. Although the underexposure above really brings out a dramatic effect...

I also got a 90mm lens for the Xpan. I love the panoramic format, but am not into “wide angle” photography... strange but true. Most people who are into pano format are “wide”... I love that it brings me in “closer” to subjects...

You can click here to see photos from both...

The photo on the right gets a special mention as the single best “crazy country letterbox” of all time... It is a kid’s trike combined with a kind of barrel thing...

Whilst up in Merrijig, we stayed at the plush Merrijig Motor Inn. Took the kids rafting, which was fun, even though we were a bit disappointed that the river level wasn’t up from the rain.

Lake Eildon is completely transformed. I have never, in my lifetime seen it so full. Full of water and boat bogans!

2011 in 2 minutes 56 seconds...

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 18:14:59 +1100

Click on the image to see what my camear saw in 2011...

Xmas 2011

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 17:47:32 +1100

Had a great day, travelling out to Lalor first to see Sonia’s family, then out to Brunswick East for the Youngs...

Scored some cool stuff - including a “build it yourself” TLR camera... a task more difficult than I first thought. I opened up the box to see about a billion fiddly little bits and pieces I am going to have to put together. Instructions and me do not seem to get along a lot of the time...

Also got a nice Holga panoramic format camera that shoots 6 x 12 MF film. Have already burned through 4 rolls of BW on XMas day trying to capture the rain!

Got some nice photos of Eliza, which you can see by clicking here. There are also pics of me and Sonia opening our gifts, but that is not really interesting...

As a special treat, here is my nephew Vincent, showing his prowess at “arm farts” on Xmas day, making his parents proud, I am sure!

Melbourne silver mine

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 20:15:42 +1100

Just click here to see the photos.

The XMas Party

December Meet

Unsensored Show

Melbourne Silver Mine XMas Party

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 14:00:34 +1100

Everyone was watching the weather radar on the ubiquitous iPhones, and it did not let us down.

We managed to get a few bowls down the green in between buckets of rain. I had to cover my beer, otherwise it would have gotten watered down pretty quickly!

The night was a roaring success though - having us all squashed into one little tent at the Fitzroy Bowls Club made for a wonderful evening complete with intimate conversation and even a wandering ukulele minstrel or two. After singing “Living on a Prayer” with Rhys, my night was complete...

This picture was not actually taken at the Xmas party, as you can tell by the complete lack of rain, but you can get the idea...

More Birrung Mar

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 14:12:14 +1100

Juat a couple more shots that I found I hadn’t scanned yet. Lucky I did find them, as I like them a lot.

Click here to see all my Birrung Mar images...

giving in

Fri, 9 Dec 2011 09:53:17 +1100

Sonia and I had Foxtel many years ago... but realised that watching 3 hours of The Simpsons every Saturday and Sunday morning wasn’t really a productive use of my time.

But, times change. Foxtel now has every AFL game live in 2012. I only really like going to Etihad Stadium, where I can sit in my lovely level 2 seats on the half forward flank, graciously sipping imported french champagne, looking down on my loyal subjects... Joining the scrum in the outer at away games is not really my thing any more.

I have gotten into the habit of going down to the Rising Sun to watch the Saints away games on their foxsports, but it can be rather taxing on me when we are playing a sunday twilight game. To keep your seat, you have to have a pint in hand!

Looks like I will be watching a lot of games on the couch in 2012 now.

I am not so sure it will be that great an investment considering the win/foxtel cost ratio likely to occur in 2012.

Hong Kong

Fri, 9 Dec 2011 09:44:03 +1100

Went to visit the Taylors in Hong Kong during my time off.

The great things :
- seeing Jack, Jessica, and Charlotte
- Lo Wu shopping centre
- public transport, trains every 3 minutes!
- cheap everything except for real estate
- custom tailored shirts
- Wan Chai : the home of awesome Phillipino bands playing Bon Jovi covers all night! Every night!
- McDonalds home delivery for free

The not so great :
- no personal space
- fried tofu aroma

I spent ten days exploring the laneways, markets, and general city of Hong Kong.

I also picked up an awesome Xmas present for myself!

Click here to see what I saw!

Work Function at The Corner

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 21:32:58 +1100

Here is the gang at The Corner.

Had a great afternoon there a couple of weeks ago with the team.

Click here for all the pics.

Unsensored 2011

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 20:52:29 +1100

I have been a part of the Melbourne Silver Mine now for many years. Keeping the community’s interest in analogue photography is a cool thing. There is something very rewarding, in a very different way, in capturing an image on film rather than digital. It is almost the equivalent of slow cooking vs a great, but quick meal.

The ritual of loading film, carefully composing, and then not really knowing what the result will be until the film is processed and scanned is something unlike anything else in this world of quickie images. It is great to see both film and things like polaroid (via companies like Fuji) continue to survive, and thrive in a niche market.

If you would like to come along to our exhibition, I do have an image in the show!

http://unsensored.net/

http://silvermine.org.au/

https://www.facebook.com/events/282112141823640/