Month: August 2012

Totem

As the weather forecasters promised, the weather packed in this afternoon. I had planned to go for a stroll after dropping into the mall, but unprepared for the rain just didn’t manage it today.

Looking over recent outings, I selected ‘totem’ for today’s posting. Located by the Lake House Art Centre, I am always drawn to totem or statue like creations. Rapanui/East Island is on my top five list of places I want to one day go – mostly to see the giant stone statues that dot the small island.

In post processing I made some adjustments with the saturation and color balance. I also tried out a plug-in filter ‘national geographic’, which does render an image reminiscent of the old National Geographic pages.

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Laze by the Lake

Some weeks go faster then others. This week didn’t particularly feel that way, so come Friday works end I was ready to unwind for the week.  Taking a trip to Lake Pupuke in Takapuna I inadvertently took a wrong turn and came across a walking track I had not seen before. The heavy rain at various times over the last month had soaked the ground and my flat bottomed business shoes struggled to keep me upright on some of the more sloped sections, but it was a great track all the same. A nice finish to the working week.

Shot on the GRD IV, I spent some post time in Gimp softening and diffusing the original to get today’s image.

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Smiths Bush

As spring slowly approaches the days are starting to lengthen out again. This still does not leave much light when I finish work, but left enough today for me to take a brisk walk around Smiths Bush in Northcote on Auckland’s North Shore.

It must have been about 5 years, possibly more, since I last went through the bush. It has turned into a wonderful local walkway there one could spend three quarters of an hour on a loop trail. The tall trees with mixed canopy, along with rotten fallen trunks really gives one the sense they are out in the bush/jungle.

Armed with my GRD and light fading fast, I captured a number of forest shots. In post processing in Gimp I played around with a few contrast and special layers, with the result being today image. When I get some more time I will definitely visit Smiths Bush again!

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Scramble of Reeds

Passing by some swampland today between meetings I came across a mass of reeds and took a quick stroll. Within them there was a variety of bird and other life – something I would have captured if I had a closer than 28mm view. I took a few shots, and settled on this one today. I like the random haphazard layering of the reeds as they have been washed over by the water, walked over by Pukeko, and tangled in the wind.

I had a few call outs in between editing this evening, so lost track on exactly what I did in Gimp, but I can say it included some cropping, sharpening and adding a cross processing filter.

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Nature Wins

Whilst out for a walk the other day I happened upon a strange little bush area on the side of some industry. Curious I stepped over the chain fence and went to explore further. Initially it was mostly long grass and a lot of clay and topsoil that had been dumbed at some stage. As I walked in further the clay and topsoil had all grown over with lush grass, and the bush and trees got a bit larger. The area was full of Tui (New Zealand Birds) and there was little indication how close of the buildings and road one actually was.Looking a little deeper, it was obvious that the area had been a bit of a dumping ground over its time in the making and i found this wrecked motor scooter being covered in grass.

In its own little way it got me thinking about what things might look like if we went like the dinosaurs one day and disappeared. – Nature would slowly creep back and retake the earth. I’ve read some interesting articles about the Chernobyl area, where in ways this has partially happened with wildlife moving back into the areas now closed off to humans. Movies like I Am Legend portrayed it a little also, as have numerous TV Documentary series’.  Its an interesting thought anyway…

Taken on the Sony Nex  with my Jupiter-8. In post shot within Gimp I added some vignette, bumped up contrast, saturation and applied a little sharpening.

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Passage of Pine

I managed to take a short stroll in between out of office meetings today. In a newly built suburb in Albany on the North Shore of Auckland, I happened across a small hill that lead to a rugby/football field. Separating that and the houses was a ‘Passageway of Pine trees’ As usual during the week, armed with my Ricoh, I got right down low and took a few shots through the passage. Avoiding any houses and a wind break material on one side, I love how the final image gives off little clue I am in the middle of suburbia.

In Gimp post production, I cropped slightly, upped the saturation go highlight the green and get a little blue in the sky. Upped the contrast a notch and applied a light sharpening layer. Done!

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Door to Wonderland

I took the Nex and Jupiter-8 for another stroll today, this time around the Lake House Arts Centre in Takapuna on Auckland North Shore. On the outskirts of the property I came across this awesome wooden carving. With a little imagination, one can dream that this is the entry door to Alice’s Wonderland, or a back door to Narnia.

In post production using Gimp, I did a bit of bluring, sharpening, desaturating and color balancing. I wanted to give the tree a bit of a stand out presence without totally ignoring its otherwise normal surroundings.

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Forgotten Days

Today we went for a stroll around the Auckland Domain, Winter Gardens and Museum.  I took the opportunity to bring along my Nex with the newly received Jupiter-8 lens. Overall, for an old legacy lens I was very happy with the results. Wide open it delivers some beautiful shots and stopped down is equally nice. Portraits look beautiful and general landscape was pleasing to the eye. I was using the Industar 61, but think this is my new favourite 50mm (film) lens.

The museum had the Wildlife photographer of the year 2011 display on, and I spent some time admiring the wide range of photos. What I also noted and liked was that not all the stunning images were captured on top line cameras. Many were, but some were right down to novice DSLR cameras, and one even a point and shoot (cant recall the model now I am home).

I also went for a stroll around the museum, and took today’s shot from a ‘times that were’ section, showing some of New Zealand’s cultural and social history. Wooden blocks and sewn dollys – not something you see in every home now days! As much as anything, it was a indoors test for the Jupiter – but I liked it enough to post up today.

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Intoxication

Today’s photo, freshly scanned from the archives takes me back 14 years. Learning on my first SLR camera, a Seagull DF-300 and self developing B&W film. I submitted a 4 sided board for my UE/ 7th form Photography, themed ‘Intoxication’. I was quite into experimenting with double and triple exposures, and successfully showed a self portrait journey from sober to intoxicated. Whilst I scored well in the finals, I always remember having to keep my work hidden from the Headmaster as my teacher was not sure what they would make of my topic at the time. This particular image was from about 3/4 of the way in and I had about 50 images self printed from small A6 size, up to A3.

I’ve been on a bit of a path of late getting all my film records into a digital medium. I think the ability to keep multiple backups gives a sense of security in case of the ‘what if’. As well as this, I recently won an online auction for a Seagull DF-300 SLR. A direct copy of the Minolta (made in the same factory and licensed), the nostalgic need, and regret of selling my first one…coupled with the low price meant I could not say no!

Ive also been cleaning up my very well used (by previous owners) Ricoh Singlex TLS. It has a lot of brass showing through the worn paint, but operates great still. I’m looking forward to capturing some images on both units. I still need to use my new soviet lens on the nex also – likely this weekend!

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Kennedy Park Erodes

After being stuck inside all day, with OK weather outside, I took a stroll after work at a place called Kennedy Park, found on the coastline of the North Shore. As I got out of the car it started spitting rain, and the last of the days light slowly began to retreat. Walking through the park, on the cliffs edge, I sank up to my ankles in mud – it was pretty boggy. Following the coastal path I ventured down a long set of stairs to the beach below. To no surprise, the sodden land had given away in places, and I caught this image of one of the land slips.

Its not a totally unusual occurrence along the coastline, and as the multi-million dollar houses remove their trees for a greater view, the cliffs seem to give way more and more with nothing to hold them up. Even areas with trees will eventually give as the wild weather of mother nature washes away the mostly muddy sandstone cliffs of the area.

Initially shot in bleach bi-pass mode on the camera, I reduced in size and switched to Black & White in post production in Gimp. I think it gives the image a bit more dramatic depth.

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