Planes of Past

A mobile post for today. As part of a team day with work, we visited Motat 2 – the aeroplane and train museum. For most of the afternoon I used my Sony, of which I will post some images in the next few days. For this shot however I used my samsung galaxy s2.

The image itself is of the entry to the new indoor section of Motat 2- prior to this, a number of the planes were outside. Some of the big ones still are, and awaiting desperate restoration. Its nothing like some of the large plane wreckers/graveyards, but a nice collection for our part of the world.

Editing wise, I used the app Afterfocus. In this I cropped the aspect, added a vintage style filter and some vignetting.

November 30, 2012 0

Out to Sea

A busy day today, so one from recent archives. Shot at one of our local beaches on the Sony Nex and Sigma 30mm lens.

In Gimp I adjusted the colour levels and added simulated film grain.

Tomorrow afternoon work has a bit of a team afternoon/outing, so all going well I will have something to show a little different than usual…all going well.

November 29, 2012 2

Sundown Wednesday

Shot on my Sony Nex with the Sigma 30mm lens, Sundown Wednesday is a view from the Bayswater Marina to the Auckland Harbour Bridge.

I am coming to the slow acceptance that Christmas is just around the corner now. One of my work colleagues has put their tree up, some of the local Christmas Tree sales spots are advertising, and the Malls have their Christmas shops opening. This weekend we have the Santa Parade in our local village (as do a number of others). That also means its nearly holiday time!

Image wise, in Gimp I resized and added the black framing, nothing else was edited.

November 28, 2012 2

Mt Eden and the City

Finishing work in town this evening, with traffic on the motorways already banked up, I took a quick trip to see the view from Mt Eden. As I may have mentioned before, Auckland is surrounded by volcanic cones (around 50 volcanic cones) – Mt Eden’s being in the foreground of this image. Although popular for children to go rolling down several decades ago, Mt Eden has both archaeological importance and local Maori sacredness brought to the public’s awareness in recent years and the crater itself is technically a no-go zone. Behind the crater we can see a view of Aucklands CBD, and behind that, the North Shore and western suburbs.

Editing wise, using Gimp, I added a vignette, adjusted the levels and applied a ‘film grain’ filter.

November 27, 2012 0

Oi!

I’m pretty sure ‘Oi!’ was the seagulls statement at me as I snapped him in this photo the other day in town.

Summer is sure on its way in Auckland these last few days – of course having faulty air-conditioning at work, taking us to 28+ degrees helps, as does running around in level 2’s in the evening.

Image wise, snapped on the Sony Nex and edited in Gimp. Editing consisted of cropping to square format, desaturating all but the red, and bumping up the sharpening slightly.

As Mondays often are, its been a long day, so I will aim for more tomorrow.

November 26, 2012 0

Sunday Run

As mentioned yesterday, today I took part in another half marathon – the Mission Bay ADRA Charity Run. With a mostly beach-side track, the run would be great…if one was walking. Running wise, its a real challenge with the sun coming up, bouncing off the sea and also warming the tarmac to a dry hot temperature. Unlike other years I have run it, at least today some of the run was overcast.

Into the first 2-3km of the 21km it became fairly clear that my lack of any training since the last half marathon was going to make today a little harder. Overall I only lost about 4 minutes on last months run, but I was unable to keep a constant pace. Still, I finished and cant complain about that.

Image wise, after finishing I slowly made my way back to the car, got changed and went out again with the Olympus E-500 which I had borrowed again for the day. Shooting on my Nex and Ricoh digital cameras most the time, I had some pleasure shooting the Olympus with its optical viewfinder. I have the plug in electronic viewfinder on my Nex, and its one of the best of the electronic ones on the market, but it just does not compare to the optical – then again, the electronic gives you live view, the optical does not.

Today’s shot was taken over the shoulder of the emcee, congratulating people as they passed the line.

In post processing I simply added the white boarder and resized for the net. Looking at other shots I took, although a few years old, the Olympus really does render nice colours in bright day shots.

November 25, 2012 0

Sundown in the City

Shot on the mobile using pudding camera app and then edited with photo editor, todays image is of the CBD in Auckland. Taken from Mt Victoria, a popular stop in Devonport for tourists and locals alike.

Im off to another half marathon in the morning. Since standing on a nail the day after last months half, I have not put any training in, so im expecting a challenge. If I can walk after I will take some post race shots.

November 24, 2012 2

Cars of the 30’s

This is my last post from Sundays art show…it wasn’t really a piece, but I have a interest or soft spot for classic and vintage vehicles., this particular model from the 1930’s. I have restored a number of 70’s vehicles, but never something of this age. Perhaps one day when I get some time and space I will be able to. I love the style, the lines and stand out design these old models bring.

Photo wise, I wanted to simulate a more period look. Using Gimp I desaturated the image after cropping out some of the left of the image which had more modern cars. I then added a faint sepia layer and added a rough boarder. I think if I spent some more time and either further cropped or clone stamped the other cars nose out from next to the building it would look pretty good.

November 23, 2012 0

Book Heads

As well as a mass of interesting art from various artists, the event I went to over the weekend also had a massive children’s section housed in one of the old wartime underground barracks. I always enjoy looking at children’s art – it can have less bounds and sometimes a simplistic yet sensible look at the work around us. Probably not today’s piece. I once again failed to record who or which local school made ‘Book Heads’, but it caught my eye for two reasons. The main reason was the amazing filtered light that was cast upon its pages. We were underground with minimal lighting, but above this piece was a small ground level window. Secondly, I just loved all the work that had gone into creating the heads of various characters from well know books.

See who you can spot that you might recognise!

November 22, 2012 2

Get Down from There

Get Down From There was an interesting steel (I think) creation that brought back memories of Where the Wild Things Are book. If you zoomed out from my photo you would see that the masked monster is actually a small child perched up upon a letterbox.

Shot in colour on the Nex, I desaturated and slightly pushed both sharpness and contrast in Gimp.

November 21, 2012 0