Month: December 2012

EXIT 420

Exit 420

As part of a Christmas function I took some part in organising for work we had a local live band, EXIT 420. What they lack in years, they make up for in talent. Playing a broad spectrum of rock, and the odd Christmas number, they had a decent group of the audience up dancing and stepping to the beat. Perhaps I am starting to show my age, but these guys were young – I don’t recall talent to that degree when I was their age (I was playing orchestral type music…)

Shot on the Sony Nex 5N at 3200 ASA and 1/60th of a second (no flash) I am still very pleased with the low light capability of the Sony. Looking at some of the more recent releases in digital cameras, we are simply seeing better and better low light capability- a great bonus for all, but especially hand-held no flash shooters!

In Gimp I darkened the right of the shot, off and behind the stage and added a vignette. I then popped the contrast up a few points and resized.

If you are ever in the Auckland area, check out their facebook page linked above and see if you catch them live somewhere!

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The Beach (part II)

Sunny Day

As always, Mondays a busy day, so here is another shot from yesterdays outing. It really highlights the distance of the raft from the beach at high tide. I have memories visiting the beach as a young one and the journey it took to swim out to the raft, well above ones head height deep. That was with the old raft also, made of wood, which became very slippery after the first wet kid clambered on top of it.

Out to the ocean we can see some of the smaller boats that were racing off Narrow Neck Beach around the corner.

Post photo wise, I cropped and used a modified ‘national geographic’ plugin in Gimp. The image itself was overexposed a little (and this emphasised by the plugin), – its given the image a feeling that somewhat reflected my own eyesight as I squinted wishing I had brought along some sunglasses or a hat…

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The Beach

The Beach

Another beautiful day weather wise in Auckland – bordering on hot. Todays shot is taken from North Head on the North Shore, looking north up Cheltnham beach towards Takapuna. A good number of people were out in the water, possibly experiencing the first swim of summer. We passed groups and couples relaxing on the hill in the sun and watched the various boat races out in the harbour.

Today’s image was shot on the Sony with my Juipter-8 Lens. It had been a while since I had dug out the manual lens on the Sony, and today’s walk proved a good outing to do so on. Although a little softer as it gets to the corner, it gives a nice feeling to the images.

Editing in Gimp, I did bump up the contrast a notch before resizing and adding rounded corners.

That’s the end of Sunday, on rolls another week!

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On the Hill

On the Hill

A lazy view relaxing in the long grass and sun from Mt Victoria on Aucklands North Shore. From here (if you look the right way) you can see the CBD, the Harbour Bridge and out towards West Auckland. A quick scamper over the crest and the rest of the North Shore, and local islands off it can be viewed into the distance.

Shot on the Ricoh GRD IV, using the bleach bipass mode. In Gimp I resized and added the rounded corners, otherwise as is from the camera.

Its been a wildly various week of weather for us here in Auckland – a beautiful hot sun today, heavy rain and tornadoes only two days ago. Here is hoping we are coming into some stable summer months.

Christmas is well and truly near. Shopping wise I adopt the ‘not time yet’ attitude, but heading into the shops today, I can see many are already stocking up.

The sun is still shining, so I will log off here and get back out into it!

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NZ4115

Old Plane

One of my last Motat images I will post up for now I think – NZ4115. Outside the main hanger where a large number of restored planes sit, is the outside storage yard. Here sit a number of planes awaiting restoration, and until then, gradually weather away. Built in the 30’s, the Short S.25 Sunderland flying boat would have been used to patrol shorelines in wartime, and by the looks of this one, perhaps used as some form of transporter later in life. I believe plans are for it to be restored and stored undercover eventually.

Image wise I did a fair bit of playing around today. After straightening and cropping foreground I used the national geographic plug-in, added vignette and cross-processed with a brown tone. I then played with levels and colour balance.

Auckland (and wider New Zealand) got hit with some fairly fierce weather this afternoon, sadly with a few people loosing their lives to a tornado. Little known to myself at the time, but I must have been within a half km of the tornado as it struck. I didn’t really think much of it until a large number of emergency vehicles headed back in the direction I came from. Initial reports advised of about 150 homes damaged and widespread flooding. I’m sure a lot of thoughts go out to the families of all affected.

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Run Santa Run

image

A quick mobile photo on the go today.

After work hundreds of people around the country (and other countries I think) gathered in their main towns to take part in ‘The Great KidsCan Santa Run’.

A short fun run that raises funds towards children with cancer, its likely the most santas anyone will see in one place, and without a doubt running!

Snapped on my Galaxy s2, using the afterfocus app I blurred the background added a vignette and a vintage filter.

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Over the Tracks

Over the Tracks

Sometimes its the imperfect images that appeal. Again from my visit to Motat, I snapped ‘Over the Tracks’ whilst waiting from the tram to take us to Motat II. More often than not I will delete out of focus images, but today’s had a bit of a interesting feeling to it. I’m not sure if its the lack of focus that draws one in more, trying to work out the situation, or simply the placement of the people.  Perhaps its one of those shots that the shooter likes, but does not appeal to the wider group?

Post processing wise I did a little cropping and added a cross-processed filter with a clay brown tone. I rounded off the image and resized for the net.

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The Old Engine

Fire engine

Motat is full of old machinery – from stem tractors to 70’s cars. Whilst all was of interest to me,one of the more interesting sections was of the old New Zealand Fire Service. Here, in a makeshift station they displayed several vehicles of old, as well as various fire fighting equipment, now long out of date. Today’s photo is of an engine that served Auckland’s CBD, and later in life with the volunteers at Devonport station. For a service vehicle, its in beautiful condition & quite a stand-out with its chrome hood.

Editing wise, in Gimp, I slightly cropped, added a vignette and applied the National Geographic plug-in. Following this I removed several of the plug-in layers.

Image was shot on the Sony Nex.

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Western Springs Wildlife

Western Springs

A bit of a wildlife shot from my recent visit to Western Springs. After feeding the mother swan some chips and making it semi-comfortable with me around its cygnets, I got down to their level and snapped off a few shots. In this particular one I also captured some greedy gulls coming in for a landing also.

In Gimp I added a custom version of the National Geographic plug-in filter, cropped, resized and added the top/bottom bars.

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