Rain Away

After what feels like a few more weeks of amazing weather, works end welcomed the rain. I parked the car and strolled down to the beach, just missing the main rain cloud as it passed Rangitoto. The beach, flooded with rain, showed no sign of footsteps or human contact that no doubt crazed it earlier in the day. No sooner had I rolled off a few shots, and the next cloud of rain arrived, hastening me back to the car.

Shot on the Sony Nex, it was my first outing using the new 16-50mm power zoom lens Sony has released. Initially faulted on the 5N (due to firmware not being up to date enough for it), the latest firmware should fix most of its issues. I must say, it makes the Sony a nice small unit with a 35mm equivalent of 24-75mm zoom.

Image wise, in Gimp as usual, I resized, cropped adjusted contrast and sharpness a little.

Catch you tomorrow!

February 13, 2013 0

Forgotten Jetty

I am a bit sick today, so excuse the limited text. Forgotten Jetty, shot last week on the Olympus E-500. Converted to B&W in Gimp with vignette added as well as pushing the contrast a bit.

February 11, 2013 2

Blue and Yellow

With ongoing in/out internet connections this weekend, I have managed to finally upload today’s shot, ‘Blue and Yellow’.

Shot on a recent walk, I love walking through the bush and looking up at the leaves of trees stretching up to the sun. On a clear day, the plain background highlights the details of the tree, and makes for a refreshing colour burst on the camera.

Post shooting, I pushed the contrast some in Gimp and resized.

Fingers crossed the internet is back proper tomorrow!

February 10, 2013 2

Feeding the Waitemata

Just a quick mobile post for this evening. Auckland has its first rain in 2013 and my home internet is playing up.

Shot at the uppermost point of Glenfield/Greenhithe, this scenic little river flows down into the Waitemata Harbour.

Shot on the Olympus E-500 and edited in Gimp.

February 4, 2013 0

The 20km Stroll

What started as a ~1 hour walk out and about, turned into a 20km 5 1/2 hour walk today! Quite enjoyable, but it would have been better if I didn’t only have my jandals (thongs/flip-flops) on.

Starting off (entirely on Auckland’s North Shore) in Eskdale Bush, I worked my way to Kaipatiki Bush, and then followed the Glenfield costal trail, before hitting the suburbs, over to Milford, Takapuna and Devonport.

As well as only planning a short walk today, I took along the Olympus E-500 DSLR – the heaviest of the bunch I have at hand.

The above image was captured in the first section of today’s walk. In post-processing I added vignette, converted to B&W and adjusted the curves a little to assist in giving the image a dark look.

Feet worn and sore, its time for a rest. Until tomorrow.

February 3, 2013 2

Damselfly on Leaf

I spotted this little guy on a leaf when out for a walk in the bush. Initially thinking it was a dragonfly, a quick read up suggests to me it is a damselfly – the difference being (well, one difference) dragonflies when at rest hold their wings perpendicular to their bodies, whilst the damselfly tucks them into their body. – I’m quite open, and happy to be corrected if any of you are entomologists out there?

Shot wise, taken on the Sony Nex and edited in Gimp. Editing, I cropped, adjusted levels, contrast and sharpness.

I got around to developing my 35mm film this morning, so will look to scan and share something from it in the next few days.

February 2, 2013 2

Dark by the Sea

Some heavy digital pushing of today’s image ‘Dark by the Sea’. Mucking around in Gimp, I was pushing the sky to get some dynamics, and then the foreground to get the cliff sides. I think the result, although requiring more editing effort on my part where the foreground and background collide, gives quite a dynamic surreal feeling to it.

With the weekend here (at last!) I am hoping I will get some time to develop my film – and start a new one. I also took delivery of a budget 2.2x telephoto lens to try on the Nex. I wanted to see how acceptable a result it would give me on my 210mm leans, as well as the possibilities it may offer when I am travelling light with the standard kit lens.

February 1, 2013 9

Up and Down

Not much time for written content today sorry. ‘Up and Down’, shot at the Auckland Airport on the Ricoh GRD IV. Using Gimp I converted to B&W, adjusted contrast and sharpness and resized to post.

I have finally finished my film in the Pentax with the music festival on Monday – just need to find the time to develop it now!

January 31, 2013 2

The Long Walk

Being a fan of sci-fi of all sorts, I recently caught the latest Judge Dredd movie, and re-watched the earlier Stallone version. As a teen, I remember reading episodes of Judge Dredd in 2000AD comic. On one such storyline, and in the Stallone movie, the Judge takes ‘The Long Walk’ out into the wild lands, bringing the law to the lawless. It is portrayed as a hostile environment, and one they are not expected to return from.

Using that as a concept today, I imagined stepping out into the sun swept wild lands, the sun being too harsh to allow the eyes to see into the distance, a land of nothingness.

Shooting with my Ricoh, I captured the image in cross processed and then converted to B&W in Gimp. removing the land in the horizon and pushing the contrast, I then gave it a colour tint.

January 30, 2013 2

Evening Path

Not much time for written content today…its been a long one & bed beckons.

Shot on the Sony Nex ISO 3200 1/50th sec and converted to B&W in Gimp.

January 20, 2013 0