photos and other things…
A shot from the Summit of North Head in Devonport, taken yesterday during a bike road. Shot on the Galaxy s2 using the pro hdr app and edited in post with afterfocus.
Still having internet issues at home, which is very annoying. Im quite surprised and unimpressed its taking so long to rectify…maybe tomorrow!?!?…
An old archive shot for today. Not quite sure where the day has gone, but gone it has.
Shot on one of my old cameras, the Canon G12, from North Head, looking into the city. I dont recall if it was any specific regatta day, but I liked how the low sun desaturates all but the sails of the boats.
Resized in Gimp, but otherwise as is from camera.
Sort and sweet again today – we are STILL having internet issues. Its a shame – I have been completely happy with our provider until 3 weeks ago… not so much now based on very slow and non communicative service.
For the last few days I have been shooting with my Ricoh GRD IV set to a custom setting ‘positive film’. I have written before about the great menu system on this little fixed focal length compact, with full manual controls.Positive film is a setting I have not, until this last week, used. I must say I like the colour settings it provides. Of course, one can just shoot straight raw/jpeg and adjust in post processing, but sometimes its fun just to customise it in the camera (as the Ricoh does very well) and shoot. Hence aside from resizing and signature, today’s image is from camera.
With an overall busy weekend, I got up early and took the opportunity to take a walk around the Bayswater area on the North Shore. Stopping at a cliff top, looking out west, we can see the Bayswater Marina, and then further in the distance, to the right, the Auckland Harbour Bridge.
As the sun slowly sinks towards the horizon, we see the end of another weekend. Im not quite sure where the weekend has gone!
One from the archives today as I have a dinner to attend straight after work.
Friday. For many of us (and equally not for many) it marks the end of the working week. Time to kick off the shoes, relax, or perhaps explore new pleases and meet new people. Today’s shot gives me a sense of both. I don’t recall exactly where it was shot , but was shot again on the Nex with the 30mm Sigma lens. In post, I added a cross processed filter with aqua hue, some faint ‘digital grain’ and the old instant snap type boarder.
Not quite sure where the weekend is taking us this week, but I will just assume this image is a precursor and enjoy the end of the working week!
Feb 14th – Valentines Day! (some interesting facts there)
Today’s image, shot alongside yesterdays during the rain passing through. I loved how the environment had a mix of contrasts with the sun shining in areas, and the dark clouds in others. Not a lot more to say about it really. Shot on the Nex with 16-50mm lens. Small adjustments, but essentially out of camera.
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!
Another short and sweet post text wise today. Image shot on the Sony Nex from Mt Victoria, Devonport, North Shore.
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.
I mentioned it not long ago, but looking around my local area, we sure have a lot of dry areas. Fire services around the country have been busy putting out bush fires, and rain, aside from one day earlier in the week, seem elusive in Auckland.
Today’s shot is of the weather station up Mt Victoria in Devonport, with the ‘toadstools’ (I think I have featured them in the past) in the foreground.
Shot on the Sony Nex with 16mm pancake lens. In Gimp I added a adjusted ‘National Geographic’ filter, rounded boarder and resized.
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.
MikeHawkey.com 