Ricoh GRD IV
Reflections
Waiting for the Storm
A short stroll after work at the Beach Haven waterfront. Light rain precedes what is forecast to be a potentially heavy storm and possible isolated tornadoes tonight.
Shooting again using the B&W High Contrast mode on the Ricoh GRD IV and post editing in Gimp – cropping aspect and adding a slight colour tone tint.
Friday!
New Plymouth Waterfront
My last image from the New Plymouth holiday. Down on the waterfront looking towards the old power station.
Anyone visiting New Plymouth really should spend some time on the waterfront area. They have a great walkway that stretches for several Km. The Wand, and various walking tracks that begin down by the sea.
Not much else to add today. Photos back up in Auckland tomorrow!
Marmite Returns
On February 22nd 2011 tragedy hit New Zealand with the earthquake that struck Christchurch. During the earthquake, part of the Sanitarium factory was damaged and production of Marmite ceased. Roll forward to March 2012 and the company announced their own stocks of Marmite had all but run out. Marmageddon was declared. Online auction site TradeMe featured numerous jars, both new and used selling for many many times the retail price as Kiwi’s hunted high and low to store supplies of their much loved spread. Also made overseas (UK), the taste was different, and not what we knew. The largest competitor, Australian produced Vegemite became the only viable option for many,
News and whispers spread across the land that the factory was being rebuilt. Delays occurred, but then finally, earlier this week, it was announced that Marmite would be back for sale in the stores on Thursday 20th March 2013. An initial batch of 500,000 Jars was released to the public, with the reassurance the factory was sound, and request not to stock up – so all New Zealanders would have the opportunity to sample the loved, lost, and reborn spread. Marmageddon was over!
Whilst some buyers flocked to supermarkets at midnight, I waited until morning (hurriedly on my way to work). I have to admit, I am a fan, and was quite pleased to see its return!
Field of Long Grass
Another image shot from yesterdays walk. Not much word content to add today – but shot on the Ricoh GRD IV in cross-processed mode. In post I reduced and added rounded corner boarder.
Weekend time!
Swallows Take Flight
Today celebrated my workplaces annual Big Day Out. Held at the beautiful Long Bay beach, the sun was beating down by early afternoon, and those of whom had not brought our togs, wished we had.
Taking a moment for a stroll, armed with my Ricoh GRD IV, I captured a number of images, both showing the beautiful beach, and also the drought like conditions that have been sweeping the country (Luckily for Auckland, no where near as bad as farmers North of Auckland). Walking under a selection of trees, I was amazed to see literally multiple tens (lets estimate 30) of Swallows darting in and out of the trees. All the other animals I had seen were sheltering under trees out of the heat.
Now looking to capture any close up action of a small bird with a 28mm lens is never going to happen, so I framed up the trees and sky and looked to capture a silhouette of several birds as they flew overhead. Todays image being my pick of the bunch for today.
Using Gimp, I slightly cropped the image in post processing.
Weekend time!
Looking to the West
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!
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.
City over the Water
Another busy day, especially for a Monday. I managed to shoot off down to the waterfront after evening training and catch the end of the sun retreating behind the hills. I know I have featured the city several times before – at slightly different focal and view points. There is something about a cityscape that I love looking at. Living just outside the city allows beautiful views of it, and distance wise, if I need to go in, that’s no big issue either.
Shot on the Ricoh GRD IV at 6 seconds ISO80 in its only 28mm focal length. Aside from resizing, no post editing tricks and no in camera filters either today, just a straight shot in its natural colour. It was quite an awesome sky!
Farewell Holidays
Holidays seem to pass so quickly. As I write I am in the final few hours of my break, and coming to terms with being back at work in the morning. I enjoy my work, but I am yet to be convinced by others who say they would be too bored if they didn’t have work to go to…I think I always have more than enough to do. Perhaps if I win the lottery one day we can put it to the test!
For the morning I decided to catch the ferry to the city, have a stroll around and see what images there were to see and capture. Making an effort to go on the more untrodden streets and tracks, armed with my Ricoh GRD IV, I captured a few images, but didn’tRi feel overly inspired today and just enjoyed the stroll.
Going with the final week flow, ‘Farewell Holidays’ was again captured on the Galaxy S2 in Vignette, Polaroid setting, and edited in Photoshop CS5.
Tomorrow I will take us back several days, and start with sharing a few of my West Coast images shot on the Sony. And if I get around to it, anything good I shot on the Pentax MG also.
Catch you tomorrow…after work.
MikeHawkey.com 