Tag: Ricoh

Big Green Leaves

I took some lieu after a meeting today and went for a stroll around the Chelsea Sugar Heritage Estate area – while the sun was still in the sky! Home to a variety of bird life, today was one of the rare days I wished I had something with more zoom then my 28mm Ricoh. I almost caught a Tui in flight… I’ll take the Sony along next time. All in all it was a nice walk consisting of some open grass, lake and more dense forest sections. I need to go back again some time to explore the other half.

‘Big Green Leaves’ is just that, a patch of low lying leaves. I got up close and made sure no other plants or whatnot were in the image. Taken on the GRD IV in cross processed mode, it pulled out the green of the leaves. Simple & basic, but a nice image I think. Aside from resizing for web, no other adjustments made.

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Waterfront City

I took a stroll through the city tonight after catching up with some friends. The WRC is all setup in Auckland this afternoon, so I hoped to see some of the cars, but I guess I arrived a little late in the evening. Turning back to the city, I caught this shot down by the waterfront. I love how even though it was captured in color, its almost B&W. The bright lights, but dark city and weary looking sky also creates a bit of an ominous feeling when I look at it.

Shot on the GRD IV in bleach, I cropped a little of the foreground out of the image to create more balance in the final image. Otherwise unedited.

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The Shortest Day

Today marked the shortest day for us down here in New Zealand. The sun arose late and set early. Otherwise known as winter solstice, it is also known in New Zealand as Maruaroa O Takurua – the beginning of the Maori new year (traditionally), which as well as being tied into legend, is identified by the  Pleiades star cluster having its first appearance.

I liked todays image, as tied into the title, the fishermen are catching the last moment of sun as they hope to pull in ‘a big one’ from Lake Pupuke.

Aside from resizing, straight from the camera (GRD)

 

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Bellis Perennis in the Rain

Bellis perennis, or ‘common garden daisy’ was the subject of todays image. For such a small little flower that grows all over, they have a lot of potential uses – eaten raw, used in soups, salads, teas, as a vitamin supplement. Romans (and more modern homeopaths) used their juice to assist with wound injuries. Then we have the saying ‘smell the daisies’ – to take a break, relax, don’t stress about the big stuff. To top it off, these are hardy little flowers. Mow them down with a lawn mower, and within the week they are shooting up at the sky again.

It had been on/off raining all afternoon today and with the threat of another downpour looming when I finished work I took a few minutes to look for todays photo before getting in my car. There was nothing appealing scanning around so I set the Ricoh on macro to see what I could find. Remembering the above mentioned saying i picked this little guy/gurl/thing, reaching up for the sun regardless of the less then ideal weather. Will it make it before the lawn mower gets it? – unlikely, but its a good reminder to take a break in our busy lives all the same.

Post work I desaturated the grass slightly and slightly bumped up the sharpness in Gimp.

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Island’s End

Todays post ‘Island’s End’ was taken on Waiheke Island – a larger populated island a ferry’s ride out of Auckland. Armed with my Ricoh and an external viewfinder I turned off the display and went shooting. Although not film, shooting with an external viewfinder and the display turned off does give you the ‘modern feeling’ of not knowing what your image will look like until later (or until you cheat and push the play button). Being a wide open round viewfinder without markings yet I shot the horizon crooked – usually a bad thing, but I don’t mind it in the balance of this image of land, sea and sky.

Post shooting I cropped the image to a wider view, upped the contrast one notch and reduced for the web.

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Milford Marina

This morning was the first morning of the year that the car windows had frozen over. It didn’t get that much warmer during the day, and by the time I went to leave for home the temperature had dropped yet again. I stopped on the way home for a quick walk around the Milford Marina, a small local marina catering for North Shore residents. It was a cool clear evening, just before sunset. I think the cloudless sky and dark water reflects the calm, yet icy temperatures.

Taken on the Ricoh on bleach mode, otherwise untouched.

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Lake Wakatipu from Queenstown

All photos I took today were on film for my Rollei 35 – loaded with my first self develop film in some time. I finished the film, but realised I was missing my thermometer for developing, so will have to get another this week (and post my hopeful results).

Based on yesterdays popularity of ‘Paradise’, I thought I would add one more from the Lake Wakatipu region. Taken from the summit at Queenstown, the view is quite amazing. Todays image is a sew together of two images from my Ricoh. Due to the settings I had on it, I was getting some vignetting at the edges and had a hard time getting the color/shade match right when stitching them together…so its not perfect, but its ok considering.

For those interested, lake Wakatipu is New Zealand’s longest (80km) and third biggest lake. If you base yourself in Queenstown, you can do anything from skiing, para gliding, tramping… the list goes on. – you can also visit Paradise (yesterdays image).

Taken on the Ricoh GRD IV, 2X images, stitched in Gimp.

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Paradise, New Zealand

Just south of Queenstown in New Zealand’s South Island is a little settlement called Paradise. Taken late last year, we drove through it on the way to the Routeburn track. Sandflies aside, Paradise really is paradise. The view in my opinion is one of the countries most stunning, and captured on a still day as in my image above, it takes ones breath away.

Taken on my Ricoh, I just resized for the net without making any adjustments. If you come to visit the country and head to the South Island, you really must make a stop in at Paradise!

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Beach Cat

What a long work day! – I didn’t get a chance to snap any images today, so pulled out this one from a few months ago. The beach down the road from us is one of those very shallow, or flat areas. When the tide goes out it stretches quite a way. We were down for a wander when next doors cat suddenly appeared and started running out to sea! As you can see in the background, I was already out quite far when the cat came in for its closeup. Taken on the Ricoh in bleach mode, I upped the sharpness one notch in Gimp as it lost some when I reduced it to internet quality.

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