Tag: Sony Nex 5N

The Tree with Red Flowers

After a fairly packed weekend, I managed to take some time out later this afternoon and take the bike up to Long Bay Regional Park. The weather was nice, and a large number of people were spread throughout the beach and grass sections of the park. I went for a stroll around the nature walk area, which was void of any people!

On the way there I came across this tree, blossoming for the spring weather. Against all the other evergreens, it stood out.

In post processing I selectively desaturated several colour, adjusted the contrast and sharpness and resized.

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Lazy Day

Him or Me?

The day before heading off on holiday I posted about almost running into a seal dozing on the rocks. Here it is!

Applying the ‘national geographic’ filter in Gimp has actually highlighted it a little more. Take a few steps back and the seal really blends into the surrounding rock and sandstone.

On the side of lazyness for me, really just lazy on the camera shooting front.  I spent a decent amount of today sorting through parts of my camera collection – choosing what to keep and what to sell. I have amassed quite a bit of old film gear over this last year and a bit (after pledging not to get any digital cameras for 2012). I’m keeping cameras that are either a bit harder to come by, or have some sentimental value to me. I hate things just sitting on the shelf, never being used – better it goes to a new home to be used, like its creator intended!

Anyway, that’s all for today. Its daylight savings for us here in NZ tonight, so an extra hour of sun tomorrow! (well, not really, but that’s what they say…)

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The Bridge

There is something appealing about bridges and walkways through the bush to me. You get the sense of nature, and almost a feeling of timelessness. Sure, the bridges are a lot safer and easier to cross then they used to be (depending where you live), but you are still right there in the bush.

Today’s image is again from Kell Park which I visited a week ago. I likes how the bridge crosses the river, disappears into the forest and then reappears at a higher point.

In post processing I washed out the colour a little and then brought out a bit more contrast. Unfortunately it was a horrible cloudy day, so the sky is a ‘washout white’.

A nice place to wander around and unwind after a hectic day!

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Emily

I don’t take that many portrait shots in the scheme of things – even less that I make public. ‘Emily’ is one exception today. The daughter of two of my friends, Emily came along to help me celebrate my birthday the other week. I managed to attract her gaze away from the ice cream bowl for long enough to snap a few shots, today’s being my favourite of them. Her ice-cream covered face and expression cracks me up – how cute it that!

Shot hand-held on the Sony, in very low lighting, with no flash, I was very happy with the result. Sure its not pin sharp, and there is noise present, but if you had told me a few years ago I could do this on a digital camera in such light without flash I would not have believed it! for those interested its shot at 3200iso and 1/30th sec with a 16mm pancake lens.

I really did like this image out of the camera and resisted making any changes aside from a small crop and resize.

Thanks for posing Emily!

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Black and White Fern

I captured ‘Black and White Fern’ when visiting Kell Park in Albany on Tuesday. Getting up close with the Sony Nex 16mm, at a wide open aperture, I love how the fern leaves fall into the background.

For those who didn’t know, the (silver) fern is one of New Zealand’s symbols for multiple sporting teams like the All Blacks (Rugby), The Silver Ferns (netball), The Football Ferns (women’s football) etc. etc. It has also been worn by Kiwis at war in various locations.

In post production, using Gimp, I simply converted to B&W and resized.

Today will be my first day of my holiday, so all going well, I am landing in Fiji as my post comes live.

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The Standoff at High Noon

I had a planned day off today, with the intention to start to unwind from work before jumping on a plane tomorrow. It didnt quite all go to plan, but I did manage a walk along a beach called Waiake in the northern region of the North Shore.

As I passed a bunch of seagulls, not thinking much of it, three of the four suddenly stood up, squarked at me and came marching at me. I took a few steps towards them, neither of us backing down. Most of the time, unless you carry food, they try to keep out of the way, but not these three! Anyway, I got a few photos in and backed down.

At one end of the beach is a small island. At low tide, as it was today, one can walk around it. We had a beautiful sunny day and I sat down to relax on a rock. Every now and then I kept catching something in the corner of my eye, but when I looked there was nothing there. Then, as I was about to get up and leave I looked around, and just to the left of me, not more then 2 metres away was a seal basking in the sun, blending in perfectly with the surrounding sandstone. Once it realised that I realised it was there it stood up on its front flippers (I think that’s the term?) and let out a growl. I decided it was time to retreat, but did get a few shots of it as I left.

Photo wise, I used Gimp to desaturate all but red and cropped the aspect again. Shot was taken on the Sony Nex 5N and Jupiter-8 legacy lens.

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Rope by the Shore

My last day of work before breaking for my holiday ended up being two hours longer than usual, and by the time I got home it was dark and cold (almost like winter again!) I took a stroll down to the jetty after dinner, Nex 5N and tripod in hand.

If one shoots cameras as a form of relaxation, shooting night images must be the ultimate in unwind. A single exposure might run into the minutes. All you can do is sit and wait, or count, breathing slow and relaxed as you take in the surrounding environment. I also like how you are gathering not just a split second of time into one image, but minutes of time, all frozen into one picture…a time capsule in a photographic sense.

Today’s image, ‘Rope by the Shore’ also happened to be my quickest exposure of the night at 52seconds @ 100iso. Breaking my usual practice of capturing the appealing light of the night, I converted today’s image to B&W with Gimp, pushing the contrast slightly, as I often do with my images. I cropped it, giving a wider aspect, and resized for the net.

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Follow the Leader

‘Follow the Leader’ seemed the natural title when I snapped this badelynge of ducks at Kell Park in Albany after work.Getting down low with the Nex 5N and 16mm lens, I think they initially thought I came bearing gifts, and soon changed direction when they realised they were just getting their pictures taken.

Its funny the amount of names a duck ‘pack’ can be given: Often referred as a paddle of ducks, we also see them called a flock, raft, team, badelynge, bunch, and brace.

Kell park itself offers a nice walk by the creek amongst native bush of Albany. It has a big playground for children, and lots of seats to sit back and relax in the environment. Back when I was young it also had an abundant public pear grove, where one could fill up sacks of pears to take home (or eat whilst helping) – I didn’t get to that part of it today, so don’t know if the trees are still around.

I made the decision today that I’m going to go almost technology-free next week in Fiji. I will have my Ricoh GRD IV, but other than that, not even my mobile phone. I work around computers all day long and have decided I will go without for a week. It will most likely be a bit of a shock to the system for me! I plan to set up some images to auto post throughout the week, so none of you reading this will go without – you will just have to wait a few weeks before seeing my Fiji images.

My final news for the day was that I received a self-birthday gift today – a Ricoh GR1. The granddad of my GRD IV, I have been keen on getting one for some time. Generally they fetch quite high prices, so when one popped up at a reasonable price (and around my birthday) I could not resist. That’s going to mean I have a digital and film 28mm holiday next week!

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Auckland Trams

In 1902 Auckland got its first electric trams, and again closed down operation in 1956. With the Rugby World Cup last year, Wynyard quarter again brought the W2 Tram back into operation, albeit on a tourist 1.5km route one can also cover on foot.

It was nice to see them put back on the road in Auckland, and I believe they have plans to lengthen the track – possibly making them of more use to locals as well as visitors in the future.

Taken on the Sony Nex 5N with the pancake 16mm lens, I just did a little cropping and a slight contrast push in Gimp before posting.

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The Five Sages

As mentioned yesterday, I visited the Auckland Art Gallery. It has undergone a massive renovation and expansion, and is in itself a work of art.

I chose today’s image ‘The Five Sages’, as I really liked it above other more modern works. Made by Ashley Bickerton (USA) in 1998.

Nothing but a straight photo of art today, so I didn’t even imprint it with my web signature.

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