Baby (perhaps teenager) Giraffe from Auckland Zoo.
The Giraffe
The Journey
Every journey starts with one step.
Red Sky Morning
The old phrase ‘red sky in the morning, shepherds warning’ (or sailors depending on your upbringing and geographical location) appears to be ringing true today as I await the cyclone that is Lusi on its way to New Zealand.
We have been told to cancel upcoming weekend activities outdoors, prepare for a king tide, massive coastal weather, possible flooding, high winds and power cuts. Its always so surreal when a large storm approaches. The air changes. Things go still. Most animals seem to know something is coming.
I enjoy weather extremes. Within limits. All going well, I will try to get out in some of it and take in the amazing power that is mother nature. Going not so well, I’ll stay inside.
As I write the breeze is mellow. News reports its already picking up at the top of the country, so its just a small wait now…
Golden Sun Rises
An early start to get supplies for the week took me past Auckland’s Lake Pupuke. Standing on the eastern side, the sun was just entering the sky for another glorious day.
To take his chorus line, I found Lou Reed’s lyrics floating in my mind as I walked along the lake side:
Oh, it’s such a perfect day
I’m glad I spend it with you
Oh, such a perfect day
You just keep me hanging on
You just keep me hanging on
More tomorrow
Approaching the Match – with different processing
Im lucky enough to live next to a nice sized park and bush walk. The above image being one I have shown at some angle or another int he past. As with all parks, often various social and club games are played. Here its generally Football/Soccer in one season and Cricket in the other. At the moment, cricket.
Armed with my Sony Nex and Jupiter 8, I grabbed several shots whilst out for a small walk. After arriving home, I processed the three all a little differently. For the head image in B&W I pushed it quite hard to get some heavy light contrasts. The second image, just above had a minor yellow tone applied to give a slightly dryer look than the rain all night may suggest. For the final image below, I didnt really do anything other than a slight straightening before framing and resizing.
Catch you tomorrow!
Without Focus
On occasion I like to take out of focus images. I think what I like is the ‘focus’ on shape and colour as opposed to detail. Todays two images were shot in Hamilton aside the Waikato River.
EDC/Whats in my Bag – Lite Edition
Occasionally when I have time to kill and am online, the ‘things’ photographer in me enjoys viewing ‘Whats in my Bag’ posts. You-tube is full of them, as are general online blogs (Japan Camera Hunter being a great one).
On those lazy image days (e.g. today), I though I’d share my ‘bag’. As I have several cameras and image taking devices, I’ll span them out over various posts now and then. For me, I don’t have a specific, all-time set up. It depends on the day, the mood and what (if anything) I have planned to shoot.
With the absolute standardising of smart devices on the market/that people carry today, my ‘Lite edition’ may well be similar to so many photographers and non-photographers alike. For this ‘Edition’ I leave the bag behind – its comparatively cumbersome and gets in my way. All I need is a pocket. I think I have spoken before about choosing to not use a smartphone anymore, but, I do still have my iPod touch. Certainly not the most amazing camera around, but for the ultra slim size, and ability to edit and post on the run, its my favourite choice when I don’t feel like carrying much. Linked with my leather card holder, and trusty Victorinox Tinker, it’s ultra light, and good to go.
Although nothing to do with camera’s, I almost always have my Swiss Army Knife on me. The ‘toolkit in your pocket’ comes in handy more than one would think, and being Victorinox, is a well crafted and reliable tool.
Thats all for today. Next time I feature ‘Whats in my Bag’, I might even have a bag!
Garden Snaps
A day servicing and cleaning vehicles = little time to take any photos. Played around with Sony’s stitch panorama at relatively close-up positions. Chillies getting near harvest time now!
High Winds and Flying Things
Currently Auckland is being hit with the remnants of Cyclone June which caused a lot of damage and such over in the Pacific Islands. Its by no means as damaging as it was, but with gusts up to around 110kph, its still enough to bring down the odd tree.
Here at the household Ive been concerned with the little things – Monarch chrysalis to be precise. Our two swan plants have been very attractive to monarchs this summer and a good number survived the nasty hunting paper wasps and jumped into their chrysalis’ around the property. A few, less high IQ models, stuck to dead leaves. Dead leaves + any wind = falling leaves. I twistie tied one leaf on the other day to try and increase the chances of survival.
So the last two days we have had high winds and rain. Not really the best time to pop out of ones transforming sleeping bag and view the world from a new body… yet in the garden as I arrived home was a whole bunch of them!
Walking inside and taking a seat I heard a rustling noise coming from behind the curtain. Looking closer (but not much closer) I saw the reflection of something move. A Kingfisher! – It can be hard to get these guys on camera with a decent lens & I rarely see them up close when out and about walking! Either he came in to shelter from the wind, or much more likely (somehow) Charlie the cat caught him and brought him inside. However he got in, he looked healthy and well (and wanting out) Didn’t particularly catch him at is best pose (nor did I want to stress him). The angle might suggest he was getting throttled, but I can assure it was a safe bird hold to keep his wings from flapping and hurting himself as I released him outside.
Wind and Flying Things.
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