Down the Hill to the Village

Its been one of those weeks where things fly by, but on auto pilot. I have not had much time to just take a step back and relax.
Heading home today I took a stroll up Mt Victoria in Devonport (actually this id where I am writing todays post). The hot summer weather has taken its toll on the mountain and all the grass has gone a dry yellow. Only the lush trees remain green.
Casting ones vision down the hill we can see the Devonport village. Around 5pm, traffic is building as people head in and out. After the break in the harbour is the eastern side of the CBD- where the ports shipping things in are found.
Image wise, todays shot is taken on the Galaxy using Vignette.

January 24, 2013 2

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.

January 8, 2013 2

The Hidden Cove

Waking up at 5am, I jumped in the car and headed to Auckland’s West Coast to catch some early morning images. With a host of beaches to choose from, I settled on my favorite – Piha Beach.

39km west of Auckland’s CBD, its a long windy road to get to Piha. From the direction I came, I took a road called Scenic Drive. Scenic drive itself was built in the 1930’s depression by those on unemployment at the time. Often crossing ridge lines, when an opening in the trees becomes available, it offers a magnificent view of various parts of Auckland.

Unfortunately for me, the sky was very overcast at Piha the whole morning I was there, only clearing in the afternoon, on my home journey. I did take a number of shots however, and will look to edit through them and share a little later in the week, along with some more information on the local area.

Today’s shot was taken just around the corner from the southern end of Piha. The image does not show it, but it was blowing fairly strong winds! (I had to retrieve my hat which blew off the cliff!).

Image/Editing wise, the same as the last few days. Shot on the Samsung Galaxy S2 using Vignette with a digital Polaroid setting. Writing added in Photoshop CS5.

January 7, 2013 0

Devonport, the mobile polaroid

Out and about in Devonport today, I played around with the Vignette app on my mobile. Vignette has had a number of updates in recent months – mostly fixes, but also extra bits and pieces, so I thought it was time to give it another run.

As I have mentioned before, my favorite android camera app is Afterfocus. However, I have had Vignette since its early days and have always loaded it on various devices I own – so its right up there also. In many ways Vignette was the Android version of Instagram – before it finally came to Android. It potentially offers more creative filter options now, and for me, I like it more because it is not so integrated into the social media side of things (especially with recent change scare for Instagram users that was quickly withdrawn). This being said, Instagram is a great app – just different strokes for different folks!

As can be seen in today’s posting, I was playing around with the Polaroid type option within Vignette. As well as the ‘Polaroid frame’, one can alter multiple sizes, colors and film types.

The writing was added later in Photoshop CS5 – I like the idea of replicating a snap from a Polaroid and then writing the where and when on it – I would love if Vignette looked to add this into their already great app!

Image wise, as in the title, I captured this down by the waterfront in Devonport. Below the walkway, between beaches are volcanic rock shores. Whilst being a beautiful day, it was very windy & I attempted to keep my feet dry whilst stepping up to the water trying to catch some wave action!

incidentally (well, sort of), I noticed Polaroid has started marketing a new ‘Instant Digital Camera‘ that offers both saving to SD and close to instant printing with its ZINK technology. Reading a few reviews and looking at images, I quite like it, and that Polaroid has seen what they can do to come into the current digital age. That being said, for the film and traditional Polaroid shooters amongst us, check out the impossible project. The Impossible Project is doing a great job keeping traditional Polaroid cameras alive. I intend to give them a go sometime…when I have some spending cash and find a old model Polaroid that is!

January 4, 2013 0

The Refinery

“The Refinery’ comes from yesterdays walk at the Chelsea Park – which belonged to the Chelsea Sugar works. Built in 1884, and added to later on, CSW is our biggest supplier of sugar. As well as being a bright orange in colour, I was drawn to mishmash of buildings, knowing that each serves a purpose in the production run.

Playing around in Gimp, I added a few cross-processing layers and slightly tweaked the colour balance. Lastly I added a light vignette.

Been a long day, not much more to add.

August 27, 2012 0

Ocean View

A lazy day was had in New Plymouth today. Its nice to take a break from the hussle and bussle of day to day life – sometimes it takes one to be taken out of their invironment in order to be able to do it!
I caught todays image on the waterfront. I like the openness of the image. You can imagine sitting on the seat, stairing at the ocean and letting your mind wander.
I also got some shots on the Fed1, so eargerly await to see how they turn out.
Taken on the samsung galaxy s2 using vignette app.

July 21, 2012 0

The Wind Wand

One from the archives today. Taken on my visit down to New Plymouth on the lower west coast of the North Island, I came across ‘The Wind Wand’ along the waterfront. Going by the massive coastal wave wall and the fairly strong breeze, the wand was really in its element bending and swaying to and fro. Designed by a New Zealand artist, Len Lye, Weighing 900KG and standing 45 meters high – this thing can bend in the wind at least 20 meters!

Again taken on a cellphone – a Samsung Galaxy 3, using the app vignette, it shows that one can get an interesting shot (in my opinion at least) no matter what photographic tool one uses. I really like the heavy vignette, following the walkway along to the wand as it bends back out into the strong swell of the Tasman Sea.

May 21, 2012 1

Pink Flowers

95% of the time I either carry or are at arms reach to one of my handful of cameras. Every now and then, as with the above photo ‘Pink Flowers’ I find myself seeing an image I like, but not having a camera on me – not a traditional dedicated camera anyway. Mobile phone cameras have come a long way from those initial .5MP sensors a few years ago. This image, taken on a Samsung Galaxy 3 (not S3), whilst not as high a quality as my usual cameras, still does a fair job when one is stuck without a camera. Although the recent release is playing up on my phone, I rate the android app Vignette (used for this image). It has a host of customizable options and filters etc. For some impressive mobile phone photos, head over to mobilephotogroup.com – I came across them recently and am impressed with the images some people are pulling out of their iPhone’s, Galaxy’s etc. Todays image, taken on a crisp cool morning caught my eye as the sky was a rich blue and the morning light gave the pink flowers a soft glow.

May 10, 2012 0