the one that got away

 
sometimes even the best fisherman don't make their catch

diamonds in the sky

 

Diamonds 2002 is a fasinating sculptural piece by New Zealand Neil Dawson, it is constructed from aluminium extrusion and mesh painted with synthetic polymer automotive paints , and if you look closely you can see the cables suspedning it. It is displayed at the front of the National Gallery of Art in Canberra

Badge of Honour

There were big queues at the car washes, so my car wore the dust as a badge of honour

damn batteries

I guess it had to happen, when I was taking so many photos. Ever since I have been using this new Pentax 20D body, which comes with its own rechargeable lithium battery pack, I have been dreading the day when the batteries run out, just as the perfect photo moment arrives. All that happened today at Wentworth Falls. The morning dust has subsided and a few fleeting glimpses of sun light where flying past. I just changed to a wider angle lens and nothing, except an battery empty symbol.

I had check last night and the battery indicator was still on full, wasn’t happy. :(

But I had my nokia mobile phone. A quick series gave me a half decent panorama and a movie as a bonus. :)

and (almost gone again)

Last night there was a big storm front that swept in at dusk bringing lightening and thunder, and something that wasn’t immediately apparent till morning, a massive dust storm. Everything as and orange red. I went to echo point to see how the view was affected! What view? Although the three sisters where visible, the dust made it hard to distinguish and my camera light meter just gave me a very flat grey mistiness. Using 0.5 EV bracketing, and five steps, did give bit of detail in the overexposure exposures but nothing exciting.

So I tried post processing with Dynamic Photo, to combine these bracketed images and extend the dynamic range. The Human eye tone mapping gave be a decent result very similar to what I saw, restricted visibility but an orange glow.

This is yet another example when in doubt about exposure to bracket and take a series
PS: As I was walking back from taking this series the gusts of wind were so ferocious that I saw a small Japanese tourist sweep off her feet and blown across the Echo Point forecourt like a tumble weed. Lots of laughter suggested no damage done, except maybe to her pride.

the three sisters by day

 

now you see them, now you don’t!

The three sisters (a rock formation) are floodlight at night, so I went to take a photo or to. The katoomba nights are cold and a fog rose up. One minute the three sister where there and the next moment they were not

Dropping in on another artist

Norman Lindsay's property at Springwood is now also managed as a Gallery & Museum by the National Trust. It preserves his painting and etching studios. His art covers a wide range of creative endeavours from cartoonist, children stories, paintings watercolours and etchings. Often of full figured female nudes, which lead to his frequent conflicts with the wowsers of his time.

The 1993 film Sirens, starring Elle Macpherson and the little known (at the time) Hugh Grant, is a somewhat romantic portrayal of Norman Lindsay life at Springwood. Most of Norman Lindsay's sculptures where construction on site in his garden as a form of relaxation, using wet concrete over a metal frame. I trust my Photosynth below gives you some inkling of his Olympian dream.

the bather

 

a day at the beach

 

Clyde River Bridge at night

 
Bateman's Bay, NSW

The Golden Hours

At different times & different parts of the year the intensity and quality of light varies. The hours just after and just before sunrise and sunset have the sunlight hitting everything at a low angle, giving better, softer more even lighting. The light often has a deep rich glow that warms colours, compared with the harsh contrasty light of the Australian midday.

The glow can be slightly different in the mornings (most likely to be truly golden) and sunset (more likely to have a stronger more orange hue)

 

This sunset is probably additionally coloured by a smoke haze.

wet feet

about to nest

beach jewelry

more on photosynth

This is a nice walkthrough of some of the opportunities and amazing capabilities microsoft’s http://photosynth.net/photosynth opens up for digital photographers