Things I would like to achieve in 2009 (AKA) New Year Resolutions...

Well it's that time again. Time to make a list of things that you would really really like to do for the year. Things that would make a difference to your life and break the "groundhog day" cycle. If I could remember where I put last years list I could have a look at it to see whether I was an achiever or a failure in the class of 2008...

This year I have a short but challenging list...

1. Complete a fitness program (Body For Life) and maintain that fitness for the rest of the year... When I do that I will be fit, healthy, slim/athletic for the rest of my life.

2. Establish my photography business and make a decent second income working around my current job.

3. Find someone to share it all with...

I'm sure that I will lose this list too... That's why I made it short.

Each of the items will require focus, dedication and commitment, sacrifices, stress and (some) loss of sleep. But the rewards will be worth it...

Happy New Year to one and all, may it be prosperous and rewarding...

Merry Christmas...

Merry Christmas one and all...

As I sit watching Ewan McGregor ride from the top of Africa to the bottom in "Long Way Down". It reminds me that there is so much more out there than I am achieving at the moment.

This year has been yet another that I could have done better than I have...

What can I do about that?

Well, for a start there are some New Year resolutions that I could make...

1. Stop procrastinating
2. Make some goals
3. Develop a plan to reach those goals
4. Develop an action plan to make those goals achievable
5. Start working on meeting the objectives of the plan
6. Stop procrastinating
7. Plan how to stop procrastinating
8. Work out how to stay above zero
9. Stay above zero for 12 months
10. Procrastinate less

See you in 2009!

Check this out...

Check this out. That's all, nothing I say will make it better...

http://www.myspace.com/gurrumul

Thanks to Luhlahh...

If you go down to the pond today...

Well, for a start, there's water in it! We had a fair bit of rain yesterday, the most for a very long time. It's still dry as a whole but today there is mud about!

I have a pond near the front door with a resident goldfish. Recently the pond plants were replenished and today when I walked out I saw this little fella sunning himself...

A quick city walk...

I went for a walk around the Queen Victoria Market this morning. The market isn't open on Monday but now that I have the times it is open I will try to get back there then.

I noticed a couple of things to photograph, the first image is a picture of someone else's image. The artist photographer was mentioned in the local paper last week and for the life of me I cannot find the article or the photographer but I will keep searching. The second image is the right way up! One of the buildings had a structure over the footpath that has a mirror finish the girls were just out the front having a chat when I looked up.

Planning a photography course...

Hi everyone, I need some help. What would you have liked to know when you got your first SLR camera?

I'm seriously considering starting a business teaching the basics of photography to people who are moving in to an SLR camera, digital or film, for the first time. There is so much to learn and I've found in the course that I'm doing that if you can get the basics bedded down then working on the creative side is so much easier.

The problem is that anyone can take a good photo once. The new wizz bang, super duper, gigapixel camera does all of the work and the photographer really has no idea what just happened. The first step, I believe, is to go back to the basics, understand what happened and be able to repeat the process when that type of situation arises again. The follow on step is to be creative with the "rules" and make up some of your own rules to develop your individual style.

So I would like some help. I need to know what you wish you knew when you first got your camera. What fundamental thing about your camera would have made it easier to use it creatively? I want to go back to the basics of ISO/ASA, shutterspeed, aperture and work up from there.

Thanks in advance for any constructive input...

How many words do we really need?

Some time ago (nearly a year ago) I wrote a blog entry regarding short stories here. Nobody took me up on the challenge to write the shortest story that included religion, sex and mystery... So I've decided to complete the circle myself and give you the full version.

Just to fill you in if you haven't followed the link. The assignment in a short story course was to write a story that includes religion, sex and mystery with as few words as possible. The winning entry went something like this... (I have shortened it even further from the version I first saw).

"God! I'm pregnant! How?"

Melbourne weather...

There is a perpetual myth that when you come to Melbourne you should be prepared for four seasons in one day. Yesterday it was hot at around 33 deg Celcius and towards the evening clouds started to build up. As I left work I looked around (if you've never tried it look up for a bit of a change there are some amazing things to see) and saw some awesome clouds. Unfortunately I only had my phone camera and the poor thing didn't cope very well with the contrast.

These are some of the images I took and are only a poor rendition of the colour and drama.

This morning I woke to a storm with lots of lightning, thunder and some very welcome rain.

More studio fun...

We had a "family & friends" night at the school studio a while ago and Gabriel and his new wife Maria volunteered to be the guinea pigs. We had free reign as far as what we wanted to do and a good time was had by all. By the end of the year the studio looks a little tired, the white paint is scuffed and the plaster in places is a little cracked.

I worked my butt off! By the time the studio session was finished I had almost completely run out of steam...

I had to work on the images a bit due to the background and I experimented with extracting the subject and placing him on a completely "fake" background. I think it works and I know he likes the pose...

Fun on the farm...

A close friend has a farm not too far from Melbourne. I grew up in the country and don't seem to be able to get out there enough these days.

Warren and Vicki are currently raising some calves and they are pretty cute at present (the calves are, Warren and Vicki might not think it appropriate for me to call them cute!?!).

I took some photos and this is just one of the ones I like. The calves are very curious at this age and will walk right up for a pat and a scratch...

Take a bunch of flowers...

and a macro lens. Add a little aperture, light and be very, very still...

I love photographing flowers. I'm not sure why it's just something I've always liked doing. So I'm thinking that I really should do something with that and make an effort to get better at it.

I admit it...

I went along to help a friend from my course shoot her first wedding. Jodi was asked by her friend if she would be interested very early on in the course and her friend knew that she wouldn't be very experienced. Jodi was very nervous but she did a great job and I wish I had at least some of her creativity.

So there we were getting ready for the whole thing to get started and Jodi told me that she had bought along some "bubbles". I really must learn to be more creative and open to new ideas. I can't believe (now) that I said something along the lines of "why did you bother?"

I admit it, I'm stupid..! Sometimes...

Jodi offered the bubbles to the bridal party after the ceremony and; well see for yourself......

PS: Don't forget to check out the video clip a couple of posts below...

Who are you?

One of the facinating things about blogging is that you don't know who is "watching" you. So you get a map that shows dots to tell you that someone from somewhere has had a look. This still doesn't tell you who is watching you. So you rely on people to comment but even then you might visit without commenting.

I have found a new widget and added it to the right. It is a "followers" list, what it allows is for people to let me know they are interested in watching my blog. So, if you would like to let me know that you "follow" my blog then add your name to the list. For those of you who are shy you can make yourself anonymous but where's the fun in that?

PS: By adding this post I have bumped an awesome post. Please check out the video clip in the post below...

The best six minutes you will spend today...

I saw this on another blog and I have been meaning to watch it for some time. I finally got around to it. It is a very simple reminder that there is power in words but you need to choose the way you use them.

Watch this, you won't regret it.

Lucky me...

Working where I work I sometimes get the priviledge of access to areas that most people won't get access to. This last few days I asked nicely and was granted access to the roof of the building. Unfortunately I wasn't prepared and could only take my phone camera but the good news is, now that I know how I can ask nicely and get access for photo opportunities again.

The first photo is of the city of Melbourne from the roof.

The second photo is of the fire escape stairwell which, having never been at the top of one of these stairwells, was very surreal. Every time you move the entire stairwell seems to change shape. Trying to get the floor (40 storeys below) in the centre of the image was interesting and a little spooky...

Dating update...

I have hidden my online dating "profile"... For all of those statistical data collection junkies out there (you know you are) I had 77 contacts for the month of which I contacted half as many as contacted me.

A lot of the contacts were rejected for whatever reason (in both directions) and I have met with a few people now some of whom I will probably never see again and some who I have already arranged to meet again.

There are a couple of people who I am yet to catch up with. So for now it's time to just "get to know people". There are four on the list, all of them are interesting and have a wonderful story to tell.

Maybe this will work, maybe it won't but at the very least I have met some interesting people and maybe widened my circle of friends. At the very best I will find someone to spend the next chapter of life with. You know, the chapter where we ride off into the sunset hand in hand...

I have a new website... Woo Hoo!

I have finally "bitten the bullet" and set up a website.

It is possible to set up individual galleries for clients and then make them private (client login only) so that the clients can pick and choose the images they like and either order them or buy them directly.

I have some samples and a wedding shoot from last weekend up and so far there have been nothing but positive comments. Yay!

For all of the photographers who may look at the wedding photos - I was second shooter and the images have just been resized with no adjustments!

www.portraitpro.com.au - enjoy...

Memorial Cross

There is a memorial cross on Mt Macedon, north of Melbourne. I went there with some friends a couple of weeks ago for an impromptu picnic. It was lovely when the sun was out but a little cold in the shade.

One of the kids took his mum's camera and came up with a shot of the cross with the sun behind it, well done Sebastian. He is a pretty creative fella and I hope he keeps taking photos.

This is my version. I haven't changed the perspective at all from the original but I did try to bring out some detail in the clouds.

Dating at 40+...

Well, it's that time again... Time to get out there and find someone to share the next chapter with. So I've put up my profile on an internet dating site... Internet dating!?!?!?

Not that long ago internet dating was just a seedy sort of fringe area where you could go to meet some very interesting characters. Nowdays however it is becoming the norm. I certainly find that I have no interest going to a pub or nightclub and shouting a conversation with women in the hope that they don't actually have a huge, apelike, boyfriend buying them a drink...

The interesting characters are still there, and I guess they always will be, but there are some truly genuine people there as well (me, for example).

I have tried this site before and only met a couple of people from a few contacts... This time I have chosen a good photo (the one on my blog profile) and worked on thoughtful profile. Within the first week I had 37 contacts! OMG! What do I do with this avalanche of women who all seem to want to get to know little old me? So I hid my photo! A few coffees and a picnic later I have met some lovely ladies and even with my photo hidden I am still getting "kisses" (for those who have never considered how internet dating is done, you either send a kiss or receive one to make contact, this bit is for free. If you are interested that's when you send an email and make contact)...

I'm off for a coffee tonight! Wish me luck...

Walkies...

The park near home is a "lead free" zone for dogs. Owners can let the puppies off for a romp. There are often dogs of every shape and size running around and getting to know each other.

This morning I went over to see if I could see the cockatoos that I mentioned earlier and they were a no show yet again. I turned around and saw these guys running around and play fighting over a palm frond of all things. They were very funny and this is the only shot I got that worked...

The smaller dog eventually won and proudly carried the prize off into the distance.

Construction Zone 2...

I went back out this morning but cockatoos are smart birds and when it's windy and raining smart birds stay in their nest...

On the way I passed the construction zone from yesterday and one of the machinery items had been left behind. I took some product shots and this little truck is now sitting on my desk.

If you know anyone who had a BBQ at the park in Richmond last night, I have their truck...

Construction Zone...

I went down to the park this afternoon to see if I could get some images of the cockatoos that are nesting in one of the old gum trees. No luck but I will keep trying.

On the way back I passed a construction zone. The machinery was all lined up ready for the next shift...

Cinta...

Cinta agreed to a portrait session at the school studio yesterday. These are just a few of my favourites.

It was a bit of a learning curve for both of us and I think we came out of it with some good images.

Worlds Greatest Walk...

Some years ago my father had a heart transplant... You never plan for these things they just happen. The biggest problem with any sort of transplant is that someone has to donate their body, or parts of it, and the people around them have to know their wishes.

Unfortunately people die on the waiting list because people haven't talked about donating their organs with their family and friends.

My father was fortunate to have the help of a gifted surgeon and was able to survive for 40 days on an artificial heart. At the time 40 days was the record (the record was broken by the next person who needed it) and unbelievably his health actually improved while he was attached.

One of the people I now work with has had a transplant and his wife has also had a transplant. Please check out this website for an idea that may just save someones life...

http://www.worldsbiggestwalk.org/

Oh, and discuss organ donation with everyone you love, it may just be the most important thing you do today...

Panorama attempt...

I am going to do more of these to learn the intricacies of stitching panoramas.The program seems to have compressed the middle image and stretched the end ones...

Either way this is Melbourne at dawn today...

Still haven't got this the way I want it...

About 6:30am this morning I was set up and ready to take some shots of the city skyline. The sky lightened and the clouds became pink. This is close to what I saw but I need more practice with photoshop to get it 100%...

Around Melbourne...

I went out yesterday and took some photos around Melbourne. These are just a few of the architechtural shots...

I plan to go out today and take some images in the Dandenong ranges. Hopefully I'll find something interesting...

Product shots...

The theory was that we were going to do some product shots in the studio. In practice we just mucked around with a bag of lollies. Some of the shots turned out all right but I really must say that there has to be an easier way to stop lollies in the air than the way we were trying to do it... There may be some lollies left in the studio, it's amazing how far they can bounce for soft sweets!

Before & After...

Another image of Brooke... I have included the original and my reworked version...

Passion...

When I was 13 I attended a careers day at the local hospital. I saw an ambulance and spoke to the officers and decided that I was going to be an ambulance officer. No problems, study what was needed to be studied and wait until I was 21 (you need a full drivers licence).

And that's what I did, studied biology, physical education and maths etc, joined the army as a medic when I was 17, worked as a nurse until I was 21, applied to the ambulance service and was accepted at 21.

Over the years things change and progress and now I am passionate about photography. All of my money is spent on photography, books, gear, film (yes, it still exists), monitors, printers, scanners and the single most expensive thing so far - the course... And, yes, it is keeping me broke at present. The hope is that the effort will bring the rewards.

I was speaking to one of my staff a while ago. She is currently studying paramedical science at uni and seems to me to be doing it quite slowly. There is an opportunity for students to apply for a job and receive more "on the job" training to compliment the uni course but she hasn't applied...

My question to her was "if this is what you really want to do why aren't you doing it?"

Her answer made me think about "passion" and what it means. She told me that to be an ambulance paramedic was her passion but that she didn't want to rush into it. She didn't want to take it to the next level (intensive care paramedic) and that she was in no hurry to start working as a paramedic.

I don't get it. My idea of passion is that it has an intensity of desire that means that anything that doesn't drive you towards it is ignored and neglected. The speed that you run towards your "passion" is as fast as you can possibly go and you only occasionally stop for breath.

What is passion? Passion is what drives you forward towards your dreams. It surprises me that there is a slow option...

"Why am I here?"

Bear with me on this one;

Last week at school we were getting the studio set up for the session. One of the girls in the course was disappointed to find out that her brand new (Nikon D80) camera didn't have a sync plug for the flash cable. "No problems" said I... We'll just set your cameras' internal flash to trigger the slave on the studio flash, if we turn down the power on your flash to minimum then the light won't affect the image it will just trigger the flash...

Yet another disappointment was in store, the camera flash couldn't be adjusted. So off I went to my bag of gear and pulled out an external flash, set it to manual, reduced the power and sure enough it worked. My comment to the girls (and the instructor) was "why am I here (learning this stuff that I can already do)?" The girls said that I was here to teach them stuff (but I'm a student and I paid to learn stuff not to teach stuff).

The instructor looked at me and asked me a question; "You know what they call people with too much "stuff" don't you?", I wasn't sure so he told me; "a geek!" Well I thought about this for a second and my response was to ask him "which problem that we have had here tonight was I not able to fix?" I'm still waiting for an answer...

Now I'll be the first to admit that I have been known to be a smart arse but this wasn't my intention at all.

What I learned from this is that I am well qualified to be a studio assistant but I'm not yet there with the photography and that is a problem that I'm working on... And that's why I'm there...

Funnies... Weird/Scary dog...

For all you arachnophobes out there...

I found this today after someone pointed me to the website www.faildogs.com where they have a range of sometimes quite funny (and sometimes downright weird) photos of dogs failing to make the grade in various ways.

Just to prove there are others...

This is one of the Jodi's from my course. Just to prove that there are others!

Another image of Brooke...

It may seem that I am taking lots of photos of Brooke...

There are only four people on the course Brooke, Jodi #1, Jodi #2 and myself.

Jodi #1 and Jodi #2 have missed a couple of sessions so tonight Brooke and I got to ham it up a little... I was seen tonight with a rubber glove on my head! There is a possibility that I will show some of those images when we share them...

See, Hear, Speak no evil...

Doesn't always work but I do try...

Thanks to Brooke for the images. They were taken on the same night as hers (below). I tried to get the colours to match exactly but ended up with Black & White. It looks better anyway.

Studio...

We have had a couple of sessions in the studio at school. Working out the intricacies of studio lighting. I especially liked the bit about what you do to set the lights of if you forgot the cable and don't have a radio trigger...

This is Brooke, one of the students on the same course...

Another version...

It was suggested at my course last week that I think about one of the images from Montsalvatto make the wheel stand out a little. This is one attempt and an exercise in selection of and masking out the areas that I want to adjust without affecting the areas I wanted to stand out. This is fairly exacting and (for me) relatively slow work.

At present I think this image looks better on screen than it does when I print it so I'll go back to the drawing board...

Black & White & Sepia tones...

I went off to Montsalvat today to see what all of the fuss was about. Montsalvat was built by an artist and became an artists colony. The buildings are all of different designs and there are still resident artists on site... It's definitely worth a visit...

The 12 acres site has many very beautiful nooks and crannies to use as photographic backdrops and most are of enough interest to be picturesque on their own...

Just don't tell them you are a photographer or even a photography student. I asked if I could take photos and they wanted to charge me $20 per half hour when admission is $10 for as long as you like...

These photos were taken outside the main "complex"...

Fun with Pencils...

Cinta found a new box of coloured pencils that she had to have. There never can be enough pencils! (Or paper!)...

Before she used them to draw or colour or make a dolls house (there could be enough) I decided to take some photos of them.

A very enjoyable afternoon was had arranging colours and shapes... And I didn't even draw anything with them!

These are some of my favourites.

Too many to choose from... #2

My instructor liked this one better and I think I do too, however it didn't really fit the brief of taking an image of bridges & stairs.

It could possibly fit another of the briefs, to take an image of "fragments"...

I like the 2:1 panoramic format (the image was cropped to 6 x 12 which is a film format that I am interested in) so I will be taking more images with this in mind...

Assignment...

I have an assignment to do and today Cinta and I went for a walk and took a couple of images around Federation Square.

One that I fiddled with in Photoshop came out alright I think and because it has text in it I decided to use a square format...

What do you think?

PS: The assignment was to take an image of stairs...

If you go down to the woods today...

As I did, and now that I have transport again I will do it a lot more... And I found this group of fungi growing from the side of a tree.

It was quite cold up in the hills but a little exercise got the blood pumping. I could hear the Lyrebirds calling (which is nearly always how you know they are there as you rarely see them) in all sorts of wonderful, and very different, types of calls. They are amazingly loud birds but they can blend into the bush so that they are almost invisible.

I did go for a walk in this area once and there was a lyrebird sitting on the handrail being (we thought) very friendly... It wasn't until later when someone suggested that maybe he was just trying to distract us from his nest and that he was more likely being a little agressive! They are fantastic "mimics", I saw one on a documentary making the sound of a chainsaw and of a film camera shutter...including the electric film winder... I am pretty sure it was a Nikon!!!

My new car...

The Mini is mine!!! I have it, it's in my name and it's insured! It's "Squadron Blue" and it has only done 37000km since 1978!

It needs nothing done to it, for now, and is in 100% original condition (it even has the original windscreen).

Friday funny...

A photographer for a national magazine was assigned to take pictures of a great forest fire.

He was advised that a small plane would be waiting to fly him over the fire.

The photographer arrived at the airstrip just an hour before sundown. Sure enough, a small Cessna airplane was waiting. He jumped in with his equipment and shouted, "Let's go!" The tense man sitting in the pilot's seat swung the plane into the wind and soon they were in the air, though flying erratically.

"Fly over the north side of the fire," said the photographer, "And make several low-level passes."

"Why?" asked the nervous pilot.

"Because I'm going to take pictures!" yelled the photographer. "I'm a photographer, and photographers take pictures!"

The pilot replied, "You mean you're not the flight instructor?"

eBay #2...

Hands shaking...

Heart pounding...

Wait for it, wait for it...

Bid maximum amount in the last 60 seconds and pray that my opponent can't type very fast...

... The last minute takes an age... Hit refresh...

Congratulations you are the highest bidder...

I WON!!! Yippee...

PS: I am now the proud owner of a 1978 Leyland Mini in immaculate (almost as new) condition. Photos to follow!!!

eBay...

I found something I want.

I have decided to bid for it.

I really, really want it.

It's on eBay and I can see a problem.

The auction will end before I win!

Why can't I just buy it?

Itchy trigger finger...

My assignment last week was to take an image of moving water... Where to start? There are no fountains running in Melbourne due to the drought, the river is nearby and it is running but there isn't much to see where we are. So I went off to the bathroom and set the tap to dripping and tried to catch an interesting drip or two.

This is not an easy thing to do manually! Apparently there are electronic triggers that will set off your camera when a drip goes past but I don't have one of those... I tried to catch the drips as they launched and was only successfull a couple of times in 100 shots... Mostly I got a drip forming or a nice image of the tapware that could have been taken very easily without trying to catch drips!

I also took another few shots of the Gerbera, this time with a view to getting them printed at the lab to see if all of my colour management stuff is working properly. This is the one I selected to have printed.

A bit of fun...

It's been a while since I got my digital gear out just to have a play. I haven't forgotten how much fun it can be but I have been bogged down with school, the new job, the tides, the phase of the moon and the alignment of the planets.

I spoke to one of my class mates today and we are going to go to the school studio tomorrow and see what we can come up with when we use a couple of flash units and some new Nikon gear. She has a new D300 and I have a 70-200 f2.8 VR lens... Maybe we could swap for a little while...?

I saw the flower this morning while walking home from the tram, 2 degrees celcius so I didn't spend too much time on it.

The running man is one of Cinta's collection of artistic ephemera. I thought I would try out a bit of shadow play...

Thought I would try the first two in square format???

And last but not least, my new saxophone... This one took a bit longer and I think I will still need some more practice to get it right. There are so many angles on it that it is a little difficult to get uniformly sharp. Being mainly silver with a black barrel sort of lent itself to the B&W treatment.

Hmmm. Still more choices... And an assignment...

Do I need another camera? No, not really (he says with that dejected child who has just had their favourite toy removed look)...

Do I need other gear to take professional quality images...? I could do that now... But there is always something else I could use. ALWAYS!

What gear would give me the greatest advances?

As the title of my blog suggests, "It's All About Light"... The thing that I have the most to gain from is to learn how to manipulate light to my advantage.

This week in class we started the digital imaging basics - straight to photoshop to adjust levels, curves, colour etc... With a rundown of how digital capture works and some of its advantages and disadvantages.

The Assignment...

Our assignment this week is to take 6 images of moving water with special emphasis on getting the exposure correct (I'm not sure why there should be "special" emphasis on exposure, that should always be the aim)...

One of the blogs I visit on a fairly regular basis is the Strobist site. There they show you all sorts of creative, innovative and amazing methods of lighting subjects with "off camera" flash systems. I'm sure that if I search there I will find some ideas for my assignment.

This is the next step for me... Changing the plan and putting the Hasselblad back and bringing the extra lights (Nikon SB800's) forward.

Now that I can "officially" shoot digital images in my course I will try to put more images up here.

Too many to choose from...

One of my (many) problems is that I have too many cameras... And I never thought I would say that out loud!

Recently I purchased a medium format camera (645 format), lens, film back etc, etc... I then saw a package on ebay with two cameras (the same as the first) and a different lens and basically more stuff...

The plan was to buy the lot, create a single good setup and sell off the rest... And here I am months later wondering what went wrong.

So I went in to Melbourne today to speak to a store about trading some (or all) of the gear in on a Hasselblad system. I wasn't sure that the gear I had would add up to a Hasselblad in dollar value so it was with great excitement that I found it came close... Layby is a wonderful thing, the man in the shop now has (some) of my gear in exchange for the deposit on the next camera...

What this means in relation to "too many" cameras is that I will now have three camera systems, a digital slr (with which most of the photos on this blog are taken, a 35mm film rangefinder and the "Porsche of the camera world" the Hasselblad 6x6 medium format camera... Oh, and the point and shoot digital, the camera phone digital and a 35mm pinhole camera (that I haven't been game to use)...

So now that I am flush with choices I have a problem, which camera should I take? What do clients want (when I finally get some)? Each has its own advantages and disadvantages so I'm on a mission to find out what works, what doesn't work and as much as I can in between. In the meantime I'm off to the gym, I need to build up to carry it all around...

Rosters will be the death of me!

Let me start by saying AAAARRRRGGGHHH!!!

Now that I've said that I may need to explain. One of my jobs is to do the rostering at work, it's really quite simple, we have 12 hour shifts twice a day giving 24 hour coverage 7 days a week. We only have a small team but at present we are down two full timers so this is where things are starting to get fun...

We need to cover as many shifts as possible (given that we are short staffed concessions have been made)and the weekends must be covered. Most of the time this works OK. But tonight I have had someone swap two weekend nightshifts (meaning they can't work but their shifts are covered - no problems), another person has asked for the same weekend off to attend a wedding (no problems), now a third person has asked for time off leading up to the weekend... There's no one left!!!

Back to the original statement, I don't like rostering much!!!

History in the making...

I haven't played the saxophone for a few days now because Cinta generously gave me her cold. I was expecting this to happen and really couldn't avoid it, the main problem, if you can call it that is that I may recover earlier than Cinta which will annoy her no end!

Last night I attended the Logies as part of work (and I got home at 4am). For those who are interested/don't know the Logies is an award night for Australian television where all of the actors, producers, TV honcho's etc, get together, accept awards, get "high on life" and PARTY!!! I have included a (shocking) photo of me on the red carpet (does "in the production room" count?)!!! Fortunately I didn't have to perform my medical magic and the night went off pretty much without a hitch.

Oh yeah, I titled this blog "history in the making" for a reason. I have finally done it, I have processed my very own roll of film and now have a black & white negative strip drying in the bathroom! Yay me!!! I took some photos of the shot tower at Melbourne Central (if you click on the link to My RedBubble you can see a colour shot there) and they all seem to have turned out ok...

Why "history" you ask? Well (in my opinion) my Dad may not have been the best of teachers, the conversation usually went something like this... "This is how you do this, hold it like this and do this to it and, as you can see this is the result. So there is no need for you to do it today as I have already done it...". He may have been the very best "demonstrator" I have ever known... As a result of these "training sessions" I was left with a curious desire to do it myself and a finished product that was very well conceived (welding is another of those things that I never seemed to get to do by myself)... Does anyone else have this problem?

So, I have developed a roll of film with chemicals that I mixed up with my own hands from start to finish. This is an historic moment for me... Next comes the darkroom print!!! Wish me luck...

Memories...

The smell of light rain on a dusty road takes me straight back to primary school. It's the smell of the school playground. The smell of two stroke fuel reminds me of mowing grass, the smell of freshly mown grass reminds me of the lawn at my grandparents place and the scary old lawnmower with the blades that extended beyond the edge of the cover by about 2 inches.

Last night at school we did our first darkroom exercise and developed a roll of film. The smell of the chemicals in the dark reminded me strongly of all the time I spent with dad in the darkroom as a child...

Dad used to do the photofinish images for horse/dog racing all around the western half of Victoria. As soon as I was old enough to look after myself for some of the time I went with him.

I would help him set up the gear and make sure everything was in alignment and watch with fascination as the images came out on paper. I used to watch the races from the top of the tower with him and prided myself in successfully guessing which horse was the winner before the print confirmed it.

The darkroom is one, very large, reason why I chose the course that I am doing yet my new instructor was a little dismissive of it last night. "I have to teach you this because it's part of the course but it is going the way of the dinosaurs - digital is where it's at"... He may be (is) right, to a degree, but the processes learned in the darkroom for creating a print are very similar if not exactly the same as doing it all digitally. I think he missed my point a little though... How strong is the memory of working with my dad in the darkroom, how much do I want to do it and do it well? How much do I want that connection?

It's why I chose this course!

The smell of the darkroom chemicals are toxic, they aren't that pleasant (in fact they stink), the process is slow, exacting, technical and takes lots of practice to get even close to right. But all of this reminds me of some great times spent with my father and all of the stories I can tell about the characters I met in the country racing industry at the time.

Memories...

Sometimes...

Sometimes life doesn't go as planned... And you get a little (or a lot) down...

Sometimes you don't get what you want... And it seems like you never will...

Sometimes you just can't seem to get past a point because you are looking at the trees and can't see the forest...

Then...

Most times things just happen without a plan and the world continues to turn...

Most times you get what you need and mostly that will do...

Most times you find a path through the forest... And sometimes you find a magical place...

Most times what you need and what you want aren't that far apart...

Then...

Sometimes everything goes to plan...

Sometimes you get what you want in excess of your expectations...

Sometimes all is clear ahead and you can see into the future...

One day at a time, keeping your heart and mind open... Breathe... Laugh... Love... Make big plans and be prepared for failures along the way but expect to win...

ANZAC Day 2008

It's been a while, I guess I've been a little slack...

I've been working through the intricacies of my new job, interviewing for new staff to fill the roster, working out why I have access to some things and not others on the network, dealing with issues as they come up and working out where I am in the building. That is all starting to work itself out and I've been paid my very first ever monthly salary... Woo Hoo!

Oh!!! You really do mean that I need to make that last for at least a month?

I also sold some stuff and for a very brief time I was flush with cash (my pay and the payment for the same came through at almost the same time)... I mentioned in my blog about the Xaphoon and how I had lots of respect for reed instrument players... I am now the proud owner of an Alto Saxophone (photos soon!)...

There have been some challenges with my photography course and I really do have concerns as to whether I have wasted a lot of money. I'm hoping to catch up with the marketing and management people to air my concerns this week sometime... Ouch!!!

Anyway, those are my excuses for being slack with my blogging...

Last Friday was ANZAC Day, a remembrance day for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps that fought at Gallipoli in WW1. This was one of the defining events that forged a national identity for Australia, and built the legend of the ANZAC's.

"Celebrated" is the wrong word but every year we remember the soldiers who fought and died in the first world war and all of the old soldiers, sailors, airmen and their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren dust off their old uniforms and medals and march to the war memorial.

Another of the legendary events from the First World War for Australia was the "Charge of the Light Brigade". A battle that occured at Beersheba on the northern edge of the Sinai desert. Light horse infantry charged an entrenched Turkish position across nearly 2000 yards of relatively open plains and managed to overrun and take the position against sustained machinegun fire. There is a belief that the Turkish gunners had their machine gun sights set for long range and once the "Light Horse" was inside this range the Turks were shooting over the heads of the Australians and New Zealanders. Luck must certainly have played a very large part in this and the charge has gone down in history. The photos are of people in authentic period uniform who participated in the ANZAC Day march.

A trip to the botanic gardens...

I went looking for flowers and was met with a vast array of greenery. The thunderstorm last night washed off the dust and made everything a little brighter...

These images were all taken at the Melbourne Botanical Gardens.

The image of the boy was fun, he had run a little further away than he should have and his mother was calling with increasing frustration. The boy was calling back, "you must come to fern garden!" As I walked past him he was talking to himself, "you must come to the fern garden for it is my favourite!" I kid you not! :)