Friday 30 January 2009

My web gallery...

Please check out my web gallery. I have spent some time setting it up and if you would like to give me some feedback on the design I would appreciate it...

I plan to use it to display wedding images for clients (I can make galleries private) so that they can select images for their album design... As well, of course to show some of my personal work...

The "Around Melbourne" gallery has lots of fireworks images from a couple of years ago when I took my blog header photo...

Enjoy...

Wednesday 28 January 2009

An Obituary for Common Sense...

Apparently this was in the London Times...
Interesting and sadly rather true.

'Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: Knowing when to come in out of the rain; why the early bird gets the worm; Life isn't always fair; and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

Common Sense declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an Aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as some churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realise that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and his wife Trust, Discretion his daughter and his sons Responsibility and Reason. He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers;
I Know My Rights
I Want It Now
Someone Else Is To Blame
I'm A Victim

Not many attended his funeral because so few realised he was gone.

If you still remember him, remind people to read this.

Saturday 24 January 2009

I don't get it???

I have a blog post with the title "Funnies... Weird/Scary dog..." and it would seem that there are a significant number of people in the world who Google that term...

I don't get it?

If you look at the FeedJit Live Traffic Feed on the bottom right of my blog it lists the location of the last ten people to look at my blog and what it was that they looked at... The majority of the time there are at least four out of ten that reference the Weird/Scary dog post. Today I looked and there were six out of ten! Why is this term so popular? Why do people search for it? Why do they find me when they search for it?

So I went and did the search myself and guess what!?! My blog is at the top of the Google search list for this term... But here's another puzzle, if you search for weird dog or scary dog my post doesn't rate a mention... Go figure???

At least (and at last) I have reached the pinnacle of something in my lifetime! I must sign off now I'm laughing so hard I may need to call an ambulance!

Sunday 18 January 2009

Keep your old photos...





Never throw out your old photos...

You will get better at picking out what works and what doesn't. You will get better at processing them, cropping them and presenting them...

You will enjoy them all the more for the memories they provide... These photos were taken on the same night as the header photo on my blog.

Friday 16 January 2009

How hard can it be?

I have finally got around to getting an album design program in preparation for the multitudes of weddings that will come my way if I sit in the office for long enough...

So, in preparation and with much anticipation I installed the program, registered it and started to work out a plan...

Firstly I dragged a file from a previous wedding onto the desktop. Then I worked out how to convert the files from RAW to JPG and now I'm waiting, waiting, waiting while Photoshop does its thing with the files... I've done a couple of loads of washing and may still have time to go to the shop and get a coffee before the process completes...

Before you tell me to upgrade the computer - I already have 4Gb of RAM, a high speed scratch disk and I've played with the memory available to Photoshop...

And this is before I have even opened the album design program... At least I am working out the post production steps that are required to do this accurately (and as quickly as possible) in the future...

I can't wait to see the end result - I'm off to get a coffee!

Tuesday 6 January 2009

Oh what a beautiful morning #2...


This morning the river was like glass and there seemed to be no wind at all...

Monday 5 January 2009

Oh what a beautiful morning...


As I walked to work from the train station this morning I noticed a single hot air balloon between the buildings in the city. As I crossed the river and looked back towards the city there was a squadron of balloons floating gently into the sunrise...

The photo was taken with my mobile phone...

Note to self, next time I look for a mobile phone find one with a better camera...