Travel
crazy sky
Through this oriject i’ve realised something .. inspiration comes when you least expect it. Like tonight – wondering what I’d do for today’s image, a casual glance out the window and I spotted the amazing sky just as the sun set and instantly knew that it was going to be today’s image. So here it is … crazy sky.
summerdaze
At a conference on the Gold Coast in amazing Queensland “where Australia shines”. What else do you do when you wake at dawn and you have a few hours to kill before your first session of the day starts … a barefoot 10 km stroll along the beach – what else ?
long exposure
A little experimentation tonight, with a couple of ND filters, and a really long exposure … 526 seconds (8 & 3/4 minutes) @ f8.
Trying to hold back the still building lights a little, while the moving cars and ferry paint in the lines. I love the star light on the right from the Story Bridge Hotel.
panoramic brisbane
After a few shots in the last week or so of the different perspectives of the view from my balcony, I thought that I’d do the full panorama … so here it is … it is made up of 11 images full size jpegs, stitched together using the photomerge feature in photoshop, creating a 180degree panorama, that is 16866 x 5015 pixels, a whopping 82.5 megapixels !
Click the image above to see a small version.
the other side
Throughout the course of this project i’ve taken a few shots of the Story Bridge at night. Most from my balcony at home, some from the river bank. Tonight, I go to the other side !
bridge climb
I had to make tonight’s shot of the Story Bridge, because I just climbed it with my team from work !
From the right hand side, you climb to the top of the pillar, spending a few minutes at the top enjoying the view, down the other side, across the span to the middle of the bridge (above the blue light on the left), cross from one side of the bridge to the other (spending a few more minutes watching the cars on a 6 lane highway zipping under foot), then back up the near side to the top of the pillar again and finally back down to ground level. A great way to watch the sun go down and the gaze into the city lights.
caxton
All Queenslanders know Caxton Street … especially when a State of Origin is on … tonight, it’s just a normal street. What is ironic, is that I’m playing ‘taxi’ and the moment I take this shot, a taxi drives past.
wave
A beautiful day for a drive, so Kelly & I headed down to Byron Bay. We packed our swimmers, just in case, but the beach was icy cold, and there was no way either of us were going in. I did have my DSLR, and what I thought was a fresh battery, but as soon as I turned it on, it failed .. so today’s shot is thanks to my iPhone 3GS … as a wave came through the rocks.
travelling
I’m interstate at a conference. It is great to get to travel a little for work, but there is just something about sleeping in your own bed. Why are all hotel beds so bad ?
early morning walk
I went for a walk early this morning before I headed down to Melbourne for a conference. It wasn’t too early, after all the sun was up, but where the hell is everyone ?
bridge to brisbane
Today was the ‘Bridge to Brisbane’, an annual fun run over 10km from the Gateway Bridge to the city, and an amazingly popular fun run with more than 40,000 participants.
I did the 5km version a few years ago, walking the whole way, and using every bit of energy I had to complete it in 45 minutes.
I wanted to do it again this year, and see how much difference losing more than 25kgs makes to your fitness. I knew it would be a lot different, I mean, I can easily walk 5kms – I do it most days of the week – but beating the 45 minute time would be tough at walking pace.
I am pleased to say, i smashed it, finishing in just 36minutes. Thats 9 minutes, or for those with accountant minds, 20% quicker. I jogged bits here and there where I could, with walking recovery breaks in between. And I did it still feeling pretty good as I crossed the finish line.
If you went in it today, and finished, well done ! I’ll be there again next year to see if I can shave a few more minutes off.
a new day
I’m an early riser, and often see the sun rise.
That happened this morning, and had a few minutes to play around with the new cokin’ish (i.e. cheap chinese knockoffs) filters that I bought off ebay. I’d wanted some of these for a while, specifically graduated ND so that I can ‘hold back the sun’ when needs arise. And it’ve got to say, I like them. Clearly not something I’ll screw on the front often, but for the right shot, I know they will be invaluable.
I wasn’t planning for any of the shots to be used today, I had something completely different in mind, but at the end of the day, which it almost is, i’m glad that I took (unconsciously) a few shots that chesterr would call “stay in the game” shots, because suddenly I’m needing one of them.
eagle lane
It’s been a while since i’ve grabbed a shot in a local laneway, this one’s really local, and it’s mine … eagle lane.
miniature southbank
Out for a walk this afternoon with my wonderful little Canon s95 and decided to bust out the ‘miniature’ mode for another go.
It definitely works best for an elevated spot, with a little action going on, and the first spot I came across as I powered along was the new park area at Southbank, which is proving pretty popular – a great place to sit on the grass and take in the wonderful weather that we’ve got at this time of year (almost start of spring).
ferris wheel
Spent the morning at the ‘ekka’ – I hadn’t been for years.
The ‘ekka’ or exhibition is the annual show, when the country comes to the city to show off their produce, animals, arts and crafts, thrown in together with rides and amusements of all kinds … including the ferris wheel.
brisbane
It’s late at night, but with a few indoor shots lately, I decided to get out of the house and do a few low light / city lights shots. There is always a lot of interesting sights out on a Friday night, but this shot just stood out among the drunks on the streets.
on the way home
I snapped this out the window of the plane as I left Hamilton Island this afternoon. I did even think about using it as today’s image when I took it, but due to a few dramas when I got back, this is it … rubbish, i know, but somethings just have to come first.
whitsunday sunset
Queensland (and Australia for that matter) really is a spectacular part of the world.
For those interested, this was taken from Hamilton Island. Plum Pudding Island is the little one, Henning Island just behind that, and in the far distance is South Molle Island.
conference
It’s tough, but I’m out of town at work conference … on Hamilton Island in the Whitsunday’s at the south end of the Great Barrier Reef. Hopefully, we’ll get to enjoy some of the fresh air !
blue sky (for a moment)
Still in Sydney, and for a minute today I thought that the weather had cleared when a little blue sky appeared. And cleared just as I was walking around Circular Quay with a great view of the Opera House.
Sadly, it disappeared as quick as it arrived, with grey clouds rolling back in bringing pouring rain and cold winds. But it does look like it is clearing, so fingers crossed for my last day down here tomorrow.
With plenty of time to kill, I spent a few more hours today ‘on the street’. I’m definitely no where near as good as eric kim yet (if you’ve seen some of his videos he definitely gets more ‘keepers’ that ‘rejects’, but i’m definitely getting better. Here are a few shots from today:
grey day
I’ve travelled down to Sydney for a few days. Only 1000km south, but today it was a world apart. I left Brisbane this morning, hardly a cloud in the sky, a beautiful clear blue sky, and temperature perfect in the early 20′s. An hour or so later, and I’m in Sydney, it’s more than just a grey day, it’s absolutely dreadful – pouring driving rain and icy winds – and worse still forecast to be more of the same for the entire time i’m here.
But it’s not all bad …. occasionally these grey days produce some great images.
And here’s the contrast … this is just after take off, looking out over the Gold Coast from 38,000 feet:
italian
Sometimes I just get a craving for certain foods, and tonight was one of those nights – Italian.
I was thinking maybe the usual favourites, a lasagne or a classic Bolognese … but reading the menu, my eyes were drawn to veal scaloppine limone – and it was delicious !
I’m out of town tonight, so unable to post this to the internet. Daily photo taken, just can’t post it !