Herself's Corner

Where   : Turramurra
When    : 3-45pm, 29th August, 2008
Weapon : Fujifilm S3 Pro

This is Herself's special little corner, a small back patio, rich in character and her personal touch.

She has created a mini environment here, of hanging baskets, old farming tools, the odd oar, some iron artwork, old lamps and plates and tropical plants.

It's a busy, cool, leafy art gallery, museum and al fresco dining spot with a hint of Steptoe's Yard all within a shady pergola measuring 3 x 3 x 3 metres, situated outside our kitchen window.

We sort of "live out here" in the Summer - we even eat our hot English style Christmas Dinner out here.  Sorry, spot the footprints - the possums have been crawling over the table, which was of course rescued, renovated and refurbished by Herself !

Here's another view .....

F3 Up & Running

Where   : In my Lightbox, Turramurra
When    : 8-20pm, 27th August, 2008
Weapon : Fujifilm S3 Pro

... and just to prove that I have got The Beast working,  here is a photo of its predecessor !

The pen and old computer screwdriver that has screwed the innards of an Amstrad 286, Amstrad 386, DataStar 486DX, Dell Pentium, Pentium II, Dell Laptop Pentium 4, HP Pentium 4, Pearl Pentium 5 Laptop, HP Pavilion Pentium 5 Laptop and now this Acer Intel Core 2 Quad, also featured in the previous photograph taken on the TZ3.

This was in the entry for 12th August titled "New Lightbox with Pens.

The Beast

Where   : In my Lightbox, Turramurra
When    : 9-00am, 28th August, 2008
Weapon : Panasonic Lumix TZ3

Here's my new best pal, a digital SLR.  Courtesy of  my good but distant friend, Jon Snelson.  His family can't spell, very sad, but he is a great photographer.

Here it is, complete with a familiar but new companion, a Nikon 18mm - 200mm f3.5-5.6G IF-ED AF-S VR lens.   I do not pretend to understand what all this means, but you can find out here at the Nikon Blog

I did a lot of research - driving all the local shopkeepers nuts, reading a lot of material, and listening to advice from many who "know" and some who say they do, but actually don't.

I looked at other specifications and other brands, mainly Tamron and Sigma.  I noticed a huge range in prices and materials (some have plastic mounts).  For example,  the Nikon 18mm-135mm lens is  1/3rd of the price of the one I have bought, but it has a
plastic bayonet mount, lacks a focus scale, yields some fringing and distortion.

On the other hand, the Sigma 17mm-70mm seems to be well regarded - as does (in another category) the Tamron 90mm.

I am endlessly grateful to my Canadian chum, and looking forward to improving on what this beauty-bottler has already achieved.

XPT Early Morning Train

Where   :: Sydney Central
When    :: 7-40am, Sunday 24th August, 2008
Weapon :: Panasonic TZ3

I took a very special person to Sydney Central early on Sunday morning to catch the Daylight XPT {eXpress Passenger Train}  to Wagga Wagga, where she is attending Charles Sturt University.  This is about a 6 hour journey, and the train continues on to Melbourne another 500 kilometres or so.  There are two of these trains a day, a day and a night train, in both directions.

This train set is headed by Locomotive 2009, City of Canberra.

The XPT power car features a Paxman VP185 12-cylinder, turbo-charged
diesel electric engine boasting 1492 kW or 2000 horsepower. There's a
power car at each end of the train, one pulling and the other pushing.  The train includes 2 first class carriages, a cafeteria car and a sleeper and I think 6 economy cars.

Not quite the romance of the steam age, but fun anyway - as long as you don't have to do it very often and you don't have scallies in the carriage and as long as nobody sits next to you.

A Touch of the East

Where   :: Terrey Hills, Sydney

When    :: 10-32am, Thursday, 21st August, 2008

Weapon :: Sony P72

There's a great pot emporium in the North of Sydney at Terrey Hills.

I have featured before the huge range of pots from Mongolia, Java, Sumatra, Lombok and New Guinea - but here is a shot of the little shop, that sells all sorts of Eastern nick nacks.

I was overwhelmed by the feast of colour, so just shot it as I saw it with my old Sony P72.

Cannibal !

Where   : Wahroonga, NSW
When    : Noon, 17th August, 2008
Weapon : Panasonic Lumix TZ3

This wally has been burning his rafters in his own fireplace and selling his tiles for years.  I am surprised his house is still standing.

Night Time in the Northern Suburbs

Where    :: Hornsby, Sydney
When      :: 6-07pm Friday, 15th August, 2008
Weapon :: Panasonic TZ3

For star gazers, you can just make out Venus, low in the west in Leo, moving with Mercury into Virgo.  That's Venus, just to the left of the water clock ... yes, I do mean that white speck.  That is Venus, visible even in these bright lights at dusk.

American Pie in the Sky

Where    :: Belrose, Sydney
When      :: 1-37pm, Thursday 14th August, 2008
Weapon :: Panasonic TZ3

Here it is - all glass, chrome, mirrors and electricity, no soul, no ambiance, no customers.

Don't you just love the modern shopping centre !

This one at Belrose in the leafy Northern Suburbs of Sydney (currently, the bankers' suicide belt), is showing the impact of the current credit tightening and collapse of world markets.

It is a crass shopping centre, which sort of reflects the straw dreams of the USA housing market, irresponsible greed and the stupid lending and borrowing greed of Americans.

Capitalism at its worst sort of works.

Great.

New Light Box with Pens

Where    ::  Turramurra
When      ::  10-55pm, Tuesday 12th August, 2008
Weapon ::  Panasonic TZ3

Just trying out my new light box here ... this time with a black background. 

The problem I see with this,  is the light shining on the black paper.  I thought black was supposed to absorb all light ?

So how do I get a pure black background - I guess I must close off all reflections and maybe ensure that the black finish on the card is a matt finish - and pure black.

No Fish Today

Where :: Hawksbury River, New South Wales
When :: 11-00am, Tuesday 12th August, 2008
Weapon :: Panasonic TZ3

Went fishin' today.  No good.  beautiful day up on the Hawksbury, but cold ... 15 degrees or so.

This is a view out the back of Max's boat, and you can just see the Hawksbury Railway Bridge in the background.

We were after flathead or bream on the sand flats, and we also tried around the F3 road bridge and also further upstream near the wreck of HMAS Parramatta.

For bait, we had squid, meat and parmesan - cat food, bread and sardines.  Three blokes, three rods, three nothings.

Why do we do this ?

Light Box with Chillis, Orange & Rosemary

Where   :: Turramurra, New South Wales
When    :: Saturday, 9th August, 2008
Weapon :: Panasonic TZ3

I have had a crack at building a light box.

This is the prototype - built from a cardboard box, some tracing paper and 5 miles of masking tape, illuminated only by a 40 watt desk lamp.  I put some scrolled, white drawing paper inside the box to take out the corners and box edges.

Not a bad result for a knocked-up job.  I am going to build a better mousetrap  now, with foam board and poster board paper inside.

This is a special jar of chilli, orange and rosemary infused vinegar. I think it is more decoratice than delicious.

Dressing Up

Where :: Wahroonga, New South Wales
When :: Monday 4th August, 2008
Weapon :: Panasonic TZ3

The high street is changing. What ever happened to the food shops, hardware store, butcher and shoe maker ? The place is full aromatherapists, video rental shops, podiatrists, real estate agents, fast chicken cafes, smiley dentists and ... and now party shops !

Mind you, this one looks like serious fun.