Day 169: Feathers of a bird...

Day 169: ...do not necessarily stick together

Another stunning start to a Brisbane winter day today. There's often a marvellous dawn chorus, starting with the kookaburras with their tenor-like laughter and they are later joined by all sorts as the sun rises. Today the kookas and the loris managed to stay around for a while, just hanging out. 

I took the opportunity to do some interesting cropping to get a slightly different perspective on the loris...let's face it, dear reader, there have been almost as many lorikeets as moon shots on this blog... (oh, wait...).

The kooka offered a few typical poses too, and one we don't often see: the split second before it took off to the neighbour's trees...I believe a less pesky variety of noisy miner resides there (and the loris do prefer the birdseed ...).

Hire wire act

Lift off...

Feathers 1

Feathers 2

Second state of origin match tonight...that generally only matters to followers of rugby league. When it comes to "football" here, we usually stick to our code. 

[Camera : Canon EOS 60D, 300mm, 9.07am. 9.10am, 9.39am, 9.40am; cropped]

Oh, and my song request was played on the radio this morning, courtesy of Shelley Lloyd, taker of fine bird and moon photos. Very much 'In the Mood' for working today. Thanks Shelley!

Day 168: After the stars...

Day 168: ...a little more down to earth

And having declared yesterday that there would be no more moon pics (for a while), and notwithstanding the perfectly blue sky morning with moon...I resisted. Well, not quite, I did take one with the fruit phone, just because it was there. 

But actually, today was back to manuscript mill...writing, editing, seeking publishers...all the usual. I've also spent much of the day targeting some key passages in the Watanabe report, and learning lots of new/old kanji (Japanese characters) from the 19th century...helpful, yes? Definitely interesting. I suppose I'm just a little bit fascinated by the writings about Australia by Japanese leaders that they probably never expected to be read by an Australian. Some candid moments ahead. Teehee.

Today was a beautiful Brisbane winter's day. Blue sky and sunshine and stillness. At various times during the day today, it was the light that caught my eye (again) in its various manifestations. As much as I loved the sunlight on the flora, it was the web that caught my eye...a modernist example of arachnid abodes perhaps?

Leaf : light

Bougainvillea : blue sky

Grevillea : pollen

Modernist : webitecture

After a week looking skywards, it was a perspective I didn't mind, a chance to find my feet and press on, for there is work to be done. 

[Camera : iPhone 4S, 8.35am, leaf; Canon EOS 60D, lenses various, 12.03pm, 12.44pm, 2.12pm]

Day 167: See you on the dark side...

Day 167: ...well, not quite

Do we blame Pink Floyd for coining the phrase the dark side of the moon? I have colleagues in the university sector who use the phrase liberally when academic becomes practitioner, journalist moves to public relations and vice-versa...depending on which side of the moon you are standing on I suppose. 

I've straddled both sides of the academic divide over time. I like to think it gives a particular 'edge' to teaching the theory, to be able to offer an anecdote to tease out a textbook example. From time to time too, I guess I've fallen in a bit of a crater when one side or the other has a bit of a problem placing me in the preferred pigeonhole. Such is life.

But back to our moon. I was reviewing this blog last night and thought I ought to apologise to you, dear reader, for the inundation of moon pics. A bit indulgent really since I should be doing more than simply experimenting, learning and boring you with the details. I decided no more moon pics (this phase) after I took some more last night...

Up and over the ridge....

Light, shadow...the dark side

 ...Until I saw the moon this morning, 13 hours after taking shots of it rising. A fine cloud cover, the sun just rising up over the ridge and so a slightly different play of shadow and light...

Thirteen hours later...

And a light cloud cover.

Perhaps, if we look closely, the moon is allowing us to see a hint of its dark side...

[Camera : Canon EOS 60D, 300mm, 8.15pm (15/6) and 7.10am (today); cropping]

Rumours of my dash up to the top of Mt Gravatt to try and capture the moon setting at 8.59am are greatly exaggerated.

Day 166: Capturing sunlight...

Day 166: ...Sunday's sunny sunbeams

It turned out to be a magnificent Brisbane winter's day. It wasn't supposed to be quite like that. We were expecting clouds and showers in parts, cold doona weather for much of the day. (OK, it is relative, for us 10 degrees is a cool start.)

When I sit out on the back verandah early in the morning, the sun works its magic through the trees, the leaves, the bougainvillea. You will know that dear reader, I have posted examples of those sunbeams previously. While I was joyfully taking the sun on the bougainvilleas...

Sunbeams 1

 ...my favourite loris dropped by on their perch as well. I was struck by the sunlight as it bounced off their feathers.

Sunbeams 2

Sunbeams 3

What a perfectly good excuse to capture some little Sunday sunny sunbeams. (Sufficient overuse of theme there do you agree?)

Off I went then to spend the day with my mum down the coast. A rather lovely winter's day.

[Camera : Canon EOS 60D, 300mm, 8.04am, 8.40pm, 8.41pm; all cropped]

Day 165: The day in colour...

 Day 165: ...or black and white

The camera doesn't lie, after all. Or does it? All the modern camera technology and relevant software can enable us to do amazing things with our photos...should we choose to do so. I use some functions from time to time to enhance or dim brightness, contrast etc. And of course I use the crop function, so that is a little manipulation of the original, technically. Some examples of late too, show just how a change in shutter speed or f stop can change what the eye sees.

I'm something of a minimalist when it comes to such things however. I'm not a huge fan of the digital manipulation which results in something other than a photo (sometimes called art...sometimes something else). Manipulating the images is not a phenomenon of the digital age. When I learned some darkroom skills, way back, we were shown then how to change an image as well. 

So, I've never really understood the saying that the camera doesn't lie. Well, perhaps the camera doesn't but manipulation of an image has been around a long time. I suppose that's why I have a bit of a fascination with what can be achieved by just pressing the shutter button...

I could put this on an enlarged textured canvas, tell you it's a painting I did by blowing some ink through a straw, an abstract...

Ink on canvas (not really)

But, I'd be lying. It's technically a poor photo, but it is a photo, late in the afternoon in poor light. A weed that is where it shouldn't be. 

And this one, of the Concert Hall, where I was waiting for a concert to begin, taken on the fruit phone, in fact enhances the mauve all by itself, I love the effect; but I haven't done anything to it at all, and yet, to the naked eye, the hall wasn't this hue at all. (I also happen to think I have the best seat in the house.)

Purple hall

But I can't be right, the camera never lies, does it...

[Camera : Canon EOS 60D, 300mm, 4.59pm; iPhone 4S, 7.52pm]

Day 164: Stormchasers beware...

Day 164: ...the Lunar-tic isn't far behind

Friday 13th, full moon rising...all the luck or lunar-cy, whichever way you care to see it. A few posts ago I introduced the sunrise tweeptser gang, up early to catch the beautiful sunrises we see here in Brisbane. Well, there's another group: the moonwatchers whose aim is to capture the best moon shot possible. If you drew a Venn diagram of the sunrisers and the moonwatchers, you'd find Shelley Lloyd (@shelleymlloyd) and me in that intersecting bit. 

Last night, Shelley captured the best pic of the moon, she won the interwebs. Today, with the promise of a full moon (at 2.12pm) rising at 5.16pm, the challenge was set to capture that moon rising up over the Manly waterfront (me) and from Mt Coot-tha (Shelley). 

There were clouds and showers early this morning, the sky cleared during the day but by the afternoon, the clouds had resettled on the horizon. Never mind, this is largely an exercise in learnings, especially when it comes to the moon pics, and besides, I like the Manly waterfront so I don't really need an excuse. Last time I was down this way was a couple of months ago to capture the (not so) 'supermoon'.

So, what happened? Well, I learned I prefer to shoot the moon in blue sky mode rather than the dark; there must be a trick to those marvellous shots one sees of a clear focussed moon reflecting over the water...you can have one or the other in one shot, not both, not with the dial switched to 'M'... Well, to be fair, I'm sure some people can, I can't, just yet.

Anyway, here's a few: the waiting and the 'event', well almost. I can see I'll need to learn to photoshop next...

Sunset colours on Moreton Bay (ISO 100, 1/125, f4.0, 5.06pm)

Port of Brisbane (ISO 125, 2secs, f5.6, 5.37pm)

Looking back to Manly (ISO 125, 13secs, f5.6, 5.39pm)

Here it comes (ISO 125, 5secs, f4.0, 5.44pm)

Moonlight reflection (ISO 125, 1.3secs, f5.6, 5.57pm)

Moon / no reflection (ISO 125, 1/250, f5.6, 6.11pm)

Reflection / no moon (ISO 125, 1sec, f5.6, 6.15pm)

It's those last two you have to imagine together. Oh, I also took along the b & w film camera, but we'll have to wait for that...

[Camera : Canon EOS 60D, 75-300mm lens, 5.06pm to 6.15pm]

Day 163: One doesn't have to go far...

Day 163: ...to find surprises in store

Deeply immersed in one person's record of Queensland (and Australia) in 1893 today (with a little time off to finish Janette Turner Hospital's latest...) I took another walk around the backyard when I needed a break. 

Pleasantly surprised...

Actually, I went in search of a lorikeet nest, or whatever it is lorikeets do in terms of shelter. They've been quite, shall we say, noisy of late, tucked away under the cover of the branches...not their usual habit. 

I was actually quite surprised to find the orchid behind a large gum tree that still stands out the back (yes, usually where the tree snake disappears to...). The backyard can still offer some surprises and an opportunity to look at the tree up close. I never cease to be amazed by the beauty of the tree. 

Solid

Oh, and just because, the moon rose again at a photographically interesting time. It's not as if a full moon comes around that often...

One more, 'til next time

Oh, wait...

[Cameras : iPhone 4S, 1.01pm, 1.03pm; 
Canon EOS 60D, 300mm, 5.10pm, 1/125, f 5.6, ISO 100]