Another yachting disaster

Thursday, 31 October, 2007 @ 10:20 PM

I heard yesterday that an acquaintance, a retired Australian guy we met in Colon, Panama, just lost his boat on a reef in New Caledonia, and had to be rescued by helicopter. Terrible news, but heard down the grapevine, so I'm hoping that the reality is not so bad as it sounds at this point. I fervently hope that he is able to make an effective salvage.

Kite festival

Thursday, 31 October, 2007 @ 9:30 PM

Last Sunday a buddy and I jumped on the train with our bikes and headed out to Murarrie to take a look at the Brisbane Kite Festival. The wind was up and I found it fairly entertaining with some nice looking kites in the air; dramatically coloured foils, dragons, butterflies and giant squid, along with dozens of old-school delta and diamond-shaped kites. One particularly cool demo was a guy riding a low-slung tricycle powered by a large foil – kite-surfing for landlubbers I suppose. He got up some pretty good speed and it looked like great fun.

After a while I tired of kites and headed off in search of an unused railway line that is supposed to be in the vicinity. Didn't find the tracks, but instead ended up in a great little wetlands area wedged between the (active) Cleveland train line, a factory complex and the Bulimba Creek. It must have spanned ten acres, crisscrossed by small paths and tracks, and with plenty of birdlife in attendance including ducks, ibis, kingfishers, fairy wrens and even a couple of eagles soaring high overhead. Found some wild cherry tomatoes (yummy!) and also stirred up a large (flock? school? squadron?) of small black, white and yellow butterflies. Spotted plenty of monarchs as well. An easy and pleasant escape from the hussle-bussle of the city.

Invasion of the hive

Saturday, 27 October, 2007 @ 3:36 PM

Yesterday afternoon after a long and boring day in the office, someone noticed that there were a lot of insects flying around right outside the studio window. I ran down to the carpark to find a swarm of bees on the move, looking like they were about to make their home in a crack in the concrete retaining wall.

Luckily I had the camera with me, so I got in as close as possible and snapped off a series of pictures. They bees seemed quite preoccupied with their business, but started getting a little agitated by the flash, so I beat a hasty retreat before any of them decided I'd make a good target for their stinger.

This image, and the one from last weekend's Boondall ride have been added to my free desktop picture page. I've got almost 60 of my favourite shots on there now. Check it out and download some new photos to liven up your desktop!

A trip to Boondall

Monday, 22 October, 2007 @ 8:05 PM

This afternoon I grabbed the bike and jumped on the train out towards Boondall, home of the Boondall Wetlands Park, which is supposedly Brisbane's largest remaining wetlands area. There's a nicely paved path that follows just within the Southern boundary of the park for about 4km. It's an interesting looking swamp which would be fun to explore more thoroughly some time. Quite a bit of bird life around, but all pretty timid, so even with the 200mm lens it was tough to get good shots.

Once out of the wetlands, there are bike paths almost all the way back to my house, around 20km or so. They wind through some nice parts of Brisbane, past golf courses, streams and parks, and follow the course of a small waterway called the Kedron Brook for quite a distance. I really enjoy getting a different view of a city than is seen from the streets – a look behind the scenes if you like, away from all the shopfronts and advertising.

A lack of focus

Sunday, 21 October, 2007 @ 7:45 PM

Sorting through my photos from yesterday, and a couple I took today, I noticed that they are almost all badly out of focus. My first thought was that there is something wrong with my new lens, but after some trial and error testing I worked out that the Fotar CPL (polarising filter) seems to be causing the problem. Although the focus appears to quickly lock on to the subject, it becomes VERY inaccurate, basically ruining any picture focused within the hyperfocal distance. A quick search online shows that there does seem to be some precedent for this, but usually with much cheaper lenses and crappy polarisers. I'm hoping that this is the whole problem, as it would be a huge bummer if the lens was faulty...

Indy 300

Saturday, 20 October, 2007 @ 11:30 PM

Young Pete from work, star that he is, came over around 2 PM to give me a ride down to the Surfer's Paradise Indy 300.

No doubt there was some good racing going on, with both KARTs and V8 Supercars racing, but despite the steep entrance fee there were very few good viewpoints available around the track. The most popular option seemed to be to cluster around the large screens that were set up in the infield area, which seemed to me to defeat the purpose of going to the racing in person. Why not just watch it on the TV at home? I took a lot of photos, but by necessity all were shot through the steel mesh safety fence which made good clear pictures next to impossible to capture. Slightly disappointing.

The F-111 flyover was spectacular, and there was plenty of colour and atmosphere. Plenty of drunken idiots around too, but any excuse for a party I suppose. All-in-all an expensive exercise, for just mediocre entertainment value. I think I'll take a pass next year.

OK, this is getting ridiculous

Friday, 19 October, 2007 @ 11:45 PM

Today I went completely off the rails and bought yet another lens. And not just any lens! This is the fabled AF-S VR-Nikkor 70-200mm 1:2.8G ED, which is Nikon's best and most expensive piece of glass outside of their exclusive exotic teles. I was fortunate again to find a great second-hand deal, saving some $900 over a new example.

So why pick this lens, nominally replicating part of the focal range of my ultra-flexible 18-200? Well, my main dissatisfaction with that lens is softness. Sure, it covers an amazingly useful focal range and produces a decent image, but unfortunately I'm a bit of a perfectionist by nature (some would blame this on me being a Virgo) and have never been fully satisfied with the results. The 70-200 is simply faster and sharper. On the downside it is also bigger, heavier and more expensive. It's true when they say there is no such thing as a free lunch.

Ideally this new lens should be a champ at portraiture (at the short end) and short telephoto work. I'm told it works fantastically with the Nikon Teleconverters, extending its range to a 280mm f4 (with the 1.4TC) or a 400 f5.6 (with the 2.0). I haven't had a chance to test this baby out yet, but will be on the road this weekend with a vengeance. The Gold Coast Indy 300 is on, which would make a perfect excuse to snap off a few pics (not to mention practicing my panning skills).

I was also briefly tempted by a Sigma 600mm reflex lens but after reading a couple of uncomplimentary reviews of mirror lenses in general have decided to stick to refractors at this point. Perhaps if I head off travelling again then a mirror would make a nice portable long lens.

Aches and pains

Monday, 15 October, 2007 @ 8:05 PM

I'm in the throes of another nasty toothache, again in the same tooth I had patched up in Panama and then Galapagos. I'm not usually overly sensitive to pain, but this really hurts like a bastard!! I've managed to get an appointment with the local Wilston dentist on Wednesday morning, and in the meantime I'm back on those over-proof Panamanian Ibuprofens that were such a lifesaver in the middle of the Pacific.

Another foretaste of looming middle age is the persistent right-shoulder pains that have been bugging me for the past month or so. I have a feeling it's some form of RSI, as it seems to be aggravated by using a computer – something that's pretty hard to avoid these days and especially in my current career. I guess I'd better make an appointment with a physiotherapist, although various people have also suggested Chiropractic, Osteopathy and Acupuncture. I'm fairly open to these more "alternative" treatments, but will give the conventional approach a go first.

These pains are bothering me more than perhaps they should. Other than these two things I think that right now I'm about as fit and healthy as I've ever been. I'm getting plenty of exercise (cycling perhaps 70km/week), making the effort to eat reasonably well and avoiding too much of the hard partying. I'm more glad than ever that I've never been a smoker (which, if my workmates are a representative sample, seems to be making a bit of a comeback), but it seems that living the good life is no magic defence against the ravages of time.

Wide boy

Sunday, 14 October, 2007 @ 4:25 PM

I splashed out a bit today and bought another lens. This time it's a wide angle, a Sigma 10-20mm D 1:4-5.6 DC HSM, which is currently the widest zoom available for DX format cameras. I was fortunate to find a second-hand example, which turned out to be in excellent condition. This zoom range dovetails nicely with the 18-200, and will open up some really nice creative opportunities for landscapes, cityscapes, interiors, and those shots where I really want to put the viewer's nose right into the middle of the action.

Perhaps not quite as sexy as its pricey Nikkor nemesis, yet it seems a solidly build little lens, if a touch slow (aperture-wise) – and I'm looking forward to getting some good use out of it. Pictures coming soon!!

Bugging out

Saturday, 13 October, 2007 @ 8:00 PM

Giving my hiking boots a long-overdue dubbining this morning, I noticed that there seemed to be a lot of bugs and butterflies hanging around the garden, including one magnificent iridescent blue beauty. Unfortunately they weren't waiting around to have their pictures taken, so I wasn't able to get decent shots of any of them. Later on though, I was riding along a bike path near the motorway at Woolloongabba when I was dive-bombed by a fat, bright red beetle. After wobbling drunkenly in the air ahead of me for 20 feet or so it came in for landing on a nearby chain-link fence, so I jumped off the bike and snapped off a few pics. A macro lens, ring flash and sturdy tripod would have been the correct tools to use here, but in lieu of that I guess my zoom did an adequate job.

The critter seems to be a Harlequin Hibiscus bug – Tectocoris diophthalmus (also known as a Cotton Harlequin Bug). This webpage has some information on them (and also some much nicer photos than my own!)

Encounter with an old friend

Sunday, 7 October, 2007 @ 8:25 PM

Out on a ride with a friend today, I caught a trip downriver on a Brisbane CityCat. The last stop Eastward is at a place called Brett's Wharf, right across the river from the Brisbane Naval yards where, surprise surprise, the Arung Samudera née Adventure is still moored and still, by the look of things, awaiting a new rudder.

The poor old dear is looking very much the worse for wear, with rust stains running down her flanks and plenty of dings and blemishes on her steel plate railing. How much of this is due to the grounding and how much due to general lack of love I'm not sure. She's still has the beautiful, sleek looking hull topped with a rather awkward looking superstructure that I once knew so well. I wonder if any of the paint on the masts is still my handywork?

Rugby

Sunday, 7 October, 2007 @ 8:20 PM

Peh. What a silly game.

Worth a read

Sunday, 30 September, 2007 @ 6:45 PM

While Ken Rockwell may take some flak from the online photographic community, he tells it straight and writes things as he sees them. I don't agree with everything he says, but he does a great job of demystifying photography, and I find his website to be one of the more valuable photo-resources on the internet.

I just found a great article by Ken modestly entitled "How to Make Great Photographs", the gist of which is that the camera is the least important factor in creating a great image. Rather it's the passion and vision of the photographer, and the ability to really "see" what the lens is pointed at. Definitely worth a read.

It also includes a straightforward explanation of when and how to use the "Slow" and "Rear" flash sync modes, which was something I'd been struggling to get a grip on for a while.

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