Category: Subject Matter

A not so “Elegant” Gypsy…

This little lady was bolting along like her tail (if she had one) was on fire! Never stopped for a second on her mission! I wouldn’t have noticed her except she bumped on the study window a couple of times in her trek about the back of the house. Then she continued on around the patio and I opened the gate for her so she could get out the front rather than have the furbags pester her too much. They were more curious than anything else. Tigga’s seen several now, but for Chemoux this is her first.

I did have to stop and slow a few cars for her while she was trundling along under some cars parked on the side of the road. I usually see two or three of these in a year. This one is probably quite young as she’s the smallest I’ve had wander through in the last six years. Unfortunately the dull day, and her constant movement made shooting difficult and I didn’t want to use flash as her eyesight isn’t great at anytime. These little critters use their nose more than anything. So these are pretty ordinary shots, most of which I deleted, but many people don’t get to see these too often these days so best of a bad bunch.


Autumn is Indeed Here…

Wild and erratic temperatures, and from calm to gust in minutes. “Old Man” Winter is not far away, but there are “strands” of time standing still.


Free and Easy Down the Road…

A trip to Woodend and back with just the idea of a relaxing drive and shoot anything that happened to interest was the only goal Stefan & I had while having a day of chilling out on the road and chatting. A slip into Trentham Falls was wonderful however I gather from some others that it normally has more water running down it. Yet another sign that we’re still not far out of drought if at all! An amusing moment was watching another visitor to the area taking her Furbag for a walk on a lead and watching it play with the water. Unfortunately I couldn’t get quite enough light in to get a good shot of them.


Claws of Death…

Chemoux is proving herself just as photogenic as Tigga. She’s also proving every bit the huntress just the same as her “Aunt”. Chemoux still lacks the patience of the “seasoned” hunter, but she’s no less deadly!


A Moment that Needs No Words…

I have nothing to add that this photo doesn’t say without me.


There’s Days You Do and Days You Don’t…

A day of returning to previously scoped sites and scoping and new sites. Some of Sunday, and some of Monday was spent following up previous leads, and generating new ones. Not sure I managed to catch a definitive shot on either day for the sites concerned, but getting back home and reflecting on the shots has generated some new ideas for some future shots in both these locations and potentially future locations, by virtue of any similarities. So a learning lesson. And as long as I walk away with that, I’ve walked away with something, and the shot will come later at a future instant!

I’ll need to go back to Dean for another couple of shots, now that I’ve been provided some interesting information about one of the tumbled down buildings there. I’d hoped to get some interesting wildlife shots from the Gong Gong reservoir, but clearly it’s too dry there for what I was looking for, and perhaps just a bit late in the day for the birds, and other retiring wildlife.


Real Glass at Last…

Well I know I will pull better with this as I go, but I will definitely say I’m happy with the Glass. My Nikkor AF Micro 200mm F4D IF-ED arrived yesterday. It’s going to prove magnificent with more practise. The focus is wonderful and sensitive, feels responsive and solid. A pity I was lacking subjects today, light a bit on the poor side while I was trying to get used to it.

Still I was lucky enough to see some native bees, Nomia I think, out the front yard for something different. Challenging shoot though because the little fellows were continually moving. I had to open the aperture enough to be able to get a high enough shutter to freeze the action, and balance precariously on the tripod to be close enough to make it worth the shot!


Think of all that Pie…

Although it’s still Summer, you could be forgiven for thinking that it’s some sort of “neither here nor there” cross between Summer & Autumn. At least this wheelbarrow of Apples doing what Apples do when left to their own devices makes me think in that way. Seems we are getting the “budget” Summer this year.


The Cat Made Me Do It…

Well if yesterday was spoiling myself, today is definitely spoiling myself with double spoil! I just bought a AF Nikkor Micro 200mm F4 IF-ED! This definitely means I won’t be buying another Macro lens in the foreseeable future.

I have nothing else to say except “the Cat made me do it”.


Spoiling Myself…

Well the new Nikon D810 arrived last week, but I’ve not had a chance to try it until yesterday. Not a particularly spectacular demonstration of it’s capabilities, as I was just getting used to the way it shoots.

These little fellows were curious, fast and exasperating to try and shoot handheld given the combined weight of the Tamron 150 – 600mm & the Nikon D810’s weight. Still I started to get used to the slightly relocated controls, the most difficult for me yesterday being the change of location for the ISO. It now sits upon the left control dial as a button on the top rather than the back of the camera. Additionally the exposure lock has and AF-on button quite close on the right, and I found myself seeking and hitting that rather than the exposure lock.

I was somewhat perturbed to find (not sure how I missed it in checking specifications pre-purchase) that the USB socket is ONLY a USB 3, there’s no Mini-USB 2 socket at all. This of course meant I was unable to use either my corded Remote Release, or it seems does it respond to my small wireless one. Fortunately I was relieved to find that my 3rd Party “Uber” Hahnel Giga T Pro II 2.4Ghz Wireless Timer Remote Control for Nikon has as one of the supplied cables the 10 pin cable that will connect to the appropriate socket and allows me to use it. It’s more likely to get the use anyway for future use. It was certainly a boon at $110 a while ago. Pricing the Nikon options proved rather frightening with the contenders $250 or $750. Say no more!

So for the rest of the week I’ll try to familiarise my self more with getting the hang of these relocated functions and hope that soon I won’t be noticing as much.