Charlie's Worlddammit
Posted on October 1, 2009
Still havent managed to finish a film in the Trip 35. I must go out and take more photos with it or I’ll never see what it can do!!
Usage wise – it was a star at Araluen and in Perth when I took it out. Simple, focus and click. And its so light. I think I’ll get some Ilford black and white and take it everywhere.
Still hankering after a Diana Mini 35 though – 1/2 frame 35mm lomo.. *sigh*
If only my car (see the beast below) hadn’t just cost $900 to service. Can I get it serviced cheaper and still maintain the warranty, thats the $million question.
kia sorento
2 weeks with the mac
Posted on October 1, 2009
well, its been a few weeks with the MacBook Pro now, so I thought I’d offer my thoughts!
Speed. I have the slower of the 2 MacBook Pro 15″ models, but its more than quick enough, even for serious photo editing. Lightroom and PhotoShop CS3 run fast and without any problems, as does Open Office. Actually, thats probably the most noticeable speed increase. Everything else tilts along just nicely.
OS X. The OS is ok, its fast, stable, does most things you want really. I find “Finder” – the equivalent of Windows Explorer – to be a bit limiting and frustrating, but I’m getting used to it and I suspect there are other free utilities that I can use to replace it in time. Its a pain with images – browsing is not as simple – Windows works better in that regard. Everything else though, the Mac is just fine. It goes to sleep when I want it to, wakes up with no fuss. Excellent.
Applications: It comes with most of the things you need really – have to download updated itunes which was a little disappointing, but no big deal. Downloaded Open Office, but could have bought IWork with the machine which I guess would have done pretty much the same thing. The only gotcha is playing video files. Windows was better at all the various codecs and players needed to play all the files I’ve collected over the years – the codecs are available for Mac, but I’ve only found pay ones so far.
Physical. Its very shiny and aluminiumy. The screen is excellent, but it does go very dim in low light with its ambient light sensor – has me peering at the screen sometimes. I got a glossy screen and its fine where I use it – not too many reflections and it displays images well and pretty much true to colour too. The single click track pad is a work of genius – gestures work really well, although I have a tendency to pinch, which enshrinkens the running application, mostly firefox – so the font goes teeny. I just need to adjust my technique. I particularly like the one, two, three finger gestures – they’re very intuitive. The only negative is the lack of USB ports (only 2) but there is an ESATA and Firewire port too, so its just a matter of getting peripherals that don’t rely on USB. Oh, and the keyboard is quite a long way back on the base in order to accommodate the large trackpad. Means my wrists get a bit sore from being bent up in piano playing stylee. The aluminium chassis is not comfortable to rest your arms on, so “normal” use isn’t really possible. I’ll get used to it though. They keyboard is lovely to use though, keys are nicely spaced and well weighted. And its really quiet.
Battery. Not 7 hours as claimed, but easily 5. Good. How well it lasts remains to be seen.
All in all – very pleased with it. Happy to have made the switch.
facing west
Posted on September 29, 2009
I love my home office -the window faces west, which is in the direction of the weather for the most part. Being close to the ocean – only a few hundred metres – we get storms coming rattling in fast, and from my study window I get to see the fronts rolling in.
Today we’ve been getting sunshine, then skies like this…
weather front
bore-dom
Posted on September 28, 2009
I think I wrote about this before.. The bore packed up working at the very end of last summer – suddenly the pump was only pumping air and the grass had a few weeks of cooking (from which is hasnt really recovered over the winter)
A few attempts at restarting the flow of water earlier in the year had no effect, but I finally got it working today.
You have to run water into the inspection valve in the pump body with a hose to refill the pump and, depending on the specific arrangement of valves and pipes, the bore shaft itself.
Then (advice from fellow photographer – Tristan – thanks!) run the pump in short bursts, refilling the pump and bore to allow the head of water to be drawn back up the bore and expelling the air. Eventually, after a good few bursts or water and pump runs, the water started gushing out of the pump inspection valve and the irrigation came on. yey!
Spent the next few hours digging up the pipework to try to work out where the pipes run in order to fix a couple of non working pop-ups. Not easy as this was all laid 15 years ago and is no buried 2 feet under tree roots and stuff. Have hard hands now – callouses and everything!
Was a good day though 🙂 back to work tomorrow – poo!
Fake Holga
Posted on September 28, 2009
Processed a few photos from Araluen – did them in a Holga style, as thats my current obsession 🙂
Wisteria
Flower
Cant wait to finish up the last few shots on the Holga and send them off – wonder what delights it’s captured this time
day out
Posted on September 26, 2009
Having been couped up for months due to illness, bad backs, non-stop rain and generally having other things to do, we decided to plan a proper day out.
Jay got lots of yummy food for a picnic on Friday, we programmed the GPS (thats a story for later on..) and this morning, headed off to Araluen Botanic Park http://www.araluenbotanicpark.com.au.
Its about an hours drive from where we are, so its doable within the bounds of whinging children getting fed up and Jay’s bad back starting to complain.
The GPS was more of a hindrance than a help – taking us down more than one wrong turning, including a dead end. Thanks a bunch, If there’s one thing I hate, its going the wrong way. Gah!  I find the GPS useful if I’m on my own in the car – if Jay’s there, she pretty much knows where we have to go anyway as she’s lived here for 20 years.
So, we arrived at 10ish and the place was deserted. It was still a little chilly but the flowers were all out and we had the place to ourselves really. Took the Holga, the Trip and the D300, so more than enough cameras really! Got some (I hope) nice pics with the Holga as the sun was bright enough for the Velvia 100 film. The Trip 35 was in its element, making simple snaps a pleasure. Only shot a few with the digital – I’ll upload any later if they’re any good.
Its amazing how many people had DSLR’s there – more than 1/2 the people there were toting some serious hardware and almost all of them standing back and taking shots on zoom or auto mode with the flash up. *sigh* how many of them will be going home and thinking they’re the best photographer since David Bailey (Trip 35 reference – he was advertising them in the 70’s – search for the video on youtube)
shooting with the Trip
Posted on September 25, 2009
I have the Trip 35 and the Holga with me today as promised and guess what – it was fookin’ cloudy again this morning. Not a problem for the Trip, but the Holga needs sun.
So, I popped out across the road for a coffee with one the guys I work with and took the Trip.
The good thing about Perth is the traffic lights take an age to change and all go in sequence – none of this filtering across traffic to turn right or anything – so its possible to sit in the middle of St Georges Terrace, the main road through the center of Perth and take photos down the middle of the road before the cars start moving again.
So I did. Squatted down and took some snaps looking down the barrel of cars waiting for green a light.
Then, to the horror of the security guards in the courtyard of QV1 – I *gasp* took some photos there too. The guards started closing in, calling on their walkie talkies. I mean, what a liberty, an open space and a camera. I must be a terrorist, dammit, I even have brown eyes and a beard.  Its almost certain that I’ll go away and develop the film in my secret lair, studying the picture for the slightest security weaknesses.
Too bad for them then that I just walked off before they could aprehend Perth’s answer to The Jackal.
100% unsuccess rate
Posted on September 24, 2009
Every time I’m at the office in Perth I take a good long look at the weather forecast to see if its worth lugging a camera in with me for a few shots at lunch or after work. I’m only shooting with the Holga at the moment and I really love Velvia 100 film, which means it really has to be bright sunshine for any shots.
So far, I’ve managed to bring it in only to see clouds and rain roll in, and leave it at home only to see, as today, the clouds break and the sun come out.
Arse!
I need to find some 400ISO colour 120 film I think. In the summer here it wont be a problem, its always bright sunshine, but in this damp attempt at spring where the weather forecast has been pretty much random compared to what is actually happening outside, Velvia 100 just isnt fast enough.
I’m in again tomorrow, and its looking like its going to be bright sun, I’m bringing the camera no matter what!
sunshine and friends
Posted on September 23, 2009
Its been miserable here lately, raining almost every day for the last 4 or 5 weeks.
Its not supposed to do that, I’m sure someone in immigration said when I first arrived here that the sun always shines. I mean, how am I supposed to “throw another shrimp on the barbie” if its under 3 feet of water? And as for “where the bloody hell are you?” well, I’m over here, under cover, sheltering from the pouring rain.
But today, we have sun. And its pretty warm too. Well, its not actually warmer than any other day really, it just feels it as the sun’s out.
I had a long chat on Skype to one of my friends that I used to work with at BEA/Oracle this afternoon (Hi Christie, if you’re reading this) – was really ace to catch up – its been more than I year since I last saw him – not sure if I’ve spoken to him since either – but it seems like yesterday since we were last nattering. Awesome. I do miss my old work crowd, there were a really good bunch of guys. So, here’s to you, ex-BEA friends!
I love Skype. Its the best damn invention ever and I still cant believe its free to make calls like this – I would have thought that skype would have started making small charges (and to be honest, I wouldnt mind paying either, its so useful) but actually very little apart from the quality has changed over the years. So yeah, chatting away – it seems to UK is still functioning without me, but I’m glad everyone I used to work with seems ok, a little battered by the recession, but basically ok.
So, back to the sunshine. What am I going to do with it?
Sit outside with a nice glass of red wine and relax, thats what 🙂
ttfn.
rules and regulations
Posted on September 21, 2009
We live in a world where nothing is free anymore.
I’ve known this for a while – it wasn’t like this in the early 90’s. I remember getting my first car, going to France on a day trip with some mates and drinking beer in a park in Calais. I remember when it was possible to speak about what you wanted and providing you weren’t offensive, you need not be worried that someone might misunderstand you and come over all politically correct on you.
Now we’re all shackled by the way that the world expects us to think.
There’s a church in the UK that has a hand wound clock in the tower. Its been wound by hand since 1760 or something, but the trouble is, its up an 8 foot ladder and Health and Safety has decided that its unsafe and forbids anyone from winding the clock anymore.  in 200+ years, noone has fallen off and hurt themselves. But no, risk must be eliminated from our society at all costs.
Its the same here in Oz. Its illegal to cycle without a helmet. Its probably more illegal to do this than commit an act of vandalism. Police are relentless in the pursuit of the middle classes doing something a tiny bit “naughty” Get caught with your hair out on a bike, it’ll cost you 6 points on your driving license and $1000 fine. Thats more than if you drove at 130kph through the middle of Perth.
Its illegal to do most things in Oz – its a very repressive and over regulated society. Have to be seen to be doing the right thing, regardless of whether or not its actually right.  In this Health and Safety world, everything has to be *someones* fault, so the powers that be, so spineless and afraid, limp and wanting to cover their own arses want to take away all the risk, just in case someone points a finger at them when something happens and says “Its *your* fault.
Can’t wait for the day when someone stands up to the powers that be and says
“Fuck off, I’m going to just climb the fucking ladder and wind the damn clock and then I’m cycling home without a helmet”
Charlie's World 