Charlie's WorldSleeeeeep
Posted on March 17, 2011
I was talking to Charlene about sleep, more specifically the narcoleptic napping kind.
I’m good at it.
A seasoned pro in fact. Especially on a train.
I used to work in London and always managed fall asleep on the one hour train journey home. Mostly, I’d set an alarm so I would be woken up before my stop, which, being towards the end of the line (for most of the trains I caught) meant the train was almost deserted by that point.
I only missed my stop once at the end of a regular day, which meant a wasted 20 mins or so turning around on the next train back – a small price to pay for being an idiot.
The trouble came at the end of an irregular day.
Once that involved a little imbibing.
Those kinds of sleeps were somewhat more instant and lasted longer.
Once, I found myself at a place called Mitcheldever (you can google it – its miles from anywhere, 3 stops from my station) on the last train of the night. There’s no phone signal there, I had no change for a phone and there’s about 3 houses and thats it for about 10 miles in each direction.
Luckily, a freight train pulled in on the other platform waiting for a signal, so I shot over and begged the driver to get me back to civilisation, which he duly did. I had to catch a cab back to my stop, but hey, at least I was home.
Then I stuffed up badly. I overshot my stop by one, ending up in the next town (where I previously caught the taxi from) on the last train. And there were no taxis anywhere. I phoned lots of cab companies, but it was way past midnight. Bugger. I would have called my (now ex) wife, but my daughter would have been sleeping too and that would have meant getting them up to get me – not clever.
So I thought I’d walk.
9 miles.
In the pitch black.
In a suit and posh shoes.
Along unlit roads with no footpaths.
I stopped a few times before that to try to hitch a lift, but it was way dark and nobody was stopping. Funny that.
So I walked back.
Took me hours and by the time I was back to the station my feet were killing me. In fact, the skin on the balls of my feet had rubbed off and my shoes were full of blood. Bugger. I rolled in in the middle of the night, stone cold sober, knackered, bleeding and exhausted.
Now I’m a little more careful with trains, but recently, in my new job, working hard, learning, using my brain every day, the journey is a little tiring.
And every day, I’m falling asleep again.
Its only a matter of time before I find myself at the end of the line in Mandurah, 2 stops and 15 minutes past where I need to be. I just hope it’s not on the last train when that happens – its a looong walk from Mandurah to where I live!!
films
Posted on March 13, 2011
I finally got around to developing some film – its been sat in my cameras for ages, a few from the Trip 35 and three from the Hassleblad.
I’m going to try to take a few more photos this week as I’m up in the city every day – I just need to take an hour after work to point and shoot at a few people 🙂
My pet project is to use up all the films I’ve bought before the end of the year – that means shooting at least a roll every week or two. Perhaps I can get around to my project theme too, but it does require asking strangers to pose (not rude) for me.
Anyway, without further ado, here’s the first of the shots from the Olympus Trip 35
stormy weather
Posted on January 30, 2011
We’ve been on cyclone watch for the last few days as tropical cyclone Bianca has been making its way down the Indian Ocean from the tropics and is forecast to swing inland right over Perth today.
Well I think its petered out and although the wind is increasing and the sky is looking very dark all of a sudden, apparently its not scheduled to be the roof lifting monster that was once feared. In fact, you can hardly see it on the weather radar.
Good! Being next to the ocean like we are here, we often get storms in the winter and just occasionally in the summer too and we’re well used to be battered by some pretty strong winds, but I don’t want to go through that kind of thing if I don’t have to!
Anyway, yesterday, out of the blue, we had thunderstorms arrive and they left a trail of destruction across the state – north and east of us got pummelled by this thing – causing damage everywhere.
It kind of missed us, we got some rain, lots of rumbling thunder, amazing skies and that was pretty much it.
Well, being the photo happy snapper I am, I had to get a shot 🙂 Cool, huh?
Later in the day I thought we were going to get the most amazing sunset – the clouds were just too thick though, but the skies were still very interesting, even if they didn’t glow and shine like I expected.
One minute it’s too hot, the next, nature decides you need a storm, the next its 38C again and then that very afternoon, a cyclone rolls over. Australia, never a dull moment.
Lull
Posted on December 29, 2010
Well, dear readers, I trust you all had a wonderful Christmas 🙂
Its that little lull in the proceedings, that odd time of the year now between Christmas and New Year when nothing much happens. Some people are at work, a lot of shops are shut on the Public Holidays that are in lieu of the Christmas weekend, but most people are kinda just mooching about waiting for their New Year parties!
I had a good day yesterday – I dropped little ‘un off to a friends house for a play date then headed down, yes, you guessed it, to Safety Bay. Well, it was blowing about force 5 against a crystal blue sky and 31C – how could I not! (and it’s the same again today)
As I drove up along the road, I could see the sky was full of kites – a very good sign that some decent riders would be there too.
And I wasn’t disappointed. A lot of the pros that are here for the summer season have teaching jobs with the local kite surfing school, so they’re all set, but generally they’re busy until the end of the day, but there were still plenty of really good guys there, including Aaron Martin, who I’ve met before and was kind enough to pull some moves again, Ian Curry-Lindahl, a young kite surfer from Belgium over on a 2 week holiday and also local rider Justin Brown
I stood in the water for 2 hours with the wide angle lens, got soaked and got some incredible shots that have taken the best part of a day to whittle down to a handful of the best pictures. So, here, for your viewing pleasure…kite surfing photo heaven!
First up – Aaron Martin
This guy is really up for some risky stunts – coming up close in relatively shallow water and taking off right over my head – pulling some crazy moves in the process. Even going as far to crack his head on the sand in only knee deep water. Big respect – got some fantastic photos, but man, you’re nuts!
Next – Ian Curry-Lindahl.
He’s such a nice guy, soft Belgian accent, big smile. He has also competed a few times on the PKRA pro circuit, so he’s no slouch with the kite, that’s for sure. He has a totally different style to Aaron, using his smaller build to his advantage to do quick twists and turns in the air, never going for the huge air, but rather focussing on the technical difficulty of the tricks. He was very good to watch, putting in a lot of energy into every move.
Lastly, one of the Safety Bay locals – Justin Brown.
This guy was funny, his sense of humour comes through in the faces he was pulling and the crazy tricks he was doing. He’s obviously been kitesurfing for a long time and he’s currently looking for sponsorship – he deserves it too – he was very entertaining to watch and clearly has a good time out on the water and in the air (he pulled one of the biggest jumps I have ever seen)
I have so many other shots from this session, but it’s so hard to choose my favourites!
Santa has been!!
Posted on December 25, 2010
Yes, I know, its early for most of the world, that’s one of the advantages of living this far east is we get things like Christmas and New Year before everyone else!
Just for reference, Perth is: (if my maths is correct)
5 hours behind New Zealand
3 hours behind Sydney
same time as Kuala Lumpur and Singapore
2 hours ahead of New Delhi
5 hours ahead of Moscow
7 hours ahead of Paris
8 hours ahead of London
13 hours ahead of New York
16 hours ahead of Los Angeles
soooo, we have quite a jump on a good chunk of the world.
We’re having a great Christmas so far – lots of super presents and chocolate and happy families and all that. I get to speak to my kids in England in about 6 or 7 hours – I can’t wait to see their little faces! This time last year, they were here with us in Australia and opening their presents in the lounge with their step sisters. This year has flown by – I can still remember flying out to pick them up as if it was last week.
Anyway – it’s 32 degrees here already, clear blues skies and hardly any wind – *phew* – time for a Christmas day dip in the Indian Ocean then I think 😉
So, wherever you are on this little planet of ours, I hope you all have a great Christmas Day with your friends and families, be kind to everyone you meet today – life’s too short for being crabby – this is a special day!
and there was more..
Posted on November 29, 2010
More Kitesurfing action from Safety Bay, Rockingham.
Standing in the middle of the lagoon might be good for photos, but is also way too good for toe nipping crabs!
Tuesdays on the beach
Posted on November 3, 2010
As luck would have it, I have to run big’un around on a Tuesday, so it means I get almost an hour of photography in before I have to collect her again.
At the moment, that hour happens to be the golden hour just before sunset, which is awesome for photos.
Last week, I took the old jetty shots and was pretty happy, so I gave that location a miss this time and went further on up the beach in search of some boats and things to get up close and personal to with the wide angle lens.
Mangles Bay in Rockingham is where all the boats anchor and it’s really cool, underused and very quiet. The yacht club could do with some updating, but apart from that, its lovely.
However, this whole place is under threat from a massive marina development (please visit http://handsoffpointperon.com/) which is will destroy hundreds of hectares of previous ‘permanently preserved native bush’ (yeah – that status was overturned – amazing what happens for a quick buck) and replace it with millionaires canal side houses, apartment blocks and an enormous marina. Nice.
Anyway, so before we lose this wonderful place forever (which, lets face it, once the money starts to flow, no amount of local objection is going to make any difference whatsoever), I thought I’d get some photos.
The light was amazing, clouds make such a difference to the sky and the feel of a shot, plus the circular polariser creates outstanding definition between white and blue.
Thats all for now – I’ll be back out later in the week or next week for another location, work and personal commitments being equal – so if you like the pretty pictures, check back soon.
In other news – its the middle of the week, which means – Red Wine Wednesday – stay tuned 🙂
busy, like a fox
Posted on October 19, 2010
A rolling stone gathers no moss, as the saying (proverb?) goes, and this week, I am certainly free of mosses, lichens and any rock growing greenery – I’ve been out with the camera again. I know, amazing, you’re all thinking – he never does that.. **rolls eyes**
Anyway, dear readers (of which I have around 100 a day at the moment, apparently – feel free to leave a comment if you like the purdy photos..) – I popped out to the jetty that I took these pictures at in March for a retake with my new wide angle lens.
There were a few people there already taking photos of a couple, the wife heavily pregnant, so I had to wait a few minutes for them to finish. I have to say, given that she was using the pop up flash on the camera and a kit lens, I don’t have that much faith that the photos will be any good.
/bitch.
As I set up, the Coogee women surf boat team were out practising.
In bikinis.
And I learned something new. Apparently, for grip (or something) they have to, how do I say this, splash their bottoms with water and hoik up their bikini bottoms and give themselves a wedgie, exposing their bum cheeks before sitting down. Classy.
And I’m stood on the jetty with the camera, waiting for it to finish a 4 minute exposure, with nothing to do but loiter and pretend I’m not a pervert.. Awkward.
So, the photos. Hope you like them.
Looking along Palm Beach to Mangles Bay
Jetty with the 10 stop (almost completely black) filter on
Jetty a bit later with just the circular polariser on.
I made a few composition errors and the sky was a bit bland – next time I’m going to go back on a windy as well day with clouds to try to capture the motion in the sky more.
And now, its late and its bedtime in this little corner of the world.
Catchya.
more new lens pictures
Posted on October 16, 2010
In celebration of ultra wide angle goodness, I’ve taken a load more photos 🙂
I love this lens – its less good with buildings as you get that crazy leany walls things going on, but its awesome with landscapes and settings where it doesn’t mess with architecture too much.
New stuff!!
Posted on October 14, 2010
So, in the background whilst I’ve been posting all the holiday photos and stories, life has been carrying on as normal!
I’ve missed a Red Wine Wednesday (but I have the wine photo and blog post ready for next Wednesday, so stay tuned, vino-fans) and loads of other fun stuff has happened (but I’ve forgotten already), but the main and most exciting thing is
I have a new toy!
I know, it should have taken precedent over everything else, my bad, what kind of techno photo geek am I?! LOL.
So, Jon, one of my friends on Flickr was selling a lens he didn’t need any more as he’s much more into film photography these days, so I bought it from him.
Its a Sigma 10-20 wide angle lens, which is brilliant for landscapes and crazy angle photos – I’ve been hankering after one of these for ages and now, its mine! Thanks Jon, you’re a superstar.
Sigma 10-20 lens
So, you may be thinking, what’s the big deal. Well, its super wide angle – take a horizontal photo whilst standing up and you’ll get your feet in the shot. So for landscapes, it means you can get a whole load more in than ever before.
So, here’s some shots for you 🙂
Firstly, my ‘work from home position’ – ok, normally, I’ve got the coffee cup in my hand too 😉
The study taken from the door – you can see the whole room – plus the red wall where all the black and white photos are going to go, once I print them out!
Looking straight up in my back garden – I have lots of lovely shady trees!
Palm trees in my garden, looking straight up from the ground
Tia the doggy. She really did not want me to take this shot! Mind you, as the lens is so wide, this glass was only about 3 inches from her nose when I took this!
Rockingham beach. I popped down there the other night at sunset – shame there were no clouds.
Sitting in the dark inside my car.
I can see myself getting lots of use out of this lens, including stupid self portraits with crazy perspectives. I’ve already done a few and yes, I look like a prize winning dickhead!
Charlie's World 