rotheche

Gasolier, originally uploaded by rotheche.

BRIT - Bendigo Regional Institute of TAFE (hey, an acronym within an acronym) - was the venue for the launch of Painted Words 2009 the other night. Painted Words (and I have no idea who came up with the title) is the anthology put together by Professional Writing & Editing students at BRIT each year.

So I was at the launch, being one of said students.

The launch was actually in the BRIT restaurant, since BRIT also teaches commercial cookery.

One of the features I love about the restaurant is the ceiling. It's quite complex and decorative and features this gasolier that hang down. A gasolier is like a chandelier, but for gas lighting.

It's rather ornate, so I decided to have some fun with the Lensbaby, single glass optic and then some more fun in Photoshop.

The inch-high forest, originally uploaded by rotheche.

This is another one from the walk through the fernery at Rosalind Park the other day. Lichen is endlessly fascinating: it's so tiny and has details only revealed in photography.

There's another lichen photo in the series as well.

Unfurl, originally uploaded by rotheche.

I was thinking of doing a kind of 'secret life of plants' thing, and then I realised that I already do that - the closeups and such of different plants.

I went for a wander in Rosalind Park today, in Bendigo, and ended up in the fernery. It's an interesting place: cool and dark and moist. The middle one makes lighting interesting. Although it was still broad daylight when I took this, I had to use the flash (I had it set to manual, about 1/32 of full power). Because I wasn't far away from the plant, the flash lit it up (but not harshly, because of the low level): because the background was a little way away, the flash didn't light it at all, except for the little bit around the stem. Result: a neat black background to isolate the plant and show off all the detail.

I got some other plant photos while I was there - I'll post a few of them over the next few days, some of them turned out better than I expected.

(This one's details: Nikon D60, 18-55mm lens. For full EXIF information, see the photo on Flickr.)

Pelican, originally uploaded by rotheche.

An old image posted today.

I was in Newcastle about this time last year, doing some training for one of our operations there. I had a couple of days in town, which was good, and a hotel room right on the beach, which was better. Each afternoon I could go out and do some photography, if I wanted (November is coming into summer in Australia - long days, daylight saving, so plenty of light even at the end of the day).

I was really happy with the way this came out given that it was a 'grab on the fly' (no pun intended) thing - I only just noticed the pelican and he was heading away at a fair old clip, so I only had time for one or two quick shots.

Pink flowers, originally uploaded by rotheche.

Going back, this is the first photo I posted to my Flickr account. It wasn't intended to be a great shot - just a test of the new camera I'd just bought, a Pentax Optio 60. First digital camera I owned, though at that stage I was using a Sony Mavica (3.5 inch floppy disc for storage media!) at work.

Then in June 2007, I bought my next camera, a Canon S3 IS. It was more or less an impulse purchase: I didn't do a lot of research on it, just more less trusted the Canon name.

The camera is still going strong, but my husband uses it now: he had a Kodak, but didn't like it much because it only has an LCD screen, not a viewfinder.

I liked the Canon very much: I took a great many photos with it, and it's the camera that really started me on the way to learning how to take photographs, not just happy snaps. It and I were very good friends.

Then in April 2009, work handed me the first dSLR I've ever used, a Nikon D40X, and I fell in love with it. Had the 18-55mm lens and a 55-200mm, plus a speedlight. I don't think it was out of my hand for the next couple of weeks.

But alas, it was a brief fling: the camera had to go back to where it belonged, and the faithful, trusty Canon just wasn't the same any more.

So I bought my Nikon D60 earlier this year - August, only a few months ago, but it feels like I've had it forever. We get on very well together, my Nikon and I.

But it does feel like I've come a very long way in the last not-quite-three years...

Lily, originally uploaded by rotheche.

Remember this post? I said I was looking forward to the lilies blooming again so I could have another go at photographing them.

Well, now I have this Lensbaby lens, with the macro adaptors. The two together do encourage a certain bent towards the abstract, I find.

This isn't the only image - there are a bunch more on my Flickr stream.

• Lily 1
• Lily 2
• Lily 3
• Lily 4
• Lily 5

Look closely..., originally uploaded by rotheche.

This is another one I took at the Bendigo show on Friday afternoon (well, evening - but daylight saving has kicked in here, so it wasn't dusk yet, despite being around 7pm).

Technically speaking, it's not the best photo in the world, certainly: I took it while riding the ferris wheel, looking over towards one of the other rides, and I didn't really see what I'd photographed until I got back home and looked more closely at the passengers on the ride.

Nikon D60, 18-55mm lens.

Skyrider, originally uploaded by rotheche.

We went to the show (all right, 'the fair' for you furriners) last night. Naturally, I took the camera. I took three lenses (the 18-55mm, the 70-300mm and the Lensbaby with the single-glass optic), but only used the 18-55 and the Lensbaby.

There's a set of 15 shots on Flickr, some with the 18-55, and some with the Lensbaby. The Lensbaby really came into its own as the sun went down and the lights went on - gorgeous colours and distortions :)

Tree, originally uploaded by rotheche.

This one comes from the base walk, east of Mutitjulu waterhole. I loved the graceful twists and curves of the dead tree against the hard rock...

Rock art, Mutitjulu, originally uploaded by rotheche.

This is one of my favourite photos out of the trip to Uluru: there's rock art at various places around Uluru, and this one is near Mutitjulu waterhole.

The sunset shot, originally uploaded by rotheche.

We went to the Northern Territory - Alice Springs and Uluru, Kata Tjuta. It was amazing - I mean, really amazing.

We had a day at Uluru, a day at Kata Tjuta, a day exploring the cattle station where we were staying, and then time in Alice Springs. I'll post some more photos, but in the meantime, there are more at my Flickr account.

Dragon, originally uploaded by rotheche.

Experimenting with lighting and negative space.

Lily, originally uploaded by rotheche.

I'm looking back a little here: I took this some time back. I really hope for similar conditions one day when the lily's blooming out the back again, so I can try and take a similar photo, but do it better.

The bit that really interests me about it is the texture of the flower petal - it's actually rather papery or crepe-like, not the smooth surface you expect from a flower's petal. It'll be fun to try and get shallower depth of field.

Sticks, originally uploaded by rotheche.

I went to the football yesterday (for furriners, that's Australian Rules football) - the game between Golden Square and Kyneton, at Golden Square.

Kyneton got their asses handed to them, by the way: I took this down the Kyneton end, where the goal umpire was hardly ever bothered in that quarter.

It's not that I'm a football fan - I really don't care - but it was a chance to take the camera out and try a kind of photography that I don't usually do. Generally I stick to scenery and animals and macro stuff; fast-moving action isn't one of my things, so it was a bit of a trip outside the comfort zone. Maybe I should try some other sports too...

There are a few more pics on my Flickr stream.

My new Nikon D60 kit photo, originally uploaded by rotheche.

This is one of the last photos I'll take with my old Canon S3 IS. It's given me solid service for a few years now, and a lot of joy (not to mention a hell of a lot of photos for my Flickr account!) but it's now been overtaken by this: my new Nikon D60 DSLR.

This is the new kit in (almost) its entirety: Nikon D60; 70-300mm lens; 18-55mm lens; Lensbaby Muse selective focus lens; lens hood. In the front, the case holds macro adaptors for the Lensbaby and the pouch holds the changer tool for the aperture inserts for the Lensbaby. Not pictured (because I didn't buy it until today, after I took this photo) is the camera bag, a Lowepro Nova 200 AW, very comfortable with a long strap that I can wear sash-like over my shoulder and have it resting on my hip so I can reach everything easily.

Vasudha, originally uploaded by rotheche.

I'm away from home at the moment, on a training trip. One of the things we teach is video shooting. In order to have a subject, we hire local actors or musicians, and Vasudha Harte was our local muso for the day. Brilliant piano player and composer: I enjoyed listening to her.

I took this photo while she was being interviewed by one of the students.

King penguins, originally uploaded by rotheche.

Someone else liked this: http://bit.ly/AHqrG

Shadows on the wall, originally uploaded by rotheche.

More of an experiment than a photograph...