The Impossible Dream

Not too long ago everybody wrote off the Parramatta Eels for this season. Inconsistent form, frustrating combinations, handling errors and a genuine lack of creativity from key playmakers turned what was supposed to be a promising season into a landslide.

Fast forward a month or two, the eels officially had no mathematical chance of making the finals. Nathan Hindmarsh once said on the footy show “we need to win 9 out of our next 8 to make the top 8”. The next night Parra played Melbourne in Hindy’s 250th career game for the eels, we won.

We also won the next 6 games, finishing off with a great game against the West Tigers. The city of Parramatta was buzzing, the papers couldn’t get enough of Jarryd Hayne, these 7 straight wins were a direct result of his brilliance. All of a sudden people were calling the Eels premiership contenders, they were talking about Hayne the way people talk about Kobe … “we know he’s going to get the ball, we can’t stop him, all we can do is try to limit his chances and make it harder for him”

The following week, Eels played the Dragons, who at the time were in a heated battle for 1st place alongside the Bulldogs. I remember saying “we’re going to beat the dragons, we’ve won 7 straight, they’ve lost 3 straight”. The scoreline … 37 – 0, Dragons win.

1st week of finals football, Parra played the Dragons (yes, again) 1st vs 8th, and after the 37-0 drubbing the previous week there were a lot of doubts over this game. In a remarkable display of hard-nosed defence and a bit of luck, Parra won the match by 15pts at Dragons home ground.

Parramatta fans flooded to Sydney Football Stadium the following friday to play the Gold Coast Titans in the quarter finals. The motto was to take it one game at a time, and the Titans were the 3rd seed with a great halfback-fullback combination in Scott Prince and Preston Campbell. But a spirited performance from the supporting cast such as Todd Lowry, Ben Smith and Jonathan Wright helped bring the Parramatta faithful to their feet.

Notable performances include:

- Nathan Hindmarsh (as always) : 49 tackles, 10 Hitups … and a fair few crucial tackles at that
- Jarryd Hayne (why is nobody surprised?) : 165 Run meters, 357 Kick meters, 17 Break tackles (17!)
- Fuifui Moimoi : Just because he’s FUUUUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"The confidence comes from just playing in tough matches week after week,”

"Realising we are good enough to withstand pressure and counter-punch.

That is what the confidence comes from."

With that being said, I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself. But we are all witnesses, friday made the history books, Eels had never beaten Titans before (EVER). Time to make history again, win the premiership from the 8th position and get some redemption from that 2001 season.

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Busy Days

Many of you will have noticed that I haven’t been writing anywhere near as often as I used to. There’s a very simple explanation for that … wait for it .. UNI. Between Organic Chemistry and Inorganic Chemistry and Analytical Chemistry and Physical Evidence, it’s hard to find time to write these days.


Lucky for me, I still find a small amount of time to get inspired and take the occasional photo. In fact as I’m writing this I’m watching the Wallabies vs Springboks rugby match (Steyn is a magician out there). The world champs are really flexing their muscles right now.

I won’t reveal too much, but there’s some exciting movement in the photographic plans at the moment which involves some possible new equipment along with some other stuff that could lead to more shoots and more work. On a side note, I’m writing & posting this using Windows Live Writer which is surprisingly intuitive and easy to use.

Oh and how rude of me … I introduce my brothers Chuck and Cam

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Another game, another milestone

On monday July 20th 2009 Nathan Hindmarsh played in his 250th career game.

Over his years as a Parramatta Eel, Hindmarsh has been the face of consistency. Every single week, no matter how bad the Eels are playing, you can count on him to have a stat line of 45 tackles and 15 hit ups ... easy. If an opposing player was on the fly to score a try, he'll be there. If an opponent is trying to barge over the defensive line and score from close range, he'll be the one lying underneath the ball to hold it up. There was nothing spectacular about the game he had against Melbourne, but guess what, he had 48 tackles and 13 hitups while inspiring his team to a hard fought victory. If every player on the team played with the same commitment that Hindmarsh does, Parra would be a much better team.

Did I also mention all 250 games were with the Eels? In this day and age where club loyalty isn't a big thing, that kind of milestone is just unheard of. I'll throw in some examples:

- Craig Wing signing with Japanese RL (wtf?)

- When Willie Mason, Mark O'Meley went to the roosters (cmon now .. )

- Tahu to union

- Brett Finch (enough said)

I'll just say that not too many of these deals went down too well in public opinion, except maybe for Tahu, only because he's such a cool guy.

Let's not forget Hindmarsh is only 30 years old, there's plenty more mileage left in those legs and I have no doubt that he will make it to 300 games AND end his career with the Eels. When it's all said and done, Hindy will go down as one of the greatest forwards, second rowers, Eel to ever play the game.

Yes, he still hold the record for most tackles in a single game: 75 tackles vs ... Melbourne Storm in 2007. What kind of monster finds the strength to make 75 tackles? He has got to be the most underrated player in the league right now, he's so good that people take him for granted. The last 2 years he's been snubbed from Origin for players like Laffranchi and Learoyd Lahrs (how many people even know him?), yet he continues to play like a man inspired night in night out.

Good on ya Hindy, the way you play the game is a testament to rugby league.

And another thing ... he blogs too

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Parra Eels vs Melbourne Storm (18-16)

In what was advertised as Parra legend Nathan Hindmarsh's 250th game for the Eels, this game quickly turned into a showdown between 2 of the best full backs in the league. Whenever one would pull off something brilliant, the other would answer back with a show of his own.

Jarryd Hayne continued his brilliant form sparked mid-season by State of Origin, and proved a handful for the Melbourne defense whenever he got the ball. On offense he continuously got involved in set plays and made half breaks to keep the Storm on their toes. On defense he ran down Billy Slater multiple times (which isn't easy) and saved a number of tries with his excellent positioning.

As always, Billy Slater looks dangerous every time he touches the ball and if it wasn't for some hard nosed Parra defense the score line would read a Melbourne victory. Slater played an important role, along with Greg Inglis (origin center) and Cooper Cronk to lead a late rush after being down by 10-0 at the half.

Don't worry I haven't forgotten that this was supposed to be Hindmarsh's game, I'll elaborate more on that in tomorrows post with some more photos from the game.

Both photos were taken with the EOS 50D and EF 70-200 f2.8L IS USM.

Settings: ISO 1600, 1/320, f/2.8

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New plug-in ... Color Efex

On a night where you're bored, there's really nothing to do but shoot.



The steps I used included:
- HDR merge 5 exposures using Photomatix Pro 3

- B&W conversion using Color Efex Pro 3 plug-in for Photoshop CS3

- Minor sharpening to finish it off

This is the first time I've used the Color Efex Pro plug-in, and its conversion of colour to B&W is way better than everything else I've used. Some people will simply desaturate a photo to make a greyscale image, more experienced users will use the built in channel mixer in Photoshop CS3 ... and they both work fine.

But why settle for the ordinary? In one step, I can now produce the same result as I used to when I needed to use 3 or 4 steps in photoshop.

So definitely check it out guys, Color Efex Pro

Oh by the way, this photo was done pretty late at night at ANZ stadium (in case you couldn't notice the big sign) ... and the rangers don't exactly like it. So if you want to get in there and do some shots, get what you need asap ... and if they show up, atleast you already have what you want. They'll just rave on about how the car is parked illegally and you're not supposed to be taking photos etc, ignore them and move along :)

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Cokin neutral density filters ... not so neutral?

There is a saying that every photographer lives by. No matter what they major in, whether it be sports, landscape, wildlife or even paparazzi ... they all say "if I can get one good photo out of this shoot, I'm happy". After all, it only takes one great photo to make people say wow.

Today's shoot was pretty much based on one subject, and I worked mainly on one angle. Not something I normally do, I normally like to explore my options when I arrive on site ... but today I went there with one photo in mind and I wasn't going to go home without it.

This photo is actually not as photoshopped as it may seem. It is a 5 photo HDR (all photos approx 30secs in shutter speed). After merging the 5 photos, it was simply minor colour and levels adjustments to different parts of the photo.

One thing I should say though, that blue/purplish tinge in the sky and water are straight out of the camera. When I do landscape photos, I almost always use a Cokin graduated ND8 filter. Whenever I use this filter along with a long exposure, this colour cast always crops up. Some photographers hate this cast, but I quite like it, especially during the twilight hours.

p.s. This shipwreck is at Homebush Bay, Sydney. Yep, bet you didn't know that did you?

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Insignificant

"Ideas are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands. But like the seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them you will reach your destiny"

Carl Shurz (1829-1906)

When looking up at the stars, we are in effect looking into the past. We see history unfold right before our eyes, we never see what they really are, just past representations of each of them. Their light takes so long to reach us that all we ever see of stars are their old photographs.

This image took 30secs for my camera to capture, at the end of those 30secs, and the next 2secs for me to press the replay button ... it is most likely that I took a photo of them from 8years ago.

Hypothetically, if I stood out on my balcony right now and an alien from another galaxy was to take a photo of me (right now), by the time his/her/its "camera" finishes capturing the image ... back here on earth years could have passed. Yet this would be happening in real time and parallel to each other. In effect I am coexisting at different stages in my life perceived from different locations throughout the universe.

Which brings me to this conclusion.

- If you stand in front of me, I will appear as I am (19yrs old)

- If you look at me through a telescope (a massive one) from mars, I would appear younger (lets say 16years old)

- If you look at me from pluto (through an even better telescope), I would appear to be 8.

- From the next closest star (proxima centauri), to you I would not have been born.

Some food for thought

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Who killed Black & White?

From the days of the Daguerreotype, calotype and even the tintype, a majority of the history of photography was captured in monochrome. The images were a black and white rendering of real life scenes and situations. Even when colour photography first came around, it made more sense to capture in black & white. Colour processing was very expensive, and the images were poor.

The quick expansion and improvements in colour photography made black and white processing a chore to find and develop. Less and less stores carry B&W film, less labs process in B&W, and colour was a breath of fresh air to a tired and worn out hobby.

Good news is ... black and white is back!

In a world where everything is saturated in colour and dominated by pixels, B&W gives off the illusion of "real", and to many ... it seems fresh (we love the retro stuff). The driving force behind this movement is that shooting in B&W allows the photographer to learn more about how highlights, shadows, lines, patterns, exposure all affect the final product. A lot of times, colour assists in hiding the imperfections of the final product e.g. a saturated photo can make a low contrast photo look acceptable. As a result, many photography students learn the basics of photography with B&W Ilford film and darkroom processing.

The image above was taken with my EOS 50D, but I decided I needed a different outlook to a tired and overblogged landscape. Initially it was a 5 photo HDR, but the post crop and monochrome afterwards made the difference.

NB: Need some new locations to shoot, let me know if you have any suggestions

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What ... it doesn't come with a card?!

As a salesperson at Camera House, I get a lot of camera enquiries. Most of the time, the conversation goes well, and the customers leave either with a brand new camera or freshly learnt info about photography and what's right for them.

The end of the conversation typically goes like this (other salesmen will feel my pain)

Me: Yep so this seems like it'll do what you need. Good sized screen, Li-ion battery, 10x zoom.

Customer: Sounds great

Me: mmmhhhmm

Customer: So how big's the memory card that you get?

Me: It doesn't come with one, but it takes SD cards, and you can have a look at our range of SD cards over here *points to accessories cabinet*

....

and from here I generally get a variey of responses ranging from complete understanding to complete outrage. Depending on that response I'm either cracking jokes with the customer or left trying to defend the manufacturer (I seriously don't get paid enough to argue this every single time :P)

Today I had an absolutely brilliant classic from a customer during this conversation. When told that the Panasonic TZ-11 doesn't come with a card ... he said "But when you buy a car, it comes with batteries". I stood there and thought "This guy just threw the worst argument at me", but me being on the clock I restrained myself and politely said "Well when you buy this camera you get a battery too". Needless to say, this sequence of events left him wondering how on earth he lost that argument.

Everyday I wonder why people expect to get a memory card with the camera (free). I always tend to end up saying to the customer "When you bought your film camera, it didn't come with film either ... and I'm also pretty sure that it didn't come with free processing". This notion of NOT getting everything you need is not new, it's been around for ages ... so I just can't understand why people ONLY expect this kind of freebie when buying a camera.

To assist my argument I will come up with a list of examples (just off the top of my head) that I have/will use when people complain about not getting a card.

Customer: Well the camera's useless without a card, why don't they give you one?

Me: - Toasters don't come bundled with free bread, what good is a toaster if you don't have bread? Go complain to Myer about that before you ask me that again.

- Your CD burner didn't come with blank CDs

- That wallet you're holding didn't come with free money

- The toy that your kid's playing with ... I'm sure batteries weren't included

- Did your iron come with free shirts?

- These photo frames don't come with photos either

- My car didn't come with free air con ... and I didn't complain

- That $4000 camera over there *points at the 5D MkII*, that doesn't come with a card either

- Those professional photos you got printed a week ago, you had to pay extra to get the photos didn't you? That's what I thought ...

I can go on and on and on about this, and if you work in this industry you'll know the frustration so feel free to go ahead and use these arguments. If you are a customer, and have asked that question before, I hope you now know how annoying and how wrong you were (or still am). Since manufacturers (Nikon, Olympus, Canon, Sony etc) don't have to deal with these questions, I'll take one for the team (for FREE) and I hope I've changed your way of thinking with this blog. I guess what I'm saying is ... take this advice, it's FREE advice and it's good advice.

Tomorrow's blog will be less ranting and more reviewing, stay tuned for a preview of the much anticipated Olympus "Pen" E-P1 camera that even the layman can undestand.

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More Surprise

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a Panasonic LX-3 to complement my SLR, mainly for the times when I don't want to carry around the SLR (first post with the LX-3 here).

On a recent trip out of Sydney, I originally planned to bring only my LX-3 ... photography wasn't the main reason for the trip. On second thoughts, I decided to bring both my 50D + 24-105, and the LX-3. I covered most scenes with both cameras, and surprise surprise, the LX-3 photos came out better.

The question is why?

There is actually no plausible reason to justify this result.

After further speculation, I narrowed it down to being:

- All i had to do is point & shoot with the LX-3

- My fingers were way too cold to navigate the controls in the 50D

- I just wanted to get my photo and get to somewhere warm

Conclusion

I'm not saying the LX-3 is a better camera, it's lower res, has lower quality lens, settings are actually more fiddly. BUT in certain situations, such as the one listed above, the LX-3 wins out. To top it off, the camera fits in my pocket ... unlike the SLR.

I won't be carrying the LX-3 to jobs anytime soon, but as a complement to my 50D, it's perfect. To all the photographers out there contemplating about a compact to add to the collection ... GO FOR IT. I personally suggest Lumix LX-3, Canon G9/G10, Sigma DP1/DP2

(also eagerly anticipating the arrival of the Olympus E-P1)

For reviews of all the cameras, click on the links.

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Featherdale - More Photos

This is more or less a continuation of the last post, with another example of the ability of telephoto lenses to take great photos of subjects behind fences. Sometimes at places like this, we think that if I was to be an animal, I'd like to be one in a zoo/national park etc.

Sure you don't have the luxury of being completely free, but you're not exactly a prisoner either. It would be a life of free food, drinks and accomodation, with people at your service everyday.

This photo is an example of the type of food certain animals are given in an attempt to make life as normal as possible. Only in this case, the animals don't even have to hunt their food, it's served to them on a golden platter.

As easy as it seems, you can never have enough space to fly, so the next step is to expand the area.

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Featherdale!

If there's one type of photography I like more than sports, its wildlife photography. If you live in Sydney, and you want to try it out then I really suggest you head to Featherdale Wildlife Park at Doonside.

It's better than being at a zoo in several ways:

- its closer for most people

- its cheaper ($18 for students compared to $28 at Taronga)

- less crowded

- wallabies, emus, and some birds are allowed to run free and be fed

As a result of all this, the photos that you get are generally more intimate, closer cropped, and more natural.

When you get there, you'll notice many of the exotic birds are within cages, and for good reason, some 0f them are birds of prey ... capable of ripping people into shreds if necessary. Here's how to successfully take a good photo of a bird (anything really) behind a cage/fence with an SLR:

- Use telephoto (100mm or more)

- Put the front of your lens as close to the fence as possible

- Try to use highest telephoto setting

- Use flash (preferable external) to increase contrast

And there you have it! By putting your telephoto lens as close to the fence as possible, you're focussing past the fence, rendering it almost invisible. Sometimes you still get a slightly hazy effect in the photo, so that's why you use an external flash to increase contrast and subsequently reduce that haze effect. And finally some finishing touches in Photoshop for more contrast, colour, cropping and you'll get something like the photo above.

Both photos were takne with the Canon 50D and EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS USM, but you can just as easily do these photos with most camera gear as long as it's fairly telephoto.

Will post up more photos in the following days :)

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Hydrurga Leptonyx

Common name: Leopard Seal, Sea Leopard

Type: Mammal

Diet: Carnivore

Lifespan: 12-15yrs in the wild

Size: 10-12ft

Weight: up to 380kg

Some things you may not know:

- They are the only seals that eat other seals

- They are the Antarctic's equivalent of polar bears, top dog

- May not be too obvious from the photo, but they are one of the more aggressive seals and will likely go after humans (possibly by mistake) if given the chance. There's a fine line between curiosity and predatory behaviour, they may "play" with other animals that they do not intend to eat.

Finally, despite their alien appearance, they ARE mammals, just like how Michael Jackson is indeed human. Theoretically speaking, somewhere along the way humans and leopard seals were not so different.

Thoughts?

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A rare victory

After editing so many photos from the Wentworth Falls trek, today seemed like a very ordinary day. Wake up, shopping, work, home. The day took a drastic turn when I switched on the TV and saw the Parra Eels leading 4-0 against the Brisbane Broncos. It was a great game to watch, with a grand stand finish and resulted in a 21-14 Parra victory. You can get the recap here.

It was a game dominated by sons and newphews of past rugby league greats and current electric in form players. The first try featured an off-load by Joel Reddy (son of the great Rod "Rocket" Reddy) to Eric Grothe Jr (son of parra great Eric Grothe Sr).

The second try involved Grothe Jr breaking multiple tackles before off-loading to Reddy for a sprint to the finish line.

The last, and perhaps the most unexpected try came from young Daniel Mortimer (nephew of Steve Mortimer) slicing through some tired Broncos defense to seal the deal. As with any other Parra game, we can't ignore the work of Hayne (267 run meters) and Hindmarsh (47 tackles, 13 Hitups).

In another match, it was the nephew of another great that sparked his team to victory.

And that, of course, is none other than Canberra's Terry Campese (nephew of Rugby Union great David Campese). So far this week has been a round full of upsets, and hopefully the Eels will keep up the recent improvement in form to make the top 8 for finals footy.

The photos were all taken with my Canon EOS 50D + EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS USM

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Conquering power of nature (Part 1)

Wentworth Falls is about an hour and a half drive from Sydney (Parramatta). It is also home to one of the biggest, most awe-inspiring, photogenic waterfalls you will ever see. It is a 3 stage waterfall where 3 smaller (still huge) waterfalls combine one after the other.

To get to the very bottom, you have to descend approximately 600m, with the trek beginning at the Charles Dawin Nature Track which is about 2km. Near the end of the trail is a track called the "weeping rocks circuit" (will post these photos tomorrow). If you keep walking for another 5 minutes, you'll find yourself standing at the top of said waterfall (stage 1). On either side of this are plenty of lookouts called "Fletcher's lookout" and "Rocket point lookout" to name a few.

This is a 12 photo panorama from Fletcher's Point lookout, taken with the EOS 50D and EF 24-105 F4L lens. From here we began our descent in our quest to get to the bottom. Along the way there were a few photo opportunities that I had with my Lumix LX-3, it was very handy to have around for quick snapshots, portraits and group shots.

These are a few of the photos done with the LX-3, and you can see the colour and contrast came out quite well despite the harsh lighting conditions in these valleys. When the trek first started we thought the conditions were pretty rough, it was slippery, muddy, wet, tiring ... had a couple of falls along the way and shoes were soaked from walking through shallow creeks. But the trail from here on made the beginning look like child's play ... seriously. To give you an idea, it looked like something straight out of "Man vs Wild" (great show by the way, learn a lot of survival tips).

Since most hikers and photographers end their journey at this point, I'll end part 1 of this post here as well. Keep an eye out for part 2 :)

p.s. If you do decide to embark on this journey, you need to be determined to atleast make it to the lookout, which is the end of the Charles Darwin Nature Trail ... the view is exhilirating and definitely well worth it.

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Change

Since I'm on holidays, I have a lot more spare time on my hands ... still working, but no studying :).

I thought about an interesting question that gets asked around quite often, and the answers are almost always biased or bullshit. Here is my compilation of the best answers I've seen/heard/read/given to the age old question

"Will people ever change?"

- Once a cheater always a cheater

- You can't turn a hoe into a housewife

- Yes, but he won't do it for you

- "A man can train himself to stop chasing women,

but if a woman is chasing your man, he can't run fast enough",

the prophet Chris Rock

- Players change in their locker room

- Only werewolves, every full mooon

- when STD happens

- "Players don't change, they lose

so if you don't want a defeated man, let a player play" Anon

Me (4 years old)

Point & Shoot 35mm Film

Me (19 yrs old)

Canon 50D + 24-105 f4L

(who would have thought?)

When I posed the question to a wide demographic, it was interesting to find out that nearly everyone linked that question to a relationship (Chris Rock quote is definitely a personal favourite though haha).

Initially the idea came into my mind when I saw an old photo of myself (4yrs old) holding a point & shoot film camera. I'm now 19, and still holding a camera. That hasn't always been the case though, between the ages of 8-15 the photography part of me got brushed off to the side. Even though I haven't achieved a whole with photography, I'm always surprised with the photos I find buried in my hard drives.

I guess if you used me as an example, I didn't change, but I came full circle. Took the long scenic detour away from photography and came right back on the expressway. Or ... I could be an exception.

Change, maybe ... but we'll always go back to the roots

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Snow Leopards

Things you may not have known about the snow leopard

- It's nickname is "ounce"

- It can jump 25ft in a single bound

- Actually doesn't live in snow all year round

- It doesn't actually raw

- The coat changes to brown-gray colour in summer

- The snow leopard's teeth are over 4in long

BUT, the most important thing ... there are only about 3500-7000 in the wild and about 600 in zoos. This makes them one of the most endangered species ever.

Camera: Canon EOS 50D

Lens: EF 70-200mm f/2.8 IS USM

Settings: 1/200, f/4.5, ISO 800

Location: Sydney Taronga Zoo

There are a variety of ways you can help with preventing the extinction of snow leopards. It's not always a donation, sometimes it's as simple as raising awareness about this issue. Either way, I hope these big cats stick around for a bit longer. If these photos don't change your mind, then maybe this site can, click here.

Camera & lens: Same as above

Settings: Same as above

It is easily one of the most graceful animals on the earth, and if you don't like them ... you can go jump off a bridge :)

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Impressionist?

We live in a time where anything (and I mean everything) can be turned into, or be interpreted, as art.  From artworks with distinguished subjects and identity to abstract work that makes you say ... "are you serious? somebody bought THAT for $2 mill?"

However I do believe that the unconscious mind produces the best work sometimes.  And who knows, maybe that's how people come up with outrageous ideas for sculptures and paintings.  So without further ado, I present the collective efforts of 6 bored uni students on a friday afternoon.

Camera: Canon EOS 50D

Lens: EF 50mm f/1.4 USM

Settings: 1/125, f/2.5, ISO 1000

As a whole, about $200 worth of port and lamb ribs were eaten, not a bad effort.  There's something almost poetic about how those bones were arranged.  Click on the photo, take a closer look and you might see past the madness.

Cheers

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