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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It’s an Arms Race (Chapter 1)

Admit it, photography has come a long way. Gone are the days where you pretty much need your own photographic darkroom for processing and development to be called a pro. In fact, pros now have a digital darkroom in a workstation as small as a MacBook Pro. This should make things easier … right?

Well … technically no. I’ll provide a structured series of arguments to sway any doubters, and if there are still doubters after that we can settle it with a bar fight lol.

Before you read on .. make sure you WATCH the videos, they’re awesome. Even if you’ve seen them before you’ll enjoy watching it again.

The Cons of using film:

- overexposed and underexposed negatives when taking the photo is harder to fix
- If you have your own darkroom and do your own developing manually, there is a chance of overdeveloping or underdeveloping the film. Which makes the negs pretty poor quality despite how good you took the photo

- If you use a manual enlarger, there is the change of overexposing or underexposing when transferring the image from the neg to the light sensitive photographic paper

That’s 3 major steps where minor mistakes will affect the desired result out of your images. If you are careful enough, most of the time things go well, but sometimes you just can’t do a whole lot about it. After reading that, it would be safe to assume that being a digital professional is much easier.

In that respect … yes (not to fret, I haven’t changed my mind). Sure I can take photos in RAW format (giving me ample room to fix exposure), and sure if I mess something up in processing I can hit the undo button. Even the printing of photos are neglected as most people would prefer a copy of the images on a CD so they can facebook it. As a result of this, in today’s photographic world, it makes it really hard for an individual to stand out. When people apply for photographic positions, they often get asked what equipment they have. If I was an employer I would favour the candidate with the more serious equipment over the one with basic equipment.

I know what you’re all thinking, it’s the photographer not the equipment. And I would say that you’re correct, however that’s just not the way society works. Many brilliant people get overlooked no matter how good their work is all because their gear wasn’t as serious as the guy next to him. I don’t blame them because that’s just the way it works. When a customer is asking me about DSLRs and he brings up the fact that he used to be a “pro”, I automatically ask what lenses and what bodies he worked with. And sure enough after telling me his life story, he’ll name some of the lenses that he has and I’ll end up thinking “are you serious? That’s some pretty basic stuff” And eventually I would see some photos that he did back in the glory days and I’ll think to myself “If I had a son, and he was 3yrs old, he could take better photos than that”

The problem here is that film SLR pros don’t understand the nature of digital photography. They even undermine it and brush it away, while us digital users do the exact same to film people. I’m not saying there weren’t any great photographers back then, there are … Max Dupain, Kiichiro Ishida to name a few. But there are a lot of people that will think “I can tell this kid I was a pro and he’ll believe me because he’s young enough to be my grandson and that digital photography will never match film photography”.

If you are one of those people, read on. If you’re not, well … read on anyway.

The game has changed, and if you’re not willing to hop onto the bullet train we’re leaving you behind. Gone are the days where you could win the dunk contest with a tomahawk, these days you’ll need to dress up in green and jump over a 7ft tall superman and complete the dunk to get a good score.

The simple truth is … digital photography has taken photography as an art, as a source of communication and a source of evidence to new heights. With film, 400 ISO provided some pretty grainy photos … on the Canon 5D MkII … what grain? Too dark, cant shoot? Let me just pump up my ISO to 6400 while you sit there and ponder how you’ll get a shot that doesn’t turn out pitch black.

Digital will never reach film? Please, us digital shooters are so multitalented that we can even piece together some hectic short videos shot ENTIRELY on an SLR. Go on, watch the video

What up? That’s another point to the digital crowd.

I won’t overload you with too much info in one go. In fact I haven’t gotten to the heart of my real argument. Think of this as an intro if you must, but things will make more sense as I post up the rest of my beef over the next week or so.

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Small Planet

On August 24 2006, Pluto was officially demoted as a planet. Pluto is now known as a "dwarf planet", which is in itself an oxymoron (planets aren't exactly dwarfs). So I've decided to make my own planet, still just experimenting so hopefully I'll have some better ones up in the near future.

It's quite simple to do as long as you have the correct images to start with. I took a 360 degree panorama at Homebush Bay (bird sanctuary), merged the lot on photoshop, then used the polar co-ordinates filter. After that all you have to do is clean it up a little bit with the clone stamp and healing brush and you're done! More in depth tutorial can be found here.

You might also notice my font is different, many users will know that the basic windows fonts don't provide too many cool fonts to work with. Theres a website (click here) where you can download fonts, then simply drag them into your fonts folder in control panel to install them. The one I used this time is called Waltograph (actually looks pretty similar to what the name suggests).

Like I said I'll be workin on more stereographic projections, but in the meantime you can have a browse at this flickr pool dedicated to these images.

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Abarth, it's poetry in motion

There's a lot to say so I'll get right into it. Here's a car that I wouldn't mind having ... Ran into it on my way home from work, it's not exactly a mean looking car ... but you don't see a whole lot of these in Sydney. In my street you see a lot of Range Rovers, R8, Cayenne S, 300C, and the occasional AMG or Gallardo (owned by rich real estate agents).

But this car ... you definitely don't see too many of these. Yep, it's the Abarth powered Fiat 500. If you're thinking "are you serious dude?" or "what the f@$*?". Well I like cars that are unique. There aren't even that many Brabus Mercs around here, so seeing an Abarth Fiat 500 was quite a sight. If you don't know what the fuss is about ... go right ahead and google it.

I know all my readers are lazy, so I did the googling for you. Read car reviews here and here, and believe me ... the Abarth treatment is definitely worth the extra money.

By the way, even Michael Schumacher drives a Fiat Croma as a family car. I'm not lying, just watch Topgear season 13 episode 1.

Last wednesday I posted a pre-hands-on preview on the Olympus Pen E-P1 (you can read it here). The Olympus sales rep for our store came in today to let us play around with the camera and see our input. The first thing you notice when you hold the camera is the exceptional build quality. The all metal body, with a shiny silver finish across the middle (undoubtedly inspired by the old Pens) puts it in a class of its own.

The next thing you notice will be the kit lens 14-42mm that retracts in a locked position (much like the LX-3) when not in use. Both zoom rings and manual focus ring are nicely dampened, reassuring the user that the Pen is more than a compact camera. All the camera functions are easily accessible, changing the shutter speed, aperture, ISO quickly became 2nd nature. Manual focus was VERY easy, I found manual focusing on the E-P1 easier to do than in DSLRs (I'm not kidding).

So you've heard me talk up the build, ease of use and how nice this next generation Pen is .... but what about image quality? I'm going to go out on a limb and say ... its GREAT, AWESOME, SURPRISINGLY GOOD.

This photo was taken with the Olympus Zuiko 17mm f2.8, wide open, manual focus and at 800 ISO. Yes, 800. You can't judge it very well from this image, so hopefully I'll put up some 100% crops soon. Take my word for it, it's sharp, colour rendition is nice, and keep in mind this is STILL not an SLR. Long story short, I love this camera.

So now that you're more informed about the world (or just my world) ... until next time :)

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Moment of madness

By the time you read this I may have already had a heart attack, possibly in the hospital recovering from a quadruple bypass (if that's even possible). No I'm not suicidal, but as I am writing this I'm trying to get into the website which reveals my uni results. After what seems like a million attempts of refreshing the page and retyping my password, I still haven't gotten in. There is a ridiculous amount of nervous energy and adrenaline flying through my limbs as I sit idly in this cold, wooden chair.

I think I'm in ... hold on

No ... wait the page didn't load properly

This must be what gameshow contestants and reality TV stars suffer through as they announce the correct answer (or the winner). Fuck, this is annoying.

Here we go, I'm in for real this time

FUCK YES!

Ladies and gentlemen, I stand undefeated.

If I was a boxer, this would have gone down to the wire, and it would have been a points decision. If this was basketball, it would have been like that 6OT game from the 09 NCAA Tourney.

The rush of relief when the letters P and C came up next to the subjects was comparable to hitting a game winning shot, or coaching a winning team.

Nerve wracking would have been an understatement.

Oh, and that photo above? That is the most correct representation of my mind through this state of affairs. No, not blurred (or bokeh), more like an organised mess. Please excuse the short, choppy sentences and the butchered english language. In this case, it seemed fitting :)

p.s. photo was shot at f/2, manual focus (deliberately out of focus) with the Panasonic LX-3

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Name this bug

Camera: Panasonic Lumix LX-3

Settings: ISO 80, 1/50 sec, f/2, manual focus at minimum focussing distance

Since I have a Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro for my SLR, I rarely use the macro function on my compact. This photo here ... I was walking home and saw this little furry bug glued to the glass window outside my door. Me being me, I took a photo (couldn't be bothered to run upstairs to get the SLR).

I switched the camera to manual focus, set it to minimum focussing distance (0.01m), and moved in and out until I got a sharp picture. It took a couple of goes to get a decent photo, and this is definitely harder to do with a compact compared to an SLR. After some basic processing in Lightroom and CS3, I flipped it to B&W to see what it would be like. Interestingly enough, the monochrome made the insect look even more alien the original photo in colour. I still have absolutely no idea what this thing is ... but if a moth had sex with a sea monkey (somehow), this is without a doubt what it would look like.

Being a macro post, I can't end this without mentioning the best (and affordable*) macro kits commercially available (SLR & Compact).

- Nikon D300 + Nikkor AF-S 105mm f2.8 micro ... totals to roughly $4k

- Canon 5D MkII + EF 100mm f2.8 macro ... roughly $4.6k

Compacts are harder to judge, as they tend to give different magnification ratios. From playing around with different types of cameras at work, the compacts that impressed me with their macro include:

- Canon Powershot G10

- Canon Powershot SX10/SX1 IS

- Lumix LX-3

- Ricoh R8

You might notice there aren't any Nikons in the compact list, and it's because I havn't been impressed with a Nikon Coolpix since 2001 (seriously). The P90 arrived in store today, and since it was one of the most hyped up Nikon compacts (EVERYONE asks about them), I decided to crank it out and do a quick hands-on analysis.

I was NOT impressed at all, and I DON'T understand what all the hype is about. First of all, it's an ugly camera, I thought the lens looked flashy but everything else screams 1980 (in a bad way). The rear LCD screen had terrible resolution, compared to some of the newer canon screens anyway (G10). I'm sure the camera had image stabiliser, but it might as well have been non-existant. Colours were a bit cold, but that's ok cos some people like that. Images were not particularly sharp ... and it performed averagely at ISO 800. It's not the most terrible camera, but it's not for me, and definitely not for that price (~$779)

As usual, I went off track near the end of the post but you guys should be used to it by now. I make this up as I go and I'll put down whatever pops into the front of the queue. My mind is a cluttered mess, and not even I know how to sort it out.

p.s. Have a click on the links on this post, the reviews give some good insight into the type of image quality that I'm so picky about.

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Why we love panos

Panorama photos have always held a spell over me. When I first saw them, I couldn't see what the big deal is. If anything I thought panos were stupid, they're long, odd shaped, hard to frame, and have no standard in sizing.

Soon after the purchase of my first SLR, the EOS 400D, I realised the limitations of taking a single photo to capture a landscape. When working with lines such as the horizon and the contours of mountains, valleys & coastlines, it is natural to utilise a wide format frame.

This technique in photography have become such widespread that some photographers have dedicated themselves to panoramic photos, Ken Duncan is a well known example. What makes him so well known is not only his dedication to panoramic photos, but his style of image processing after taking the photo. In this day and age, an artist's post processing style is as unique as his signature. All successful photographers have a fine tuned way of processing their images that are instantly recognisable by those in the field.

Post processing has become especially important as almost anybody mildly interested in photography is likely to own an SLR. No longer will resolution and turn around time separate the amateurs and the pros, the market has become much more diverse and it will come down to how well you process your photos that will set you apart.

Me, I'm still working it out :P

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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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Royal National Park

Camera: Panasonic Lumix LX-3

7 photo Panorama

The Royal National Park in NSW is located south of Cronulla, near Waterfall and Engadine Station. The actual national park covers a huge area of land that is impossible to cover on foot. After being defeated by the Wentworth Falls trails, we decided to tackle one a little closer to home, giving us more time.

We chose a circuit style track which goes along the edge of the coast and back through thick bushes and steep inclines. Overall we covered a large variety of terrain, including coastal, tropical, bushland, and marshes. The panorama above is a typical view during the coastal section of the track (if you're lucky you will also find small herds of deer in low lying, high incline bushland).

As with any day of hiking, travelling, roadtripping ... there's always a time when everything goes wrong ...

Camera: Canon EOS 50D, EF 24-105 F4L IS USM

Strobe: 580 EXII with diffuser on camera hot shoe (1/2 power),

580 EXII bald 5m to the right (1/1 power)

Photo inspired by the multitude of potholes and unpaved roads leading out of the national park.

Finally, if you want to try out these hiking trails, pack food ... we didn't, and we starved

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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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Like father, like son

Definition: Having the same characteristics as ones parents

There are also various resonance phrases such as "like mother like daughter" etc etc.

You hear it all the time, and not once do you actually think it could be true. Yet time after time, this tested theory of fortune telling proves us wrong.

Back in the days, the son or daughter would continue the family trade whether it be blacksmith, lumberjack, or royalty. Over the years this phrase has been true for even more aspects of life, even cars. For some reason, we never think that it would apply to us. Sometimes we think "nah, that's not me, I can't see myself doing that" or "I'm not good enough for that".

Dad (dinosaur years) in front of the camera cabinets full of filters, 35mm film cameras, and lenses

Me (2009) at Castle Hill Camera House

In front of DSLRs, L-series lenses, memory cards and digital photo frames

Well you can all see how different camera stores have become, but photography is photography, and the fundamentals are still the same. Just like me saying I didn't think I'd be taking photos like I do now (2 posts ago), I never considered this. Not that I thought I couldn't do it, it just never occurred to me. And the astounding similarities in that photo still surprise me.

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ORIGIN

Many of my readers are from Australia, so most of you will also know that State of Origin II just went by. Here are some other things that you may or may not know:

- NSW had yet another horrible start (18-0)

- NSW had yet another great 3rd quarter of the game (caught up to 18-14)

- QLD somehow managed to score the last try again ...

and in doing so made the scoreline a lot less respectable (24-14)

- The Blatchy Blues wigs are ridiculously itchy

- Wolfman had a shocker of a 1st half

- Jarryd Hayne had a legendary 1st half

- Jonathan Thurston is still a wanker

- The Maroons secured their 4th straight Origin series and made history

"I don't know what to say ... I'm shattered" said Blues Captain Kurt Gidley. Well Kurt, as easy as it is to point the blame at the captain, the coach, the selectors ... the whole team needed to put their best foot forward, and only a few answered the call.

With all that aside, being a part of the 80 000 at the near sellout stadium was definitely the best $60 I've ever spent. Being there at a packed stadium (see 1st photo) is easily the best way to support your team, the atmosphere alone is worth it. Other sporting events/teams I would love to hit up include:

- Staples Centre (Lakers home game)

- Madison Square Gardens (Knicks home)

- NCAA Final Four

- Old Trafford (Man U)

- FIFA world cup finals (anywhere)

About the photos, both were taken with my Panasonic Lumix LX-3. 1st photo was a 4 photo stitch using Photoshop CS3. 2nd photo was a 12 photo stitch using Photoshop CS3, and that explains the distortion that you see in the photo.

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Diente de leon

Yep, if today's photo was in colour, it would definitely be no different to your ordinary cliche macro photo of a dandelion.

This is possibly one of the most commonly overlooked plants in the world, and there is such a rich history and background behind it. First of all, this is the only flower/plant that represents all 3 celestial bodies. The yellow flower represents the sun, puff ball represents the moon, and the dispersing seeds represent the stars. If you pay enough attention to detail, you'll notice dandelion (flowers) are one of the most physically active plants. In the morning, the flowers bloom eagerly waiting for the attention of the sun, and at nights they close up, almost as if to keep warm.

Imagine yourself as one of those seeds, frail and vulnerable, not knowing when that next breeze will carry you miles away from home. Your only sense of security is knowing that your physical structure will act like a parachute and break your fall. The concept that one day, you could become like the flower from whence you came makes the risk all worth it. Everyday millions of people pass you by, not noticing the delicate balance that you're living in, unappreciative even. Once in a while, one person will come up close and admire you, maybe even take a photo.

Now put yourself in the photographer's shoes. Now that you've learnt to appreciate such fragility, how do you begin to do it justice with a single photo? The answer is you can't, but we do what we can.

NB: This photo was taken with my trusty Panasonic Lumix LX-3, macro function, 1/400, f/2, ISO 400.

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Behind every cloud is another cloud

"Clouds come rushing to my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add colour to my sky"

~Rabindranath Tagore

This quote by Tagore is the perfect caption to this photo. He was a poet, visual artist, playwright, novelist, educationist, social reformer, nationalist, business manager and composer. To top it off he has also won the Nobel Prize in Literature (1913). In the last post when I talked about leaving behind a legacy, this is the type of legacy I was talking about. Only problem, as accomplished as Tagore is, today was the first time I heard about him. There are a vast amount of deeds that go unnoticed in everyday life, and similarly there are a million photo opportunities that are brushed aside.

This photo was taken using the newly acquired Panasonic LX-3, shot using the sunset mode (I wanted to see what these modes could do), then processed the RAW files in Photoshop CS3. Originally I took 9 photos (3x3 matrix arrangement) and stiched the lot together, then cropped and processed.

Hundreds of people must walk past this scene everyday, how many do you think stopped to appreciate it, let alone take a photo.

Keep an eye out

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A distant reminder

The first sign of a true winter ... max temps of 14 degrees for the day.

Todays photo will serve as a reminder of what I will be missing out on until winter is over.

Camera: Canon EOS 50D

Lens: Tamron 17-50 f2.8

Settings: Various - 7 photo HDR

And yes, I have continued my recent craze of HDR photos. This photo was taken during a sunrise photoshoot at Long Reef. That day we went beach hopping from one to the other catching different aspects of the sunrise from different angles. The actual sunrise wasn't the greatest, but scenic shots of the beach and the coast turned out quite well. Unfortunately, it is definitely something that I won't be doing this winter.

On a side note, the long awaited Panasonic Lumix LX-3 has arrived. Haven't had a chance to take many photos with it yet, but hopefully I'll have something up tomorrow. I must say, on first handling, it's an impressive camera.

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Crack of Dawn ... among other things

As for State of Origin Game 1 ... that's all in the past. I can complain all I like about the video ref decision with regards to the 1st Jarryd Hayne try ... or even the crap stripping calls or even how I really dislike JT. But I looked back and found a photo from way back, and remembered that there's still games 2 & 3 to be played.

Lens: Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8

Settings: 0.5 Sec, f/32, ISO 100

The tamrom was an awesome lens, fast, good quality but didn't quite have the range I wanted for a walk around lens. So on my recent purchase of the Canon EF 24-105mm f4L, I sold the Tamron. The only other issue I had with the Tamron was the noisy auto focusing, which DOES matter in situations like weddings.

Back to the photo, the sun came up at just the right time, and you can see it crack over the clouds, almost as if to say "I know you've been waiting for 2hrs, so I'll give you a nice pose to make it all worthwhile"

On a side note, I've decided on the compact camera to buy. The Lumix LX-3 beat out the Leica C-Lux 3 with the features of manual control, wider angle & more fps HD vid. I figured the ideal camera in my situation was the Leica D-Lux 4, but the Lumix is literally an identical (close) camera for half the price. About 30mins ago I put that camera on order, and if all goes to plan I'll have it ready for State of Origin Game 2 :)

As soon as i get the LX-3 I'll be posting the images up for all to scrutinize.

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