21st November 2009, Sullivan’s Cove

These were taken a while ago, but today is Christmas day.

Wiebke took the one of me above, I took the one of her below.

I think I was shooting a seagull poking it’s head over the top of the wall.

Wiebke is huddled up on the ground to look through the view finder for a low shot of me taking a low shot of her. One of the advantages of my camera is it has flip out screen

I hope you all enjoy your day.

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21st November 2009, Murray St crossing (between the malls).

I am a hypocrite!

I bought a panasonic G1 twin lens kit. This is after I complained buckets loads about how they have made it so that you can’t use the cheaper generic batteries in their cameras.

But, the camera on paper really satisfys  my photographic needs, mostly.

Shortcomings:

Firstly, it is power hungry. I have three batteries; I think I will buy another two. I paid $115 for each of the extra two on ebay - they are about $180 here. There is absolutely no justification for this price. The good news is, I have updated my camera with a version of the 1.4 firmware that apparently lets you continue using the generic batteries. So I will take a gamble and buy a couple of $15 generic batteries and hope they work. Thankyou to Steve from rangefinder forums for supplying the firmware.

Second, this camera has a useless implementation of what Canon calls Flexizone. This is where you can put the focus point wherever you like for the shot. It is so retarded on the Panasonic that I use focus lock instead.

Third, I really miss lack of macro and a narrow depth of field. Both my kit lenses are dark - the 14-45 starts at 3.5, the 45-200 starts at 4. Eventually I will buy a third lens, the 45mm macro f2.8 panasonic / leica lens. This will do for low light shooting, portraiture, and macro. It is about a $1000 au though, and not yet available in Australia.

Fourth, after all the research I did, I bought it online. Then found a review which shows that the subsequent model (GH1) handles noise at high iso much better. Since then there has been a lot of online discussion about this. But the GH1 is $1000 more expensive and it comes with a lens I don’t want (14-140mm). I’m also not interested in video.

Good points (some of them):

I had this camera for about a month sitting on the lounge floor in its box doing nothing. I was disinterested
in my new toy and was still using my powershot. Fortunately, Wiebke (the great looking woman with the camera in the photo above) has also just bought a new camera. She bought a canon eos 450 with the 18-55mm kit lens, a 50mm macro, and a 50mm prime. She has been overflowing with enthusiasm - it is her enthusiasm that finally got me using the new camera.

I haven’t been reading up on the manual or anything like I usually do. I’ve just been trying to do what I want to do, then hitting the manual to find out how to do it.

I do like the image quality. I haven’t even considered using my powershot since. I like focus tracking; this is great for following birds or people that are moving about a bit. It has its limitations, but if something is not moving too fast, it is great.

I use focus lock a lot, so that I can compose the picture how I want. On my powershot I used flexizone most of the time - putting the focus area on one of the four magic composition spots (rule of thirds).

The big zoom! 45-200mm. On a four thirds camera (the G1), this is equivalent to 90-400mm. I theorised long ago about using a long zoom for street photography, to go against the common trend of fast wide angle or prime lenses. I love it. When I’m walking around town I have the big zoom on. The shot above is at full zoom (400mm equiv).

The fold out screen and live view.  Yesterday I was kneeling above my camera photographing seagulls on the ground; Wiebke was contorting herself to get down behind the camera so that she could see to compose.

Unlike slr cameras, this camera uses contrast detection for focussing all the time. So, live view, as in a compact digital, is fast. Also, apparently with contrast detect focussing there are no front or back focus issues.

There is a lot I just haven’t looked at yet with this camera.

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25th July 2009, close to Geeveston.

Wiebke is cold, wet, and hungry.

But, it’s only a problem because she doesn’t have her camera to play with; it’s getting repaired.

The lens guy who had an initial look at the camera said “there’s something pink and sticky in there” (yeah, a pink stick). Wiebke answered “really?” with a concerned look so that the lens guy gets the impression that she is a caring camera owner. Or, was it because if she appeared to be ignorant of how “something pink and sticky” got in there, she wouldn’t have to explain how “something pink and sticky” did get in there?

All good photographers can eat fairy floss while framing a shot with the camera to their eye, fight through the fact that everything looks like a pink mist, and take the shot anyway. Like a seasoned war correspondent this is what Wiebke did. It was only when she went to move the camera that she found the front of it was embedded in the fairy floss, and the lens would no longer close.

So, I’m leaping from slippery slimy log to slippery slimy log like I’m wearing ice skates instead of gum boots, taking photos from various angles with a big grin on my face, while she is trying really really hard to give me the evil eye.

I can’t stop grinning because I’m thinking about the fairy floss in her camera.

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5th June 2009, Trial Harbour.

How did we come to be here?

It started early in the morning. We were staying at accommodation in Zeehan. Wiebke was making her breakfast in the kitchen. She exclaimed (with a german accent which makes it a bit funnier) “Oh my god! There’s an animal in it!” She was referring to a shell she’d brought back from Trial Harbour the day before. It was on the kitchen sink, and the snail inside it had ventured out probably to look for it’s (they’re hermaphrodites I think) own breakfast.

So, we took it with us, in a jar, with some water, sitting on the floor of the car, while we bounced our way to the day’s walk. The plan was to return it to Trial Harbour after a walk to and around Cumberland Lake.

We got back to the car about 30mins before sunset. It looked as though the sunset was going to be pretty spectacular - it wasn’t, but I’ve included a photo for reference (see below). We decided to try and get to the water from where we were, just following a few 4wd tracks to the edge of the cliffs and then look for a way down.

The above photo is of a huge, deep puddle on one of the tracks.

We got to a cliff edge on dark. I put on a headlight, grabbed the jar with snail in it, and poked my way down a precipitous track. It finished at a vantage point for a little water fall to one side I think (I could hear it), and at the top of a sheer rock face still 50 metres or so from a small beach.  We ended up driving into Trial Harbour, and Wiebke released the snail roughly where she got it from.

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We spent some time on the Ocean Beach, from one end to the other. It runs from Macquarie Heads near Strahan to the near side of Trial harbour to the North. We walked to Macquarie Heads and back starting close to Strahan, explored it around the Henty Dunes, and again at Trial Harbour.

The following photos were taken on the 31st May 2009 on the Macquarie heads walk.

Beach Silhouette

The Ocean Beach between Strahan and Macquarie Heads is shallow and fairly flat. There is a huge expanse of sand that water from the waves travels over slowly. In contrast, the beach at Trial Harbour is steep and deep; deep enough for Ships to anchor just off the beach and unload supplies.

The Beach Dance

The Beach Dance must have been performed by everyone who has walked along a beach with shoes on.

Here the water has already receded, leaving Wiebke with wet feet.

Fellow Enthusiast

Usually, if I am out with someone, I can lose myself working on a picture; they get bored. It is a nice surprise to look up after I have finished taking pictures from all angles and trying different settings to see Wiebke preoccupied with her own picture taking.

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I am still going through photos from our trip to Strahan, when I get the time.

These pictures are alongside the Henty River and nearby Ocean Beach. The Henty River runs parallel to Ocean Beach for about two and a half kilometres before running out to sea.

It was a bit of a hangover day for us. We didn’t have a lot of energy or enthusiasm, although I think Wiebke copped it worse than I.

The following pictures were all taken on the 1st June 2009.

Stomping birds.

I took this shot from the far side of the river. They aren’t seagulls. They were pushing their feet up and down on the spot to get at something in particular to eat. It looked pretty comical.

Survival skills.

I went through the motions of taking some photos, and eventually got into it. By this time, Wiebke had wandered off and managed to find a lounge chair to sleep on.

Henty River, with Ocean Beach in the background.

Wiebke is a black spot on the horizon, by now asleep in her chair.

The Henty River. The strip of sand in the background is the bank of the river and also part of the Ocean Beach.

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We are in Strahan. We took four days to get here; two days in Maydena and two at Lake St Clair. Each day we’ve been on a walk. I have a huge background in bush walking; wilderness places around Australia, Java, Sumatra, Bali, Flores, Timor. I think I’ve seen some of the most amazing rain forest here, in these last few days. The only thing to surpass it, was being accompanied overhead by a family of Orang Hutans on a walk in Java. But who knows, it is also easy to forget some amazing things in your life.

Wiebke is fit. She just keeps going, and smiles. And even manages to yawn when we are hoofing it to make the most of the remaining light. She is the first person I have walked with, in a long time, who hasn’t complained. She hasn’t complained because she enjoys it.

We’ve had a fair bit of adventure; little bush bashes through forest, navigation across sand dunes, navigation along tracks in the car. I’m using topographical maps, 1:100,000 for the car - each centimetre on the map is equivalent to one km on the ground. Between the map and the gps and a fair bit of logical guesswork we’ve managed to get where we wanted to. Both the maps and the gps have had huge mistakes concerning tracks. Tracks simply aren’t there or in a different location by two to three hundred metres, things like that.

I think the walk I enjoyed most, was the Mt Rufus circuit. 18.9km graded medium hard. It went through all sorts of country; button grass swamps, mossy rainforests, the bare and rocky moonscape above the snowline ascending Mt Rufus, lakes, and a real feeling of isolation. And the track itself was a bit of a challenge to follow, navigation wise, which made it interesting.

Yesterday we did a made up walk - me looking at the map and putting one together. We started following the Abt railway line out of Strahan along the King river. We crossed the King River then followed a 4wd track up a spur. What we didn’t know then, is that what we were doing used to be a walk before the railway line was reconstructed, around 2001. We found this amazing boardwalk through the trees, huon pines among them. It was 100 times more interesting than the shitty Tahune airwalk out of Geeveston. The boardwalk took us to a lookout tower. The tower is all glass and has amazing views.

There is no mention of the boardwalk and the tower any where here. It is like the abandoned mining towns dotted around the desert regions of Australia that close down when the price of nickel or whatever gets too low. The boardwalk and lookout hasn’t been used, or known about, since the opening of the Strahan Wilderness Railway. For sure I imagine some people who haven’t forgotten it still go there, but it looks abandoned and is deteriorating, and the track becoming overgrown.

This is because, we’re guessing, the walking track used to follow where the resurrected railway line now is. They didn’t want walkers walking along the line while the train was using it. There is even a sign saying as much. It is quite narrow, and the various bridge crossings - well you wouldn’t want to be trying to cross one when the train came. A pathetic little train it is, and two people could probably stop it by standing in the middle of the line and holding their hands out like Superman. But who wants the confrontation? The sleepers are slimy green and slippery like ice. We found it easier to walk along the rails when crossing the bridges. Wiebke fell on one bridge, nearly between the sleepers to the water way below. She went on all fours after that.

The other interesting walk we did here was Henty Dunes. We did some rough navigation using the sun for 4 kilometres, on a diagonal across the dunes, to arrive back at the car on dark. And we found a group, although spread out, of huge whale skeletons while we were on the Ocean Beach.

On a side note: last post I was concerned how Wiebke would cope with the limited food choices on this trip. Am I stupid! I arrived to pick her up and she had four boxes and an esky all full of continental food stuffs. I think it was easily over 100kgs.

Reasoning didn’t prevail.

My poor little car was wallowing up and down the hills like a valiant little boat in a huge sea.

We are moving to Zeehan today.

See through camera. 30th May 2009, Hogarth Falls, Strahan.
Wiebke is composing a shot of a dead brown leaf on the branch of a tree fern. This shot was at 1/40th second shutter speed which was only possible because Wiebke was standing so still to take her own shot. It is ISO 800 and full zoom, hence the graininess.

Take off. 30th May 2009, Regatta Point, Strahan.
We were standing about taking the silhouette shots when I became aware of what the engine noise was. There is a fair bit of car and motor boat noise that carries across the water. I barely had time to turn around and snap this, just the one shot.

Flares. 30th May 2009, Regatta Point, Strahan.
If you understand the name of this photo, then we are of a similar vintage. The picture kind of reminded me of the cartoons made of The Beetles, where the characters had long legs and were wearing flared trousers.

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10th May 2009, close to Geeveston.

It is the eve of our holiday; a last post before we go.

We won’t be near towns for a few days, it will be interesting to see how Wiebke copes with limited food choices

The last time I had breakfast with her, we were having pancakes. I put some elderberry jam on mine, Wiebke put lots on hers.

Then, with the expertise of a brickie, she trowelled on a five cm layer of quark, a strange cheese that tastes like yoghurt.

Then, on top of that, applied a layer of sugar straight from the bag that it came in.

She was laughing self consciously at the amused look on my face and my silence.

The pancake had disappeared underneath all the stuff she’d put on top of it; it’s role seemed to be limited to providing the theme for her breakfast, without actually contributing much to it.

I’ve just read this to her; and she laughingly said, “you haven’t even seen decadence yet, that was just an entrée”.

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Above photo taken by Wiebke, 14th April 2009 in Kiel Germany.
Photo below taken by Simon (Emily’s father)  29 December 2007 in Kiel Germany.
Poem written by Hannah (Wiebke’s daughter).
 

You bounce around the grass like a little lamb
Your white hair shining in the sun
Everything is so new to you
So big, so exciting
Your blue eyes sparkle with curiosity
You insist on touching, climbing, tasting…
Experiencing everything you possibly can.

You see a huge hedge with a small opening
I see the excitement spread across your face,
You leap towards the hedge with such enthusiasm,
Like a lion leaping towards it’s prey.

“Emily, don’t you dare to go in that hedge
or there will be no cake for you!

But you ignore all warnings
Your tiny body disappearing into the shrubs.

Minutes go by of yelling your name
“Emily, get back here! Emily? EMILY!”

You emerge from the hedge,
All excitement vanished from your face,
your eyes wide with horror.
Something long, soft and grey
Is dangling from your tight grip’
Eyes with a tear running down your cheek
And you say:
“The Easter Bunny is dead.”

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14th April 2009, Hamburg.

Wiebke took this shot on the outskirts of Hamburg. She was on her way to a tall girls shop, because she is a tall girl. She didn’t notice the rooster in it; something I saw straight away. Perhaps in her subconscious everything appeared normal When she did notice the rooster, she went into match making mode for Chook.

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