Gallery Pick of the Week
Instead of just showing pretty pictures only, here we have space for contributors to discuss their images every week.
This is a great opportunity to get some insight from the original photographer and the content is entirely open. It could be anything from the personal feeling of the photographer about the image to any photographic techniques or location knowledge he/she would like to share with our visitors.
Gallery Pick of the Week > December 2008
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Bring Your Own Bread, 31/12/08, Pele Leung What can we learn from the experiences of First Fleet that arrived in Australia in 1788? There are certainly more than one thing but their persistence to survive is probably one of the most important mindset we should have now. |
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Kanangra-Boyd National Park, 22/12/08, Nadia and Steve Paul Our contributors Nadia and Steve Paul show us their recent exploration of Kanangra-Boyd National Park in New South Wales. Although Kanangra-Boyd may not have a well known icon like... |
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Bill Bryson's Down Under, 15/12/08, Pele Leung Bill Bryson may not be the best travel writer in history but he is certainly one of the most popular ones who are still alive. He first dragged my attention when I first noticed one of his funny books - Down Under. |
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A Weekend Trip to Inverloch, 4/12/08, Peter and Jill Meyers The weather might not be at its best but our contributors Peter and Jill Meyers still have a great time for their weekend trip to a quiet corner of Victoria - Inverloch. |
Pele Leung - Bring Your Own Bread, 31/12/08
Nowadays a loaf of sliced bread can be purchased from most Australian supermarkets at the price of as low as $2.5 each. Honestly we are truly lucky today when compared our luxury living standard to that of those fifteen hundred people brought by the First Fleet in 1788. As Watkin Tench (a captain of marines on the First Fleet,) described:
“If a lucky man who had knocked down a dinner with his gun, or caught a fish by angling off the rocks, invited a neighbour to dine with him, the invitation always ran ‘bring you own bread’. Even at the governor’s table, this custom was constantly observed. Every man when he sat down pulled his bread out of his pocket, and laid it on his plate.”
Opera House on Sydney Cove where was first noted by Captain Cook
Apparently the world is currently going “up side down” in many aspects from climate change, financial turmoil, water shortage to economical recession but we are still here in one piece and our Earth is still rotating. As long as we have faith and work hard, our fate will be as good as what David Hill and Captain Tench described when the supply ship Lady Juliana arrived when it was most needed:
“At 3:30 in the afternoon on 3 June 1790, two and a half years after the arrival of the First Fleet, the flag was broken out on Port Jackson’s South Head – a ship’s sail had been sighted. I was sitting in my hut, musing on our fate, when a confused clamour in the street drew my attention. I opened my door and saw several women with children in their arms running to and fro with distracted looks, congratulating each other and kissing their infants with the most passionate and extravagant marks of fondness. I needed no more; but instantly started out and ran to a hill where, by the assistance of a pocket glass, my hopes were realised. My next-door neighbour, a brother officer was with me but we could not speak. We wrung each other by the hand, with our eyes and heart overflowing.”
What is this related to photography or business here? Next to none. I am hoping this article could inspire you to take the challenge of the uncertainties in 2009. There is nothing we cannot do as long as we are determined. Photography and business included.
Happy New Year to all.
Nadia and Steve Paul - Kanangra-Boyd National Park, 22/12/08
On a visit to the Blue Mountains we went to a place called "Kanangra Walls". This is a short 200 metre walk from the car park which is 30 Kms past Jenolan Caves. The reason to go there was to photograph Kaland Falls - little did we realise how bad we chose !! Yes the walk to view Kanagra Walls is 200 metres on flat ground ending at a viewing point on the edge of a 200 metre high vertical cliff !! But the view is spectacular.
Kanangra Walls
There were also some very nice butterflies around - the main one being a Macleays Swallowtail. a lovely black and pale green on top of the wings and an almost irridescent green underwing with a touch of brown at the edges looking very much like a half dead leaf.
Macleays Swallowtail
After gathering our camera gear and deciding to leave the heavy tripod behind we started on the decent to the Falls. This is by far the most difficult and nerve-racking of any waterfall we have been to so far. It comprises a series of steps decending at a 45 degree angle for approximately 500 metres - in one spot there are no steps just bare rock and a metal cable to hang on to!!
Looking down and looking up
However it was worth it and the photo just shows what can be done even without a tripod and in very bright sunlight -- Camera was rested on my cleaning cloth on a convenient rock!!
Kaland Falls
Should you decide to go here make sure it has rained recently as this falls does tend to dry up. Good walking shoes and plenty of strength to get back up again!!
Enjoy the shots.
Pele Leung - Bill Bryson's Down Under, 15/12/08
Opera House, Sydney, New South Wales
Bill Bryson may not be the best travel writer in history but he is certainly one of the most popular ones who are still alive. He first dragged my attention when I first noticed one of his funny books - Down Under. In Down Under, he was not just simply reporting what he found during his journeys in Australia but also expressing his own opinions in a ridiculous funny fashion. His ability to describe details and convert an almost deadly scene into a playground we all want to feel and touch is his successful writing style.
His reports and comments on Australian history, culture, natural environment and political attitude make even a simple minded person become an expert of Australia in many people standard. From the exploration of Captain Cook, accommodation standard in Outback to one of the nation's loved sports, cricket, Bryson gave his say in both personal and factual manners.
"... I don't wish to denigrate a sport that is enjoyed by millions, some of them aware and facing the right way, but it is an odd game. It is the only sport that incorporates meal breaks. It is the only sport that shares its name with an insect.... It is the only competitive activity of any type, other than perhaps baking, in which you can dress in white from head to toe and be as clean at the end of the day as you were at the beginning."
Hill Inlet, Whitsunday Islands, Queensland
Yellow Water, Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory
His travel mileages in Down Under was high enough to beat most of the Australians. From crossing Australia from East to West via Indian Pacific Rail, driving from Darwin to Alice Springs, cruising the highway from Surfers Paradise to Sydney, to his visit to Cairns, his travel experiences as a tourist is invaluable to all others who are planning to visit the Great South Land.
"The people are cheerful, extrovert, quick-witted and unfailingly obliging: their cities are safe and clean and nearly always built on water; the food is excellent; the beer is cold and the sun nearly always shines. Life doesn't get much better than this..."
"You see, Australia is an interesting place. It truly is. And that really is all I'm saying."
If you want to see how your Down Under experiences different from Brysons, get a copy of "Down Under" and you won't be disappointed. However, you need to visit Australia first!
Peter and Jill Meyers - A Weekend Trip to Inverloch, 4/12/08
Being an Englishman and having spent most of my life in England I guess I have become "programmed" to want nice sunny days for my holidays and weekends.
The problem is, here in Melbourne, "nice sunny days" can quickly become hot sunny days and sometimes "unberably hot sunny days". Hot sunny days are not only difficult to enjoy on a photo walk because of the heat, but also because of the harsh contrasty lighting that bright Australian sun provides.
So it was with a mixture of disapointment and satisfaction we woke on Saturday in Inverloch to find grey leaden skies with a cool southerly wind and a hint of showers in the air.
"Never mind, lets get breakfast and see what turns up" we agreed.
Well a hearty bacon & eggs later the weather has still not improved so we decided on a ride in the car along the stunning Bunurong Marine Park coastal drive.
First stop, Eagles Nest beach. What a stunning location! Even with grey overcast skies.
The erosion which has created this visage boggles the mind, or at least it boggled Jill's mind. She took no less than 300 exposures in this one location, although in her defence she was using exposure bracketing because we agreed beforehand that in order to do this location justice we would need to create HDR images. Jill uses a canon EOS 40D and the high speed drive capability on this camera is great for handholding multiple exposures...much better than my Canon EOS 5D.
So we spent a good hour or more exploring "Eagles Nest" and taking lots of pictures. Once you get away from Melbourne city, the Victorian coastline, and in particular the ocean coastline is spectacular and rewards you with lots of rich colours, awe sinspiring rock formations and stunning location shots...even on a grey overcast day!
After we had finished at Eagles nest we drove on to several smaller locations along the coastal road before eventually deciding on an about turm and heading for "Venus Bay".
What a quiet sleepy town this is...or at least it was on the Saturday we were there. Like all these ocean beach towns it has several beaches. We walked down to "Beach No.1" and were confronted with one of the longest most isolated beaches I have seen...with just one solitary fisherman enjoying his undisturbed Saturday afternoon!
After a quick coffee and a muffin we headed back to Inverloch and decided on a walk through the nature reserves, easily beating the 10,000 steps demanded each day by our pedometer!
A few more photos followed and then a quick drive into town and a chinese meal and glass (or two) of wine.