Photo Funia

The things you do on holidays. I've been playing with the boys and when they're asleep with a website called 'Photo Funia', where you can do amazing things with your photos.

Grandparents Time

We're at Rye on the Mornington Peninsula for a week and a half, spending time with Sonya, Bernie and the grandsons.

We're staying in Weeeroona B & B in Rye, in a fabulous unit. After yet another trip to a local Telstra Shop to get our internet access fixed, we've finally settled in.

 The unit is called "The Tuscan' here hidden under the vines, in a French fashion, all the paintings and decor are of French origin. More photos will probably be on Diane's Blog.

Interesting what you read in Visitor's books, this one in ours. (Luckily from October).

But of course, the star attractions are the boys from L.A.

Granddaddy is discussing world politics with the boys.

While grandma is story telling

Banjo

Fox

A selfie with Fox

Happy Christmas

I wish everyone a

SEE YOU IN THE NEW YEAR

Light Box

We're doing Food Photography on Monday at the U3A Camera Club meeting. It was time to make a light box to take along for better results. A light box is basically what it says, a box with a light source to prevent shadows of the product to be photographed. You can buy a professional light box at an inflated price, or you can just make one. which I did.

I started with an ordinary run of the mill, but sturdy,  cardboard box

I then removed the lids and glued the bottom flaps firmly in place.. I covered the jagged edges with silver duct tape left over from my air conditioning days.

I had an old floor standing lamp we haven't used for a long time, so I detached the stand and disgarded it. Next I measured the diameter of the light and cut a circular hole into the side which is now the top of the light box.

I painted the inside top and sides of the cardboard box with white emulsion paint. Two coats.

The secret is to paint the inside of the light box white so that it bounces the light source all around the inside preventing nasty shadows of the product.

I cut a large piece of white cardboard the side of the back and bottom and glued it into the inside. It is important to shape the bottom back slightly curved so that the edge doesn't show in the photographs.

I finally place the light on top of the circular opening on top, turn it on and the result is a nice even white light inside the box.

Unfortunately, I am not happy with the light at this stage, as the only bulbs I could find are giving off a light which is too warm. So I have to set the white balance before every shoot, until I can buy a proper photographic light bulb next week.

But this box will do for Monday morning's meeting.

O'Reilly's, Lamington National Park

We've just spent a couple of days at O'Reilly's with a few friends from the Birthday Bear Group. O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat is in the Lamington National Park on the Gold Coast Hinterland. It has a lot of interesting birdlife and I was able to see (for the first time) a couple of Whip Birds and a Rufus Wagtail, on a walk early one morning.

Here is the (re-edited) version of a short movie I made.

Photographer Ansel Adams

I've been into monochrome photography ever since I was in my early 20s in Switzerland when I had my own darkroom. An interest, I recently redeveloped, when our camera club discussed the subject of Black and White Photography.  We looked at the works of Ansel Adams. What a surprise then when we got to the National Maritime Museum recently on my visit to Sydney and discovered they had an Ansel Adams Exhibition, 'From Mountains to the Sea'.

Ansel Adams was a gifted American photographer and passionate conservationist born in San Francisco in 1902. A solitary and shy child, he left school at the age of 12 to be tutored at home where he could also explore the nearby beaches, sand dunes and waterways of San Francisco Bay. In his 20s, Adams became interested in photography, attending camera club meetings and visiting photographic exhibitions.

In the picture below, one of the most epic of Adams's landscapes, humanity is signalled by a field of scattered crosses in the foreground. The settlement itself makes an irregular rhythm from left to right, in contrast to the fling horizontals of the mountain range and the swift, painterly markings in the sky.

Moonrise over Hernandez, New Mexico 1941

Adams is famous for his photographs of the vast and dramatic landscapes of Yosemite National Park he visited for the first time in 1916. In 1919 he became a member of the Sierra Club, a group of dedicated to wilderness conservation and activism, an important influence in his 60 years career.

Water was one of Ansel Adams favourite subjects. He photographed it consistently and repeatedly from his first picture in 1915 until his death in 1984. He became fascinated in shipwrecks he discovered on the Pacific headlands and in crashing waves and seascapes.

With his pictures of water, Adams pioneered new directions in photography. he was a leading figure in a groundbreaking group of Modern artists who believed that photographers should embrace the mechanical qualities of camera and lens, making pictures that looked like no other art form

Seeing this exhibition alone was worth the trip to Sydney

Sydney Maritime Museum

I'm in Sydney for a couple of days. Saturday Carol and David took me to the National Maritime Museum at Darling Harbour. We took a ferry from Rose Bay to Circular Quay where we changed to another ferry to Darling Harbour.

We sailed past Sonya's old workplace 'The Sydney Opera House'

Then under the Sydney Harbour Bridge

After lunch at the Museum Restaurant 'Yots', we boarded the 'Onslow', an Oberon type submarine, open to the public.

HMAS Onslow is anchored next to HMAS Vampire, a destroyer

The Onslow was commissioned during the Cold War, a tense time that called for a submarine to watch, listen and collect information without detection. The most secretive work was tracking Soviet submarines moving into the Arabian Gulf from Vladivostok via the Coral Sea and the Great Australian Bight.

The sub was steered by the Coxswain, usually a NCO

A very impressive engine room

On the way out of the HMAS Onslow, we explored the Destroyer HMAS Vampire, Australia's largest museum vessel, which is the last of the country's big gun ships. After this, Australia's fighting ships were equipped with missile weaponry. The Daring class were the largest destroyers built in Australia. These powerful, fast ships were designed principally for the machinery and weapons of war. One look at the cramped living spaces onboard and you will see that comfort came a poor second!

Control Panels

Full Steam Ahead, Coxswain.

Able Seaman Dave and Able Seaman Bill

Point the Guns at the City