I was using the 50mm f/1.4. It’s been a while since I’ve used it for landscape and streetscape work so there was a bit of stepping back before taking a shot. And in some cases, a complete re-think in composition.

During the afternoon, I did see this:

Initially I laughed as it appeared to be a pigeon with no head but on closer inspection, it appears that the pigeon has placed its head down next to its body! This image has been cropped a fair bit as it was shot on the 50mm f/1.4. The detail isn’t too bad even with cropping with all the other technicalities considered.

A little further on, I noticed a dried half eaten fish sitting on a ledge. It made no sense to me as the street wasn’t anywhere close to the ocean. It did make a good photographic subject. If you click on it, it gets bigger and you can see ants crawling on it taking their share of the meal.

Yesterday saw me on location at Northbridge Piazza during a photoshoot for an article in the Perth Voice about the movie I am Bish screening this Saturday, 3rd of April, 2010 as part of a night showcasing local indie films made in Perth. The night has been billed as The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

The feature romantic comedy Making Love (The Good), a dramatic thriller The Joe Manifesto (The Bad) and a zombie mockumentary I am Bish (The Ugly). The screenings start at 6PM and is expected to run through to 11PM. This is the second screening of I am Bish. The third screening is going to occur at the Riverside International Film Festival in California, USA! This comes after winning two film awards:

• A Silver Lei Award from the Honolulu International Film Festival
• An Award of Merit – The Indie Fest Film Awards

If you’re in Perth, come along and watch I am Bish before it makes its international debut. This movie was made for less than $10,000. I’m going along to see my name up in lights as the stills photographer for this production.

When I saw these clouds, this was the first time that I’ve ever been truly fearful of the weather. Have a look at the cloud formation just above the fourth transformer tower from the right. That there is the start of a funnel cloud. I was watching it spin as it came off the mass of grey to the left. In that mass of grey is the Perth CBD, western suburbs and the University of Western Australia. I cannot imagine what things were like during the downpour and I can hardly believe the images and footage that have been produced. Even walking around UWA, I have a sense of surrealism. Only last week I was photographing my brother in his tailor graduation photography package amongst the well kept grounds. Yesterday, it was covered in leaf litter, branches and glass. Soon after this, came the hail and I ran back to my car that was parked nearby.

I don’t know who set me the challenge to get a photo of lightning in daylight. Whoever it was, I’ve done it. Here it is, taken just at 5:17PM, Monday afternoon. This is straight off the camera with only cropping. The sky was that peculiar turquoise colour and the lightning being sent down was purple. Soon after this, I ran from this location as a bolt of lightning struck very close by.

I’m alive and well. I didn’t suffer much damage. the only inconvenience I had was no power and the loss of a fridge full of food. My car thankfully does not look like a golf ball moulded into the shape of a car. I have more photos but I don’t have enough time to put more up at the moment. I will over the course of this weekend.

I do hope that you got through the storm safely where ever you were in Perth.

And one last thing, I was also interviewed by The West Australian about my use of Twitter, (my user name is @LoneFemaleTog). Here’s the article from page 19 of the early edition below:

Click on it for a much larger version. I’m still out of focus but you’ll be able to read the article.

If all things go right, I should be back with photos.

This has got to be the shortest blog post I’ve written yet.

It’s Chinese New Year. I wish you all a happy and prosperous year in the Year of the Tiger! And to any of you still travelling, I wish you a safe and swift journey to your loved ones.

This year I was able to be home with the family to attend Chinese New Year Eve dinner. Despite trying to limit the intake of food, I lost count of the plates of food eaten. It’s the only time of year where I do eat stupendous amounts of food. And later in the evening, I headed out to a temple in Northbridge with my grandmother to bring in the new year with a lion dance and firecrackers.

After this frame, I decided to put the camera down and shield it with my body and cover my ears as the chain reaction took hold. I always forget to take a pair of ear plugs along. If I ever do become deaf, I think that firecracker demonstrations would be a large contributing factor.

The red material around the feet of the lion dancers and performers is debris from the firecrackers. It carpeted the entrance to the temple. Here, the lions are being welcomed into the temple to bring good luck and fortune.

As I attempted to make my way to the door saying goodbye to people, the drawing of the door prizes occurred. It would be rude to leave so I stopped in amongst the crowd. I had popped my card into the bowl and stayed out of curiosity as to what the door prize was. Turns out it was $3,500 of search engine optimisation from the team at Hub Creative. And, yours truly won it.

Not sure what this will mean or lead to but I look forward to working with them. I may even get the website that I’ve only been able to dream about! Won’t that be something?

I’m planning to give it a bit more of a run-through later today and tonight. I have noticed some things such as the colour produced by this lens is much more vibrant than expected. Even though I thought I was prepared for a grainy image. nothing prepared me enough when I viewed on on the monitor. It did take a little getting used to. Having said that, this little lens is opening up new thoughts and approaches to photography. And for a mere $US76.72 from Photojojo’s store, (including postage), I couldn’t have asked for more.

This was my breakfast this morning. Bacon and eggs, (scrambled) toasted sandwich. Much needed after a morning run-around with Australia Post in order to get my lens.

The first photowalk was held at Kings Park with two participants, myself and Tim Pokorny. You may remember him as the photographer raising money for RSPCA Australia by offering to strip off once he reaches AU$520 with his Raunchy for the RSPCA campaign. If you haven’t donated, go do it. At last update, he’s reached $300 so he’s over the halfway mark.

A heads up on Kings Park, (Western Australia’s state war memorial), if anyone feels like visiting. The part along Fraser Avenue where the main cafe and flagship restaurant, Fraser’s is located is currently undergoing construction and a very serious revamp. There’s detour signs and traffic is re-routed to flow along one way routes complete with temporary fencing and earth moving equipment scattered about. In short it’s an obstacle course at the moment, for drivers and pedestrians. It’s all due to be finished by April 2010, hopefully before ANZAC Day. I don’t even want to think about how Kings Park fared on Australia Day but hopefully by ANZAC Day all the work will be finished. It would only be right, otherwise I would feel incensed enough to organise a busy bee to give the folks at Kings Park a hand.

Back to the photowalk itself. There were plenty of people about on Sunday afternoon having picnics or just lazing about on the grassy areas. We chose a path and walked along photographing things that caught out attention. Even though we photographed the same subjects, our points of view differed markedly. The results can be viewed here on the flickr group Camera Walkers. It’s a group I set up for anyone participating in a photowalk to do this and to share photos. Members don’t necessarily have to be in Perth, Western Australia.

While organising this photowalk, Dorrena Ortega of Shoreline, Washington asked if I would be okay if she could take the idea and run with it. I agreed and it wasn’t long that a facebook group called Shoreline, Wa Photowalkers sprung up and were hosting their own event. Five people participated on their first photowalk and it’s been lovely to see what the world looks like on the other side of the planet. They enjoyed themselves so much that they’ve already picked a location for their second photowalk. I’m still tossing up between two locations at the moment and looking rather disorganised. :p

A couple of people have asked about what camera equipment is required. There isn’t any restriction on it. The good old point and shoot, cameraphone, Hasselblad, film, digital or any other device that captures an image is welcome. Even an X-Plane should you have one which would be really cool!

Though what is needed is a sense of fun and a pair of good walking shoes.

I only wish I was staying longer. The weather is simply amazing especially when an ocean mist rolls in completely obscuring the horizon from view. The sky here at times dominates the landscape, no matter where you are. The weather changes every 15 minutes in Melbourne. In Esperance, the change can be as quick as 5 minutes and quite difficult to pick. I’m thankful that I packed a couple of jackets. Needed them today.