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Trip Through Photography

Shot the above on my way home. Heh, been taking various shots, trying different styles of late. Basically, it’s shooting outside my usual favourite subjects to see what I can come up with.

I’ve had the D300 for a few months now and the camera is starting to grow on me. Heh, unlike the D70, where I had to look at the various buttons to see what I was changing, I knew exactly where the useful settings were on my D300 that I could change stuff while just looking through the viewfinder. I have also developed a different habit of shooting photos that now I can get the shot I want 95% of the time, as opposed to a much lesser success rate with the D70.

The last few months seem to have been an explosion of new ideas for me in learning photography. Suddenly there is a desire to go look through new methods of shooting stuff and prior to this, I had a fixed idea on how photographs should be made.

Heh, I have reached a point in this journey where the technical bits are second nature and you have a rough idea what the camera will give you with certain settings.

For example, with the photo above, the way the subject is exposed looks very ordinary, but requires a little thinking as my dog Happy’s back is facing the inside of the house where there is no light source, so if you exposed for her body, the garden outside will be too bright and you’d just see a patch of white. On the other hand, if you exposed for the garden, all you’d get is a patch of dark hair on Happy’s back.

So one thing I’ve learnt from all the reading was that to solve this exposure problem, I would need to put enough light on Happy’s back to just fill out the details. You can’t use flash at full power as that would give a harsh light on her body. So I dialled down the flash on my camera by 2 stops and you get a nicely exposed body, without evidence that flash was used on it.

Heh. It’s these subtle tips that you learn and practise as you go along that help improve your photography. Like they say, a photograph is all about capturing the light and you need to do it in creative ways. I never knew that flash was such a useful tool and always shunned it for making pictures look washed out. Now I know better and I’m finding more and more creative ways to bend light to get the perfect shot.

Blip

Heh, every year sort of seems the same. You start it off, then in no time at all, January seems to have ended, and you’ve already gone past 1/12 of the year. Time flies when you are having fun, and the start of the year is usually the most exciting time as you have anticipation for everything that’s going to happen in the next 12 months.

Back to the usual crappy dollar coffees and slightly better tasting bagels. I like bagels with cream cheese, especially when toasted, so they have sort of become my staple here for breakfast while I’m in NY. Not the healthiest supplement, but it will do for now. Cereal in this weather just doesn’t seem to go down as well.

The jet lag is clearing up a bit, and trying not to sleep and wake up at odd hours too much.

Been reading a lot lately, which is what I normally do after hours when there’s not many people to physically talk to. There is an endless supply of material to read from the web, or forums to participate in, to either provide advice/help or to just catch in on the banter. The things I’m usually more interested in are either camera equipment, computer equipment or photography techniques. Heh, oblivious to my environment at times when reading as one just gets plenty engrossed in things. At the moment, it’s easier to just sit in bed under the blanket as wandering around elsewhere just consumes energy and makes you hungry faster. The weather doesn’t let up until around March, and I know I’ll tire of reading sometime so I’ll need to find other activities to do.

Oh well, need to sleep. Strange how I’m always feeling wide awake when I need to go to bed.

Back to Previous Ways

This is Arlanda Airport in Stockholm, Sweden. This is the fourth time I’ve been here. As you arrive by air, you can see a vast forest surrounding the airport, and the light was slightly different this time, as eventhough we arrived around 230pm, there was an evening glow in the air.

* * *

It’s been a whirlwind of 3 weeks, and I enjoyed it immensely. I miss home now, both Melbourne and KL, where friends and family make these two places so warm to come home to. Heh, sitting in an empty apartment alone in New Jersey now, and the temperature’s just flat at zero degrees celcius.

* * *

January just went by so quickly. Met up with friend from New Zealand who was on the last week of his holiday in Melbourne. Spent time with Vyanne when she was on leave. Attended my friend’s wedding and the days just went by and I just slot right back in as if I never left. Had a rushed two days in KL, with lots of eating although I had to nurse a cough and cold quickly before getting onto a plane again to get back to NY. There’s always lots to eat and lots to talk about when I’m with my relatives and family.

Stuffed bitter gourd, one of my favourite foods.

* * *

Not quite sure what to expect on Monday when I go back to work. Heh, just wishing that I will manage to get things sorted out this three months so I can finally say goodbye to New York and go home for good. It’s been a very big learning and life changing experience, but I know where I belong and want to be, and that is to be with loved ones nearby.