I still have heaps of photos from my asia trip i havent really gone through yet.
These are some i took in Shibuya in Tokyo. Its a crazy place, so many aspects of it seem like you’re in the movie Bladerunner. There is so much activity goign on. People everywhere, TV screen flashing at you, the sound of seizure inducing Pachinko Parlors, and the alleys filled with “Love hotels”. Its a sensory overload and i thought it was fantastic

I tried out a Cross Processed effect with these. I found a Cross Processing action which worked ok, but i still did a fair bit of my own fine tuning..
I quite like how they turned out, hope you like some of them too.
I think they look considerably better in a larger size, but i just used the automated flickr resizing to post them up here.

These first 2 photos were taken from Starbucks above the intersection. It has the best view, but unfortunately alot of people bumping the bench i was resting the camera on!

EDIT : I’ve uploaded bigger versions now, and will do so with all of my future posts.

Well this might be a little different.

My dad has just started a Masters of Studio Art degree at Sydney Uni and this is his mid year instalaltion (not final work)..
My dad’s work up until now has all had a classical style. He does bronze sculptures, and is a fantastic painter and illustrator (it pisses me off sometime.. Why didnt i get those skills!! haha)

Alot of people are probably not interested in stuff like this, but beleive me when i tell you its not just a case of whacking up a few object here and there. Theres a hell of alot of thought put into it.

I had never shot shot anything like this before, so it was bit of a learning experience. No effects have been applied to these photos, but it think i will later on out of interest.

cheers

Well i went to the MotoGP last weekend and it was fantastic. Beautiful day, great result, and i got a few pictures too.
So far i just have photos from the digital camera on the day of the race. But soon i’ll getting some film developed with photos i took in Melbourne, im looking forward to those.

I had probably the worst lens for the day, but it was better than nothing!
So here are some pics…

Danny Pedrose (who was on pole position for the race) dropped the bike in the practice lap right infront of us.. It was hilarious, he wasnt actually moving much at the time, he was accelerating from a stop and fell off the back of the bike, hahaha.

Some support Races etc

Then we had these guys.. So damn impressive.

The Podium.. Stoner, Capirossi, Rossi.

BEFORE

…

AFTER

Rossi is still a crowd favourite

The long walk back

Someone directed me to this Canon photography competition the other day. Its called “photo5″ and goes something like this;

“The first 2,500 photographers who register will receive a photo5 pack containing 5 objects. The challenge is to shoot these in the most original and creative way possible. Once you upload your entries, an expert judging panel will compile a shortlist before a final public vote decides the 5 overall winners.”

It looks like alot of fun, so i registered for it and now waiting to receive the 5 objects in the mail. A creative challenge like this is always fun, i just hope i’m able to give it some proper thought and make a good attempt at it all. Some pretty nice prozes to be won! I’ll also be posting my entired on this blog when i take them too.
comp details here : http://www.canon.com.au/photo5/competition/default.aspx

EDIT : I received the box today and have uploaded some photos. Pretty cool little package!

I wish i wasnt though..
The trip to Melbournce was fantastic. I’ll be writing more about it later when i upload my digital photos, and get my film developed. Hopefully they turn out.
For the moment i’ve put up something i was mucking around with the other day. Its just a collection of some mobile phone pictures i took in Japan. It’s nothing really amazing, but i like them.
You’ll need to view it at full size, as you cant see anything in the thumbnail view. (click on it)

Havent had much time to post anything up lately. Im going down to Phillip Island in a couple of days to watch the motoGP. I’m looking forward to getting some photos at the track. But im also looking forward to taking some shots in and around Melbourne. I find it really interesting, and a little more “inspiring” that most parts of Sydney. But maybe thats just the novelty view from an outsider looking in. Whatever it is, i like it there. I’ll be bringing my digital and film cameras to play around with.
Today im just uploading a pic i deliberately took in harsh lighting conditions to experiment a little. I havent done anything really fancy to it in photoshop, but i quite like it (well my gf is in it, so i have to like it, hehe). I cant concentrate on digital pics too much at the moment though, i keep looking forward ot taking my film camera out instead!

This is my other toy, another Olympus but this time the OM2n model. The one i have is in near perfect condition, with hardly any wear on the body at all. I doubt it has been used much in its life time so far, but that’s about to change!
Eventhough it was in such good condition, the batteries and light seals needed to be replaced. So i ordered some new silver oxide batteries (no the alkaline type), and then started my search for some new light seals. I stumbled on the kits made by Jon Goodman and ordered one after reading so many good reports. The light seal kit came today, so i really wanted to get started on it. This is what i did :

Below you will see a couple of pics of the old light seals. They have deteriorated quite a bit over time, and have just turned into black sticky muck basically.

The first step was to remove the remaining old seals. This was done using solvent and this nifty little bamboo stick that came with the light seal kit. It didn’t come out as easy as i thought, and took quite alot of time to scrape it all out. Next time i’ll use a more powerful solvent, the only one i had was some crappy biodegradable/environmentally friendly variety. Which just means its weak shit.

Next, i had to put the new foam light seals in. First i put in new rail slot on the back. Then a nice new fabric hinge seal. Both were pretty simple to do.

After that i had to move onto the hard bit, the mirror damper. This was actually really tricky for a couple of reasons. First of all, the area is physically quite hard to get to, and it was hard to get any light in there to see what you were doing (i should of done it during the day with some natural light). The other difficult part was actually cutting the foam to size. Adhesive backed foam cut at 2mm wide doesn’t want to keep its shape, and its easy to not get a bad cut. Using a Stanley Knife i managed to get it first go, but there has to be a better way of doing it. Below you can see one of the two “L” shaped pieces of foam i had to cut. It looks alot easier than it was!

After the mirror damper i was finished, and now have a camera with fresh light seals. The next step is the real fun bit, taking photos. I’ll find out if my light seals work, haha.

Heres a quick picture of my new toy i picked up today for the huge sum of $11.
It’s an Olympus OM10 with manual adapter, plus all the accessories you can see in the photo, including a power winder, 2 flashes, a bag, a couple of sigma lenses and a zuiko 50mm f1.8. Oh and 3 normal compact film cameras that she had lying around. I’m pretty happy with it all
And yes it all works which is a plus. But i’ve still ordered a light seal kit and some new batteries for it (eventhough the old ones still worked).
I cant wait to put some film through it and take some pictures!