Where've I been since June 2009?

Yes I'm blogging again. Although Its been a while since the last blog about my travels, I've still been travelling, still taking photographs. In no particular order:

Tenerife
San Francisco
Sydney
Wellington
Auckland
Rotorua
Perth
Brisbane
Melbourne
Singapore

I'm sure I've missed a few. Anyway, over the next few days and weeks I'll try and do some catching up.

Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi to Tamarama

It was only by chance I found about this annual exhibition. And what a treat it is!

The sculptures are whimsical and fun and thought provoking.

Now is its 15th year, it is very very popular. We got there at 9am and had trouble parking and it was already busy. The effort the artists have gone to is substantial, knowing it'll all be gone in 10 days.

Here's the PhotoWalk I did

View Sydney Sculpture by the Sea in a larger map

www.sculpturebythesea.com

Bonfire / Guy Fawkes Night

As the UK gets ready at the end of October and early November, as it does every year, to have Bonfire Night, its amazing that some traditions like this still have such a hold.

From 1605 to the 21st Century. Thats 500 years and still going strong.

A proper Guy Fawkes night is cold and clear. There's a huge bonfire, kids have sparklers, and most people go to organised displays, although since you can still buy fireworks for personal 'consumption' many folks have a party in the own gardens. Before the advent of the large organised display we always used to have our own fireworks.

After some trial and error, my preferred setting for taking photographs of fireworks is

ISO 200
3s
f/5.6

The 3s exposure gives you nice trails. Go to manual focus, set to infinity, and set the aperture at f/5.6 or f/8. If the image is too dark then increase the ISO. I made the mistake of thinking I needed a small aperture, and also left the camera on auto-focus. Well mistakes are there to be learned from!

I used a timer device on the Nikon. Camera on B (bulb) and the timer set for 3 or 5 seconds. Take picture after picture. You cannot predict when you'll get something nice, so take as many as possible!

Here's some from a couple of years ago

Fireworks Nov 2009

San Francisco January 2010

From San Francisco Jan 2010

It was in January 2010 that I discovered a new photographic tool: ImageFuser. It solves a very common problem of dynamic range, but doesn't make HDRs with their hyper-real false colour.

The picture above is a fusion of 3 or 4 images where ImageFuser takes the best exposed pixels.

From San Francisco Jan 2010

Also on this trip, because its winter in the Bay Area, the clouds and weather are a little different.

Lovely!

Brown algal fuzz balls, Cagliari, Sardinia

From Sardinia

From Sardinia

While in Sardinia recently, we saw a beach littered with some little fuzzy brown balls, and the beach itself covered in a fibrous brown mat.

From Sardinia

It turns out that its an algae, from an answer here http://it.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080902051857AA7Z1iN, translated rather badly here http://translate.google.com/translate?prev=hp&hl=en&js=n&u=http%3A%2F%2Fit.answers.yahoo.com%2Fquestion%2Findex%3Fqid%3D20080902051857AA7Z1iN&sl=it&tl=en&history_state0=

"Si l'answerino well above says .. we call balls marine or marine potatoes ... it is full also of the coast and all the Arborea Oristanese. Are simply aggregates of algae, I think fragments of Posidonia, underwater plant, which the waves and underwater currents have worked to make them spherical. Are not only aesthetically damaging and ruining the beach a bit. In fact, in the beginning of the season means the mechanical harvesting and crowded. From little ones was a fun play in these huge piles of balls marine"

Little bit of botany here www2.units.it/~galilei/Tavole/tab123.htm "Posidonia oceanica 3-6cm, Fanerogama"