Day Forty Two - BFF

This is a day late but none of you care i'm sure. I took this yesterday but was way too tired upon getting home to attempt stringing words together.

Back at uni this week along with working a whole lot isn't leaving me much time to think, let alone to be creative with my camera. But i'll keep plodding along and producing, whether it's interesting or not. That said, this photo is probably one of my favourites i've taken in quite some time. Next week is the premiere for Two Wheels 'N' Pub Meals, our third bmx dvd, which means i'm also pretty stressed getting that finalised and organising printing and designs and such.

That's it for now. I'll be posting today's photo later on. Here's a couple more photos from yesterday.
Peace.

Day Forty One - Fatso

Today was my first day back at uni for second semester. That's second semester, third year. So if all goes to plan I'll be a graduate in 15 weeks. However I'll probably have to go back next year to finish things off. I'm not really ready to put uni life behind me just yet anyway. Uni definitely seems very empty without Dave though. I miss that guy heaps.

I also started a new job today at Mezethes Greek Taverna. Having never worked in hospitality before, I was pretty nervous and didn't really know what to expect. It probably didn't help matters when I rocked up at 5 and Stas, the owner (who I know quite well), wasn't working and had also neglected to tell any of the other staff that I was coming in! Sofia (Mama) offered me a coffee though. This is apparently a good sign. She usually hates everyone and everything and wouldn't offer anyone more than a slap to the face. Maybe she's taken a liking to me. Probably something to do with my baby face. As stressful as the whole night was, I'm hired and definitely glad to have the first shift done and behind me. I feel like I've been adopted by a new family. It's a good feeling.

Here's a photo of my friend Morgan's dog, Fatso.

Nikon D200
50mm f1.8 at f2
ISO 1600 (yeah) at 1/25

Day Forty - Melancholy

I was going to upload some snaps I took today but realised I hadn't taken any strobists shots in a while. I actually set up this snap in the hope of taking a photo of a passer-by. Just my luck, not one single person walks past in 20 minutes. I guess that's Hobart on a Monday night at 11:30pm. Probably a good thing considering if I was counting on a passer-by, there'd be a 50% chance of a someone very much lower class, or in laments terms, a bogan, smashing my shit up. I know the chance of that happening is very slim, but I still don't like taking my chances with the unpredictable lower class.

I suppose one in every 10 photos being a self portrait isn't so bad. One of my Vivitars was playing up too and not recycling properly. Time to clean the battery terminals I think. I don't complain too much when my flashes play up as I picked one of the Vivitars up on ebay for $7 when they usually retail for around $180. Apparently it was faulty but once I took it apart it was only a loose solder contact. Really not too difficult to fix. One day I'll have SB-900s. One day.


Nikon D200
50mm f1.8 at f2
ISO 400 at 1/80

Vivitar 285HV to camera left at 1/16th and 20' away.
Vivitar 285HV behind me to the right at 1/4 for rim light.

Day Thirty Nine - Hot Bird

I'm going to ask you to full view this one.

I'll admit it's not often I get an image this sharp with my 50mm at f1.8. Manual focusing with such shallow depth of field is fucking hard! Especially when your subject is a little bird that's just landed on the seat next to you and you have to snap a photo before it flaps away. This little guy was quite odd. He didn't seem too scared of us and actually hopped his way under the table we were sitting at before flying up to the neighbouring chair and posing for me. Some sort of finch I believe. However I could be wrong.

I do have lots going through my head at the moment and feel the need to vent. However, I'm hungry and my stomach takes priority right now. There's also the fact that not many of you could even care less. So here concludes another photo in my daily photography adventures. Enjoy.

Day Thirty Eight - Max and Jacki

Today was work and tiredness. Then coffee in the afternoon. Just some photos of friends. Not in the mood for much else creative. Using my 35mm f2 a bit more.

Above is ISO 400 at 1/80th.
The image below is ISO 1250 at 1/40th.

Day Thirty Seven - Distractions

I worked till 4 today and noticed a really strange band of clouds over the horizon on the way home. I rushed inside when I got home to get my camera and drove to the closest high point that had a clear view of it over the city. This was the best vantage point I could find before it was dark or the cloud dissipated. I didn't have my tripod with me either so it had to be handheld at ISO 400. I am also very aware the power line is quite distracting. But at the same time I kinda like it.

Not the most motivating day. I have work at 6am tomorrow morning again and have to get the bmx dvd done this weekend, including menus and cover design. All this and I miss Katie more than anything. Buh.

Day Thirty Six - The Shire

Max and I went to The Shire today and kindly asked a passing Hobbit to take out photo. He did his best. It came out okay. He was also kind enough to email the photos to me via his precious. I don't even know what I'm talking about.

Okay so we filmed more today with the cows. The lighting was quite nice for photos so I set up strobes and gear and we set my camera on timer and had a bit of fun. I'm definitely getting some decent light stands, umbrellas and diffusers with my tax return. I need softer light for portraits.
Love or hate I don't care.

Nikon D200
35mm f2 at f2.8
ISO 100 at 1/250th

Vivitar 285HV to camera left at 1/2 power.
Vivitar 285HV behind the tree on the right at full power pointing up at us for rim.

Day Thirty Five - Huh

These guys loved it. I marched up to them like I had a purpose, lifted my camera and pushed the shutter. I then lowered my camera, gave them a nod and said "how ya garn?!" and wandered away.

Okay not the sharpest photo ever but I still like how it came out. That's what this 365 thing is for anyway. Learning new things and experimenting. I've realised that next time I'm taking a candid photo I'll set my fstop to something considerably higher than f2 so both subjects in the photo are in focus. I'm excited to get a 200mm lens.

Nikon D200
35mm f2


In other news, I spent the entire day today down at the arts school with Tys editing the UTAS Ad after discovering that HDV footage captured on a mac can't be played back on PC. I hate cross platforming. Important thing is, we completed the entire thing in one day, even to the point of going to the post office and sending it off. Done. Now bring on the $5G.

I also had a run-in with an angry old man too after failing to pull out of a parking space when he stopped to let me out. Apparently that's an offence. The only reason I didn't pull out is because I was waiting for the four lanes of traffic to be free so I could merge over all of them at once in order to turn right at the next intersection. I love shutting people down two generations older than me who just can't seem to grasp that things might unfold differently to how they expect them to. This guy was so irate I didn't pull out that he slammed his expensive car into the parking space in front of me, mounting the curb and knocking his wheels severely out of alignment in the process. He was steaming red for some reason and approached me. Of course I shut him down completely with my wit and sent him about his boring day until he found someone else to have a go at. I believe he even called me a young fool. Apparently minding your own business makes you a fool. Better than being an old piece of shit I suppose. Also better than paying $200 for a wheel alignment.

Anyway that's it for today. I might take some more photos later on tonight. Here's a man having breakfast in his boat.
Sam.

Day Thirty Four - Jag Alskar Dig

I have the most amazing girlfriend in the world. =)

I recieved this photo in the mail today and I haven't smiled this much in a long time! =D She's been overseas for the last 5 weeks staying with Swedish friends and is still away for another 4. I miss her like crazy but it's little things like this that keep me going. The little golden creature in the scene is one half of a set of two little hugging figures that lock together in a hug when they're together. Katie has the other one at her house. =)

Jag Alskar Dig is Swedish for I Love You.

Nikon D200
50mm f1.8 at f4
Strobist
Vivitar 285HV to camera right and above through paper diffuser at 1/16th
Vivitar 285HV behind subject and bounced off the wall at 1/16th

Definately worth clicking through to the Flickr page and viewing large.

Day Thirty Three - Thirty Five Millimetre

It's only the 6th of July. I wish it could be the 6th of August already.
This photo would have been better to do on Day Thirty Five but it wouldn't have been as relevant. I got this beauty of a lens back from a friend today who's been borrowing it for the past 4 months or so. I'd kind of forgotten I even owned it and also how much I loved it. It's bokeh is so creamy.
I took this with the 35mm today which you can also see if you can't be bothered reading the rest of this and jump to the bottom of the post.

I'm still waiting on my group certificate so i can do my tax return and hopefully get a whole heap back so I can buy new light stands, umbrellas and a new lens. But for the meantime on the top photo, I used a Vivitar 285HV on 1/16th shot through two sheets of paper to camera left to diffuse the light.
Nikon D200
50mm f1.8 at f1.8
ISO 400 at 1/200th
In the background is my Sony DCR-PD150. Only SD but I still love this bad-boy and don't think I could part with it. That said i've been shooting footage in the last couple of days with the uni cameras and I'm starting to sway a little more towards HD. I think my vigilance to SD is purely born of jealousy and lack of money these days. That and my love for the PD150. I've also managed to incorporate Coopers into my photo for the second day in a row. Funny that.

I spent the morning and the better part of the afternoon at the uni catching up with my mate Mark and capturing footage Tys and I shot a couple of days ago for the uni ad competition which is due Friday. It's a good thing I have the next few days off work as it's going to be a frustrating few days getting all this edited up and ready for submission. Beh.

Okay so here's Ratty. I found him in the back hallway last week as I was making toast. My cat was making all sorts of noise out there so naturally I went to investigate. The rat was completely stiff and lying on it's back, still in crouching position. Poor thing. I'm guessing it was a victim to poisoning. Either that or old age. But either way it had no marks on it's body at all. Kitten hadn't even sunk her teeth into it. Of course now I'd found this rat I had to put him somewhere in my brother's room. All sorts of other ideas popped into my head too but I know too well in this house you reap what you sow. So i opted for Toby's room instead. Needless to say when he got home he thrived off it and put the rat out the front on the fence post that sits right next to the footpath. He's been there ever since.