The collected works of ScottyB

The lens has arrived..

And boy am I impressed. Obviously, many Moons ago, I took a lend of a 100mm macro from my good friend Smurfn. Since then, the idea of macro photography has become an obsession. It’s taken me a while to be able to get one for myself, but that day finally arrived today when I picked it up from JB’s.

Wouldn’t you know it too.. overcast afternoon and rain shortly afterwards. Typical. Haha… Ah well, I guess that’s what I get for praying for rain all the time.

Nonetheless, managed to get a few snaps in before it was too dark/too rough outside to keep going.

The pollen pods at the very tip of a Hibiscus flower and the pollen centre of the Daisies out front..

Getting to the insect side of things again.. a local house Fly who posed on the back deck and a closeup of the head of a cross spider (reminds me of tinsel!).

View underneath another cross spider.. (we seem to have a host of these things around the yard at the moment!)..

And the last pic - not so much a macro.. but a pair of regulars to our backyard. The Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos.

Holiday. Ahhh, holiday. On Monday. The first of many Monday holidays…

As the previous post states, its been a muggy day.. but at least we were graced with another beautiful Sunset over the Belmont Bay.

Not the ‘ideal’ day to go take a walk through Glenrock Lagoon, some of the most dense rainforest within 100 kilometres - but that’s what we did.

Apart from it being horribly humid, with not a breath of fresh air to be found, the Mosquitos latched onto us the second we got out of the car and didn’t let up until we left. I still fail to see the purpose in the little buggers. Why are they here? Apart from spreading disease, they serve no purpose. Vile, blood-sucking pests.

Now that I have all the whining aside, we otherwise enjoyed a lovely walk.

There’s some new growth since the last time we walked the Yuelarbah Walking Track. While the June ‘07 storm did its part in destroying almost everything man-made at Glenrock, nature is impervious to its own destructive power.

Spotted this little dude on a leaf beside the track.. check out the eyes!

Just in front of us, this lizard emerged from its fern cover.. let us get pretty close before it disappeared back under.. comically though, leaving its tail out in the pathway.

More of those giant bull ants. I’m always impressed by their fighting will. One on the leaves immediately tried to get closer to me as I bent down to snap pics of it. Jumping from leaf to leaf, climbing fronds and vines. So intent was it at finding a way over to bite me, it almost fell off its perch. The ones on the ground are even more aggressive. They circle you and seem convinced that you are a always a threat - and their tiny little form has no problems with taking on a foe many thousands of times its size, all by itself. You have to respect the bravery.

FINALLY! I got my Dragonfly. Wished I had my macro lens today as they were everywhere. Bright reds, bright blues, bright yellows. Amazing things. This one spent a fair deal of time circling about as I quickly changed the 18-55mm for the big 300mm (currently acting - quite well I might add - as my zoom macro).

You;ve probably seen this shot before, looking back to Flaggy Creek in its infancy, before the water starts speeding up.

These ones too, view from above the falls, view from the side of the lower falls.

Looking down into the gully.. and a quite pleased Katie, doing the touristy thing.

A few new shots, looking back towards the walking path from across the Flaggy bridge and some more fresh growth on a broken Gum Tree…

I truly love walking through this place. Its a crying shame that its been seemingly left for dead after the June ‘07 storms. The second bridge is still in tatters, there are fallen trees, limbs, branches covering almost every square of path and its simply a shadow of its former glory.

Nonetheless, its still our local piece of exotic harmony.

Happy Australia Day (to any Aussies viewing - if any! :P)

The weather has been kind for Australia Day celebrations and right as I type, I can hear the familiar sounds of fireworks echoing through the night..

It was fantastic driving around today, seeing all the Aussie flags everywhere, people in their cars waving the flag, having huge flags anchored to their aerials and on the fronts of houses. Days like this make you truly proud to be Australian.. seeing everyone band together to celebrate the Nation and forget about the petty stuff.

Shame it wasn’t Australia Day every day really

Wish I had known where and what time the fireworks were going to be.. would have taken the camera out! Never had a chance to shoot fireworks pics.. Maybe next year! Though I guess New Years will probably be the next best opportunity.

Happy Aussie Day

Quack Quack Jill, a memorial to Ruthie Christopher, who loved to travel and meet Mini buddies from many lands.Ruthie spent time traveling with Quack Quack Jack, and her love for her family and friends was as boundless as Ed’s was. Quack Quack Jill reminds us of Ruthie’s kindness, and will travel, like Quack Quack Jack, as a reminder to us all to keep her in our hearts.

And so Quack Quack Jill makes the voyage to promised Novocastrian land. After an exciting trip across the skies, over the Nullabor, Jill was handed to me today by the lovely ClubMINI WA member, Ally.

While I never had the pleasure of meeting Ruthie (or Ed for that matter!) the essence of their spirit lives on in the form of the Duckie. And so he and she travel the world, meeting the MINI members and spreading the joy that always came from these two wonderful individuals.

For years I’ve carried the twin Duckies that Ed sent me way back when (Maxamini originals as they are often referred) so its been a wish of mine to have their larger, International siblings with me for some time so I could show them the wonders that Newcastle (and surrounds) have to offer. The little Duckies that ride with me have seen many a great sight, some beautiful roads, some sensational people. I only hope in the time I can spend with Quack Quack Jill that she too will see some beautiful sunsets and fabulous landmarks.

My interest in Photography was largely honed due to the opinions and feedback from the Amateur Photographers Roll Call thread on M2 - perhaps my favourite thread on the board - and authored, followed and loved by none other than Ruthie herself. Many a time we’d marvel at each other’s photos, dreaming of one day seeing each others’ imagery in real life. The thread lives on, as does her spirit in giving back a wonderful timeline of enthusiasts photos to the community.

We’ll never forget you Ruthie.

And Quack Quack Jill, we’ll show you the beauty of every corner of the globe.

Stay tuned for the Newcastle edition of ‘Where in the World is Quack Quack Jill’

Spotted today all over the tree out front.

We have no idea where they came from or what they are doing there. There are no signs of caterpillar invasion on the tree or any of its leaves, yet you’d think with at least 10-15 cocoons that I spotted, they’d surely have done some damage to the plant itself..

Strange. Unless they’ve come from somewhere else, but then why would a whole group of them eat another plant, all mass-commute to another then turn themselves into cocoons in the same place.. I don’t think Caterpillars are that social really?

It was a muggy day today, so sitting out in the Sun trying to get the best angle for these pics was quite unpleasant - also made exposures very difficult as obviously, a cocoon hangs from the bottom of the leaf and hence, is always in shade..

Must keep an eye on them, there was one hatched there, so maybe they’re all due to enter the world as their new selves very soon.. I’d love to be around to take pics for that!

I’ve lost count the number of times I’ve been driving home, only to see a fabulous sunset - then it hits me. The 300D is no good. You can’t take photos.

It got to the point where I was almost trying not to notice gorgeous sunsets for fear that I’d get all depressed and have to run out immediately and drop a K on a new cammy. Well eventually I succumbed. And just as I did, the weather turned lovely and rainy, overcast every day. Meaning while I loved the weather, I was disappointed that it was really only the backyard and insects I could take photos of.

Until tonight.

The Sun was around all day. It was a beautiful mid-twenties day, couple of fluffy white, cotton-ball looking clouds in the sky. A light breeze. And eventually, an impressive sunset.

I almost missed it. Too busy playing Motorstorm to notice the extra clouds developing on the horizon and the orange light washing over the front of the house.

The Seagulls seemed to be rejoicing in it, the first Sun for days.

Gradually the Sun ducked behind the clouds and eventually behind the hills on the Western side of the Lake. The temperature dropped, the orange and yellow hues subsided, replaced by blues, purples, washes of white.

It an amazing sight to see the lights appear around the Lake. Hundreds.. thousands of houses turning on the porch lights and interior lights. Like tiny little stars dotted around the waters edge. And the occasional Sailing Club breaking the darkness like the Sun amongst distant stars.

Keen to try out the new camera and some of the settings I’d not used since mid-last year, I decided to hang around until dark as it was such a beautiful night, and took a long exposure as the clouds rolled in.

200 seconds @ f22.

God I love photography.

The adventures continue..

Once again, plenty of crazy, unreal looking things spotted in the undergrowth of the backyard. It’s incredible that day-by-day, I keep discovering new insects and critters. The majority are completely new to me, some I’ve seen nothing like them before. And every day, they continue to surprise me.

I recognise a few.. a wasp, a spider, a moth.. sure - but what in the hell is that last thing?!?!

Arrived home from a hectic, annoying day of phone calls and crazy inquiries.. and the first thing I wanted to do was take some photos.

Mum told me that there was a little league of hatched insects on the mailbox.. this had to be worth a look.

I have no idea what they were.. they look like stink beetles or something.. all I know is they seemed fresh out of the pod, had little interest in me or any potential threat - and the local Ants seemed VERY interested in their existence.

Heading down the driveway I noticed another of those amazing coloured flies. Neon body and some seriously amazing opalescent effect as they turn around.. quick little buggers, but once they are still, they don’t move, so its quite easy to grab a shot!

Yet another from the Land of the Flies. Again, this was a new one to my spotting in the backyard. It was a huge thing, probably ~15mm long in the body, a bright yellow head and white spots all over its rounded, black body. Seemed to take a liking to the shadecloth in the yard.

A Kookaburra watched on.. smirk on its face at my antics as I ducked and weaved around the backyard looking for my next subject(s)..

And eventually I found them.. a small colony of Spitfire larvae.. busy (VERY busy) ingesting the gum leaves of a native Gum Tree.. at first glance, you’ll see only 4 of the little grubs.. but on closer inspection, you can clearly see the heads of some 30 grubs, systematically chewing away the leaf in a perfect dance of machine-like coordination. Took them all of a couple minutes to perform a vanishing act on the leaf..

I’ve decided I’m going to find out what some of these things are.. especially those flies. Half of them I’ve never seen before! Who knows, maybe I’ll discover a new insect and get to name it or something :p hehe..

After sleeping in until almost midday, Kate and I decided to head out for brekky and ended up at the Lake for some photos.

It was the first time out with the 400D and initial impressions = extremely impressed. There’s really no other way to say it. Everything the 300D did, the 400D does it WAY better. There’s no crazy buffer time, no waiting for it to write a burst to the card, no lengthy delays between switching it on or previewing photos or navigating the menus. It just does it. Exactly what you want and immediately.

Overall, its a breeze to use. You can point, change your settings to suit and snap 10 shots without the camera having a coronary or buckling under what you’ve just asked itself to do. The 300D took a burst of images like you were asking it to donate a kidney. It would think, wait around, consider its options and when it realised there was no other option, it would reluctantly hand it over. The 400D reaches into its abdomen and pulls out that kidney before you’ve finished asking the question. It really is that night and day.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature has decided to grace us with yet another hot, humid, uncomfortably humid, sticky humid (and did I mention humid! day?) overcast day, so the options weren’t great. However, my passion for macro photography came out on such a day. While I had strapped the 75-300 on with the intention of grabbing some shots of birds and boats, with the exception of a lone Seagull and Pelican (both of which were a little shy) there was really nothing happening of merit.

I did however, figure out that the 75-300 works equally well as a macro lens when used from a small (1.5-2m) distance from your subject.

Can’t wait to grab this macro lens this week…

Those of you in the know, know that my trusty, tried and tested, Canon 300D DSLR expired some time ago.

It had a long, enjoyable and hard life.

Everywhere I went, it went. It became my third arm, my own person developing a reputation for never being seen without the camera around my neck. To the point that some people even speculated I wasn’t able to take it off. Ask anyone and they’d tell you ‘Oh yeah, the camera dude’.

So when, after 67,000 frames, the mighty 300D decided to throw a mirror pin and decide it would only let me take photos in M (manual) mode with the lens in full MF (manual focus) it all started getting a little impossible. Gone was the freedom of catching a bird taking off from the Lake and tracking its path through the sky as it meandered and floated in front of the clouds. Now, I had to make constant adjustments, cast the camera across the sky and suddenly it was overexposed, underexposed, so a quick crank of the shutter in either direction was needed. Then the subject would change direction, further away, closer up.. all needed minor adjustments to the focus ring and constantly. A perfect shot was few and far between.

Sure there were exceptions. The Hunter Valley Gardens shoot indeed netted me some of my favourite photos. Considering the horrendous weather, almost non-stop rain and conditions for shooting (extreme low light, cold, soaked-to-the-skin) I was happy - and renewed in my photo taking, with the results.

So the hunt began. I got my finger out and looked for a camera.

Enter the 400D. And a great deal to boot.

Canon EOS 400D
18-55 kit lens
75-300 enthusiast lens
SanDisk Extreme III 4GB CF card
BG-E3 Battery Grip
2 x NB2LH batteries

And I was on my way.

Macro lens ordered and should be with me before the end of next week.

Stay tuned, its good to be back in the game

So apparently I don’t have a ‘green-thumb’ (should that be gold-thumb?) when it comes to goldfish.

4 months I’ve had my tank, 4 fish owned and 3 fish have left the world of the living in that time. One, fairly ill looking Fantail is all that remains.

I’m very much disappointed. I had a pair of Comets for about 6 years back at the old house and a single Fantail for about 5 years when we first moved here - and interestingly, according to the local aquarium, back then, I was doing pretty much everything wrong.

This time around, I thought I’d do it right, buy a nice complete aquarium and a few fish. Started with the 20L tank, carbon filter and some cool decorations for the bottom. Ran it for a while then dropped two cute little Fantails in. ‘Big Red’ as he came to be known, had a pretty severe case of swim bladder infection - every time he ate, he’d float to the top and get pinned there. The rest of the time he’d zip around the tank, happy as Larry. Whitey, the other of the two was a more placid, but healthy looking fish.

Two and a half months later, numerous peas and all sorts of treatments I could get advised on, Big Red floated to the surface one night after his dinner and that’s where he stayed.

Whitey, looking quite alone, was joined soon after by another two compatriots. A gold (yes, really gold, not goldfish orange) Fantail, “King Tut” and another red/white Fantail with a little black patch over his left eye, “Capt’n Jack Sparrow”, I dubbed thee. I like my Fantails. Finally I had three really healthy looking fish.

Then one morning about two weeks later, I walked to the tank one morning and there was Whitey, on his side at the bottom of the tank. Gone. He was a big fish, maybe he was just old.

Last week, after no prior warning at all, King Tut was found floating at the top of his tank.

So I begin to worry. Maybe its the carbon, its not due to be changed yet, but I’ll change it just in case. It could be the filter wool, its starting to look a bit ratty.. change that. There’s a bit of rubbish in the gravel.. buy a siphon kit and clean the gravel.. maybe the water here is bad or there’s too much ammonia.. take a water sample into the local aquarium - “Nope, waters perfect mate”.

Sigh.. so imagine my disappointment when I walk in to my room on the weekend to find my last remaining fish, “Jack Sparrow”, looking quite out of it, in the top corner of the tank. I wave my finger in front of the glass and there’s movement.. ‘Phew!’.. but only a slow circle around the filter and back to the same spot he sits.

So now is the waiting game.. what do you do when you do everything by the book, the water checks out, the procedures check out, the tank is fine.. and yet the fish keep dying!?

I’m at a loss..

Spare a thought for little Jack Sparrow peeps

EzyDVD’s “$1 Million clearance sale” was typically lacklustre. Everything good had already disappeared or was never there in the first place, bought online by the clever and the quick. The remainder of titles weren’t the best deals about - in fact, I picked up Serenity $4 cheaper at Big W.

Big W once again took my business, picking up Serenity for a measly $8.83 on special. You really can’t complain about the price of DVD’s out here, they are practically giving them away. I popped up to Myer and by chance, I collected a title I’d been after for quite some time now. $10.

Commando.

Yup. The Arnie classic. “I eat green berets for breakfast”. “Let off some steam Bennett”.

Ahh, the lines are as clear as day in my mind. I’ve not watched this one in many years, but I’m highly looking forward to watching it on something other than a worn out VHS. Awesome.

Tonight I went out with the intention of coming home with a few new Blu-Ray’s. Unfortunately though, there was no real incentive as the titles and ranges were pretty much the same as the last time I went in there. I don’t know what it is with Australia (or the companies releasing them) that gives us a poor selection of Blu films. OVer at High-Def Digest and even the Blu section of the PS3Forums, I’m constantly subjected to the US release reviews of Sunshine.. Cars.. Ratatouille.. or Troy etc.. only to check the release schedule here to find its not for 3 months. Or even worse, not even on the map at all!

Right now, I have a list of 17 films I’m waiting to purchase. The earliest of which is at the end of this month (and that’s if the date holds. I’ve lost count the number of times Troy has been put back/disappeared off the release schedule) and most aren’t even on the Oz release platform, despite being out weeks or months overseas.

I guess this ridiculous format ‘war’ stuffs everything up. The sooner its over, the better. Ah well, back to waiting.

In the meantime, I’m off to watch Commando. Action film making at its finest.

So about 2 months ago my PC died.

This is not something that I am used to. Generally I’ve had computers that lasted a forever. I still have my old Pentium 133 in the study wardrobe, in full working order. Hell, we even have our old Apple IIE and Imagewriter dot-matrix printer stowed away.

This was my first computer that officially ‘died’. i.e. That is, enough components failed that justifying repair and necessary upgrades were not possible - it was cheaper just to get a new rig.

I guess that’s the state of our throw-away society though. I couldn’t get the old P$ processor, couldn’t get the old Motherboard and the RAM wouldn’t fit the new Motherboards.. it needed a major overhaul, so instead, I settled on a new PC.

INTEL CORE 2 DUO E6750
3GB DDR2 RAM
515MB Nvidia 8500GT
160GB Sata II (and 250GB Sata II secondary) HDD’s

Operating System: …

Well that brings us to the topic of this post.

“Vista Ultimate or Premium?” I was asked..

“Ummm.. do you still have XP?”.

I’m an I.T. Widget. So despite my love of all things techy and the desire to always have the latest and greatest - or at least the greatest of what I can afford, I’d put off the adoption of Vista due to overwhelming under-enthusiasm for Microsoft’s new love child of operating systems.

“It’s too slow”, “It’s too much of a memory hog”, “It’s just eye-candy”, “I’ll wait for Service Pack 1″.

I’d heard it all before. Buyer beware, don’t get Vista.

And two months later, I simply cannot understand the mentality.

I’ve had no problems with Vista. All of my hardware is recognised and fully compatible. Its super fast. Its extremely convenient. The new GUI is not only pretty, but more functional. Its more foolproof. In two months, I’ve not found anything I can’t do in Vista that I could in XP. All my software works, even my older games work. And they run fine.

So what’s the drama?!

I really don’t know - maybe people are doing the classic upgrade we saw back when XP rolled out and everyone hated it. Installing on hopeless, old-gen systems and sure, it’ll run terribly. Really though, it looks basically like XP, feels the same. I just don’t see this ‘massive departure’ that I hard so many tout.

Regardless, the next-gen OS looks like it’ll suit me just fine.

Yeah I know. I’ve been slack. No updates in ages but (most of) you will be pleased to know that I’m not in fact, dead, as some have claimed. You may stop sending flowers to my Mum, they are not necessary.

So what’s ScottyB been up to since early November 2007 when the last entry was made?

The usual really, nothing spectacular, but everything that makes life worth living.

Time off work was brilliant. Every year the Christmas/New Year season arrives as quickly as it leaves, but every time around you’re left with a feeling of renewed spirits, relaxation and enjoyment.

Christmas was spent with the family, about 60 of us, parents, grand parents, great grand parents, cousins, aunties, uncles, children, grand children, great grand children, brothers, sisters, friends, girlfriends.. and for once, the afternoon didn’t end in people storming out or embroiled in arguments over who’s coleslaw tastes better, or who looks terrible in a dress

For those of you in the know, Nana has improved greatly. The experience has left her a little depressed of late though.. love you Nan.

Another year down. 2008. Wow.
I probably say it every year - in fact, we probably all say it every year, but where did last year go? 2007.. the year of new realisations, new friendships, young love and old habits.

Probably the greatest New Years I can remember. Dinner with three beautiful women, amazing fireworks, great friends all over the globe.

So what for 2008?

2007 was pretty good to me, I walk away for the first time in a long time having loved every minute of the year just gone. Thanks to everyone who was there for me, friends and family alike. You all know who you are Hugs and kisses all (distribute where appropriate :P).

So, 2008? More of the above please

EDIT: And yes, I promise to update this blog a little more from now on!