Wisteria's Scrap Book [Photography]

[[Desolate Divine]]

Mass updates coming. Had a big few weeks.

[[Desolate Divine]]

20-27/09/2016: A Week of Small Things
I forget how difficult it is to get back into the swing of things when you are out of it for a while. I had assessments due and was flat out with that. I got them all done on time, and am pretty sure I passed them. And I have been out to take photos a little. Just never got around to uploading them. This week didn't have many so I will put them here.

20/09/2016: Kids Program

Spoiler:

Once every school holidays, the people who run Kids Church at my church do a holiday program, that runs for a day. Each one has a different theme, and they have different activities and a show to put on for the kids. This one was music. Hence why I was involved. Myself and a few friends formed a band for it, and played a cover of Viva La Vida by Coldplay, and a punk rock style cover of Shake It Off by Taylor Swift, complete with guitar solos! As I am also somewhat proficient with a video camera and editing, I helped with the 'Make a Music Video' activity. This involved filming two full music videos in under and hour each and editing them in a tight time frame to premier that afternoon. The second in under half an hour...

As for photos I only have two to show, and I didn't take one of them.

This was the stage for the program. That guitar on the left is my pride and joy. I actually had a nightmare about it last night. I accidentally left it somewhere where the heat got to it, and it was ruined. I was heartbroken.


And this is me after. I was wrecked. I left my camera on the sound desk, and my drummer grabbed it and took photos, as well as one of the sound guys, who took a few selfies. Granted, not very flattering ones so I can use them later...

23/09/2016: Road Trip In The Name Of Photography

Spoiler:

This road trip turned out to be a failure. It was a last second, spur of the moment idea, and by the time we got moving we were racing against the clock. We were headed to Mt. Donna Buang, and if Google Maps was accurate, we'd have about twenty minutes of sunlight left. Just enough to get some cool sunset shots from a high place. Unfortunately, the road we planned on taking gets shut during snow season. What that means is that we drove the long way around to the other side of the base and up that way, missing sunset by a few minutes. My mate Nick (the drummer from before) had my camera in a car and took a few photos. Granted the only decent one (I am not saying that because its of me, but because of exposure, focus etc) is this one as we were backing out of the parking spot at church.

I'll have you know, the beard is much better now! Anyway, after we left Mt Donna (where I got literally no good photos!), we stopped at the Alpine Resort Hotel for parmas, then headed home.

24/09/2016: Pets

Spoiler:

Not sure why but on this day, I visited Nanna (I usually drop by when I'm bored and hang out with her for a bit. Plus, free food.). I took this opportunities to get some photos of Spud and Phoebe (try and guess which is which).




After this, I went home, put my doona on the couch, got my laptop out and worked on an assignment. I let Bonnie in, and she crawled onto the doona. When I got up, I threw it over her and she didn't move, so I got a picture.

25/09/2016: Church

Spoiler:

Once a month at church, the youth group runs the church service and we can do what we want. We decided instead of having a normal service and dinner after, we would incorporate the meal into the service, and rearranged the auditorium to suit.


When we were setting up for band, I noticed Katie, our singer, playing around with Michael's guitar, so snuck a photo, and actually quite like the shot, with the stage lighting and her being unaware of the camera. Also, see that screen behind her? We watched Pokemon The First Movie on it once... Be jealous...

27/09/2016: Back to Ringwood Lake

Spoiler:

When I first started taking photos, I went with a crappy compact camera to Ringwood Lake. Since getting my Canon DSLR, I hadn't been back, so decided to head back and see how they stack up. Here are some shots.













This bottle was there when I took photos a few weeks earlier...

[[Desolate Divine]]

08/10/2016: Hanging Rock
So it had been a few days since I had finished and handed in my final assignment, and I felt the urge to see more of the area around me. See more of my state. I ended up deciding to drive to Hanging Rock, which you may have heard of because of a book called Picnic at Hanging Rock. It took me a while, but I finally found someone to come with me. One of my youth kids, Lachlan, who is 15, and also into taking photos, though he didn't bring his camera.

Spoiler:

We arrived and the first thing we found was this...



It is definitely used to people in that kangaroos either flee or beat the living s*** out of you if you get that close to them. It was really cool, just chilling there, soaking up some rays.





One thing I loved about hanging rock was how natural the climb was. Like, they didn't knock out a heap of it to make a concrete path, but used the natural ledges as steps to get to the top.

[[Desolate Divine]]

14-16/10/2016: Spring Camp 2016
On this weekend, we made the roadtrip to Phillip Island. I took a fair few photos, however a lot have youth kids, so I can't upload them here. However, with the exception of a few, I can upload them to Facebook (I just need to find out which parents haven't allowed their kids photos to be put on the Facebook Page) and there is no rule against me linking that, so I will provide a link to the full album later.

Spoiler:

Michael and I headed up a few hours early to get all the PA gear set up. When we finished, we jammed.


It was getting to dinner time, and we had a bit of time before the rest of our group were supposed to arrive, so Michael and I walked over the bridge to San Remo so he could get food and I could withdraw some cash. On the way I took photos. I especially love this one how the sunset makes the tree glow.








I will post a link with more pictures once I go through the correct channels with them!

[[Desolate Divine]]

Late 2016
So I have actually taken a lot of photos, however haven't uploaded them. The main reason was due to me getting a new computer. I went from a MacBook Pro back to PC, due to the better specs. Tonight was the first time I have regretted it.

See, with Mac, and I loved this, there was a native tagging feature. I'd tag all my uploads green, all my photos to print red, ones to email yellow etc. And from there I just highlighted and uploaded or copied based on colour. Windows doesn't have this. On my Mac, picking photos and uploading would take twenty minutes max. This took me an hour and a f***ing half...

I decided to use Windows native Photos app. This was good. It had all my photos in one place organized by date. I'd just select the ones I wanted. So I selected about eighty. However it wouldn't let me drag and drop it into photo bucket. I had to do that from Windows Explorer. Easy, I'll just create a folder, copy them there and use that. Simple. Bulls***.

It took me a while to catch on, but what was happening was that for some reason, it was copying the files from temporary memory, and between me pressing copy and paste, it was deleting them from there. And somehow, a few photos I really liked and was proud of disappeared from their folder. That has got me pretty down.

In the end, I had to copy and paste five at a time. Just to make sure they copied properly.

Here they are.

Youth Unite and a new toy

Spoiler:

This particular Friday Afternoon, I spent my hard earned payslip from scrubbing seaweed tanks and making snail pellets, on a new lens. A 55-250mm zoom lens. This was a few months back. And I have had some real fun with this.


These are both my mate Ash. However the second photo is an example of why I wanted this lens. Other than being able to take photos from a distance, when zoomed in, it gives a really shallow depth of field, which is something I wanted to experiment with.




I also had a lot of fun seeing how the lights affected the drum kit and the shot. Note, this was at another church. Not my one.

Melbourne CBD

Spoiler:

My mate Luke has got this strange obsession with the city. Not sure what it is but he loves going there. Like, I don't blame him. It can be pretty cool. But he takes this to another level. Anyway, we decided to catch up and naturally, he suggested heading into the city. I brought my camera as I wanted to see what sorta shots I could get. This was the first time going in with my camera, so it was all new territory for me. We drove in and as we pull in the car park, the first thing we see is this.

An R34 Nissan Skyline GTR. Luke isn't a car guy, but even knows these are cool (granted that's from Fast And The Furious). This bad boy has an RB26DETT engine under the bonnet. A twin-turbocharged 2.6L straight-six engine, that spits out 276HP. The Skylines are most recognizable by their iconic 'hot-plate' tail lamps, and the R34 stands out from the bunch with the slightly larger outer ones, as opposed to the R33It was beautiful. I got two photos of it, however this was the worse of the two. The other one was one lost in the fiasco of trying to organize and upload the pictures.






When sorting through them, I couldn't view the full size image, and only saw a thumbnail. I really liked this one, until I posted it here and saw the full size shot, with the bloke on the left. The one in the center though makes the shot. And he doesn't even know it....









That my friends is a Lamborghini Aventador. It has a 6.5L V12 engine, that produces roughly 730HP if my maths is correct. It reaches 0-100kmph (0-60mph) in 2.9 seconds, and has a top speed of 350kmph (210mph). Costs roughly $960,000 here. A good way to show you have more money than sense. Why? A Nissan GTR (R35, which is not to be confused with the R34 mentioned before. Different car) has a twin-turbocharged, 3.8L V6. An engine just over half the size of the Lambo. It does 0-100 in 2.7 seconds. It only has a top speed of 315kmph (196mph), however, let's be honest, no average Joe will get it to that speed. It costs $245,000, however that is the most expensive one on carsales and there are cheaper ones. You're paying $715,000 more for 35kmph more. $20,500 per kmph (roughly). Hence why if I became rich as hell, I wouldn't get a Lamborghini. It is paying for a brand name.

Lorne

Spoiler:

A couple of months back, my friends Katie, Michael and Lauren decided to have a weekend away in Lorne for their birthday party. I couldn't stay overnight, so I came up and went home on the Friday. I arrived at the campsite to find it empty, and due to the lack of phone service, it took an hour to track everyone down. They went for a hike to the nearby waterfall, so we headed there.








This is the last photo I took before we found them. Getting to them involved a river crossing. I didn't want to go barefoot across the rocks, as my shoes were grippier and I didn't want to cut my feet. I got most of the way across the river, then SPLASH. Slipped and drenched my shoes.


One of the other people there brought his dog, who was a good model for my photography. Meet Darcy.


Then there was Michael, having a jam.




After a little while we walked the half hour walk back. I walked it barefoot, partially because I don't wanna wear wet socks and shoes. And mostly because I am stubborn and pig-headed and the others thought I couldn't do it. I showed them.







We had a BBQ for dinner at a park near the beach. One point of entertainment was Darcy making a friend, who looked exactly like him/her (I can't remember if it was a boy or girl). The other was pass the parcel. As I was a musician who brought his guitar, I played the music, which to a degree meant I could delegate who got to open it. Then when the parcel ran out, we played with a bottle of 'Death Sauce'. I made it land on Katie as we have that sort of relationship. Then another girl there whom I had a thing for for a little while, until I realized she only ever responded to my messages when she needed a lift to and from Bible Study. Granted she didn't know it was for that. Afterwards I headed home for another adventure which I will discuss another time.

Random Shots

Spoiler:

My mate Adam is going on a mission trip to Liberia. Being a fan of poetry, he organized a fundraiser with music and Poetry. One of the musical acts was Katie and Michael. I made sure to get a few shots. Granted most of them were either blurry (due to the low light and needing a slightly slow shutter speed) and the ones that weren't were all similar. So I picked this one.


This one was taken at Youth Group this term. We had it set up, and I decided to throw the camera on a quick shutter speed and get the perfect shot. I did it, even with the fairly shallow depth of field as well.

Ocean Grove

Spoiler:

During mid-December, the church organized a trip for the young adults to go to the beach at Ocean Grove. The meaning behind it was that the young adults hardly get to spend time together without the youth kids ending up there. And when Youth Kids are there, those of us who are leaders are responsible. We have tried to organize something without kids there, but people didn't get the hint and brought kids along. So this was good. An event advertised specifically for young adults. I decided to skip out on the surf lessons, and instead take photos. I got plenty, however they are mostly the same, and some people I don't think would like to have their picture put up.

Raymond Island: December 27th-31st

Spoiler:

I'll be honest, until Raymond Island, I had kinda lost my passion for taking photos. However being here really helped me bring it back.




This was the first time I ever really experimented with Manual Mode. I had done Shutter Priority until now, which would allow me to input the shutter speed I was after, then the camera would sort out the rest. But this was good for me. Forced me to actually use the concepts I had learnt at uni, and I really liked some of the outcomes. That and my phone absolutely s*** itself, so for the first two days, I had no phone and ended up using my camera a lot.


One thing Raymond Island is known for is the large amount of Koalas living there. Something I like about this shot is the wideness. I have spent heaps of time looking into zoom but not much on wide-angle. I intend on getting a better wide angle lens eventually.



This evening, we walked to the ferry and caught that to the mainland for dinner. As we walked out, we found the sunset like this, so we took a few minutes to get photos.


Then it was like this on the Island a little while later. I wish I had my tripod with me so I could have gotten a better shot. Because I couldn't hold the camera steady, I had to light it up with ISO instead of a slow shutter speed, which made it look really grainy.



This is BJ, one of the other families dogs. If I remember correctly, he is about 14, and stone deaf. I snapped this shot as he was walking around, looking for food to steal. I wasn't quick enough to focus it manually and the autofocus was just that tiny bit off.


This... This could get us in trouble... This is a sparkler bomb. Over the weekend we bought about $80 worth of sparklers and many explosions were made...




And this is my brother. I know, we look nothing alike. The first two nights, we were there by ourselves. Our parents weren't coming until the 29th so I had to look after him. I went out the second day to the nearest town to try and get my phone replaced by my carrier. Came back and he was burnt to a crisp...


This shot, though I like it, didn't meet my expectations. Granted it is my fault. My idea for the shot was to try and get the horizon, the water and the seat. I even looked up when the Golden Hour started and got there early to set up. Unfortunately, I could only have in the shot well lit and focused either the seat and the water or the horizon and the water. I got a new lens when I got home which might make the plan a bit more possible. I'll find out next year.












Then the fireworks. There are two lots. The 9:30pm ones to show the kids so you can put them to bed, and then the midnight ones. These were the 9:30 ones, as by midnight, there was no way I was sober enough to get a decent shot...

@Suicune's Fire @Pokemon Trainer Sarah @Neo Emolga I'm back...

[Neo Emolga]

I feel bad I fell behind with checking these out, and thanks for the mention poke.

I've never been to Australia and your photos totally sell the place. You've made me want to check it out so much more. The parks looks beautiful, the shore looks fantastic, and the Melbourne images are really cool. And that Lamborghini Aventador is hot, but that's a heck of a price tag on that thing! As much as I'd love to drive it, I'd be nervous as heck about something bad happening to it. I think for that reason alone, I could never buy an exotic car no matter how much money I had. Plus I'm happy with my Dodge Challenger anyway. :3

Also, I was always curious about what your church looked like, because I know you talk about it quite a bit in your blogs and I was curious to see how it looks it comparison to the local one I go to. Quite a few differences, but it's still a really nice looking church though.

Overall, awesome photos. The Australia tourist bureau should be paying you commissions to showcase these. :3

[Rival Max]

If these are taken near your place its very pretty there. Seems real relaxing to have nature like that all around you.

[[Desolate Divine]]

I feel bad I fell behind with checking these out, and thanks for the mention poke.

I've never been to Australia and your photos totally sell the place. You've made me want to check it out so much more. The parks looks beautiful, the shore looks fantastic, and the Melbourne images are really cool. And that Lamborghini Aventador is hot, but that's a heck of a price tag on that thing! As much as I'd love to drive it, I'd be nervous as heck about something bad happening to it. I think for that reason alone, I could never buy an exotic car no matter how much money I had. Plus I'm happy with my Dodge Challenger anyway. :3

Also, I was always curious about what your church looked like, because I know you talk about it quite a bit in your blogs and I was curious to see how it looks it comparison to the local one I go to. Quite a few differences, but it's still a really nice looking church though.

Overall, awesome photos. The Australia tourist bureau should be paying you commissions to showcase these. :3

Haha cheers. I do try. But there is plenty of church I haven't shown. Might take some photos there.

If these are taken near your place its very pretty there. Seems real relaxing to have nature like that all around you.

From the recent post, the CBD is about 45 minute drive, Ocean Grove and Lorne are about 2 hours south west, and Raymond Island is about 4 hours south east of me. Close in the grand scheme of things.

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

Wow you've been busy! The fireworks look amazing! And I love the basketball ring one! And the ones of Darcy, so cute! Lorne looks really nice.

What is that bug on the pole? Did you take that one too?

What does the new lens you got do?

[Neo Emolga]

Haha cheers. I do try. But there is plenty of church I haven't shown. Might take some photos there.

Cool, I'd love to see them. I've seen churches take on all kinds of different shapes, sizes, and forms. Definitely the ones in Paris were the most impressive (Notre Dame is awesome), but there are plenty all over the world that have amazing architecture. And even the modern ones still have a unique identity to them as well.