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Archive for November, 2009

Day 48 – My last full day in Australia

Posted in General Ramblings on November 18, 2009| 2 Comments »

Day 48 was fantastic!!! We started off having breakfast near the coast line and walking through the beach front at Surfers Paradise. Later around lunch time, the whole family came round and we had a great time in the pool and enjoying some home brew beer! Yeah!!

Surfers Paradise in the distance...

A family photo... used flash at +1 FEV. Photo by Vania Cole.

Me at the Surfers Paradise gates! 🙂 Photo by Vania Cole.

Partying at my brother Cliff's home. I'm in the pool... 🙂 Photo by Cliff Cole (I think?)

All of us chilling out, enjoying the weather and having a beer! Photo by Owen Cole.

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Day 47 – Brisbane

Posted in General Ramblings, Outdoors on November 18, 2009| 4 Comments »

Day 47 was about seeing Brisbane! We went into the city on the train and wondered around. The river boat is cool and in general, it is a very nice place. Okay… time for some pics…

First up was a stop passed a Navy boat.

Interesting... looks like a mobile lighthouse?

Part of the river running through the town.

The walk way we used to gain access to the water front on the river.

A temple on the river front.

The temple door. What more can I say? 😉

I liked the elephant...

The temple was nice. Getting good exposure was quite difficult!

The temple entrance...

A view of the Brisbane sky scrappers from the river.

I loved the architecture of this building! Unusual...

We jumped on river boat and took in the sights and sounds of Brisbane.

This was the river boat we were on...

Cliff and Vania on our walk through the Brisbane Botanic Gardens

I noticed this boat on the river walk... hmm... interesting...

Hmm... how about this boat?

We walked quite a long way... very nice though!

Yip... it's me... No flash was used. I used the fill light feature of Lightroom. Photo by Vania Cole.

Cliff and Vania heading towards a different part of the river front.

We stopped not too far from here for a beer.

Another perspective of the river front and the bridge behind.

Cliff and Vania waiting for me to catch up... 😉 Photographers eh!

The view of where we had just walked...

I think I got carried away taking photographs!

I think the last time I saw a boat like this was on the Discovery Channel... 😉

Close up of the water wheel turning.

Me again feeling refreshed after a beer!

Brisbane is full of modern architecture.

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Day 42 – Owen Portrait

Posted in Flash on November 18, 2009| Leave a Comment »

On Day 42 I had an idea to light up part of the garden for a portrait of Owen. I used both my flashes. A flash on the right to highlight Owen and a flash on the left to highlight the background.

First, I took a quick test shot to look for any surprises…

As you can see, the plant leaf is very distracting! So I turned this plant around...

Now it was time to get Owen into the frame and after about 3 shots, I got this frame…

This is the frame I kept. The flash on the left is wide open and I fathered the light so it just hit Owen and highlighted more of the background.

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Day 42 – Heading back to the Gold Coast

Posted in General Ramblings, Outdoors on November 12, 2009| 7 Comments »

After our visit to Coffs Harbour and the surrounding area, it was time time to go back home. We stopped at a small town called Yumba which was lovely. Nothing flash, but had a lot of character and would be a nice place to visit in future. We then moved on to Byron Bay which is much more popular with tourists and back packers. It looks like there’s lot to do in Byron Bay and there’s always something going on.

The light house house at Yumba.

A retired couple admiring the view...

The beach at Byron Bay.

Great beach... The which is safe to swim in... 😉

This was taken around 12pm on a Monday...

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Day 41 – Dangar Water Falls

Posted in General Ramblings, Outdoors on November 12, 2009| 4 Comments »

Day 41 was about driving inland and going to a small town called Bellingin and not too far away was a water fall. We decided this was worth looking at and went for the drive. The weather had got worse unfortunately… Fortunately, I had my camera Storm Jacket which came in very handy!!

We stopped at a small arts centre in Bellingin and had this lovely floor pattern.

Hmm... scary!

The arts centre was just a lovely place.

This was a water fall on the main road which was named, Waterfall Way.

Yes... road works are everywhere in the world eh!

Dangar Falls! It was raining here and I used my camera's Storm Jacket.

Danger Falls from another angle.

A wider view...

On our way back to the car...

Dangar Falls is way up in the mountains. So on our way back to Coffs Harbour, I took this image from the car when we were in the clouds...

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Day 39 & 40 – Coffs Harbour

Posted in General Ramblings, Outdoors on November 12, 2009| 4 Comments »

Day 39 started out leaving early for Coffs Harbour… This is about 320Km from the Gold Coast. Unfortunately the weather was very extreme! This turned out to be quite exciting. I’ve not been a real storm for a while. The rain came down real heavy!! In 6 hours Coffs Harbour had more rain than Melbourne gets in a whole year!

The road flooding on the way from Grafton to Coffs Harbour.

The storm carried on through the evening… and the rain just kept coming… The next day the sun decided to come out and we did a few things which was awesome. We went to a nearby marina and took a long walk.

The marina below. We had just walked along the path you can see and we're going up a small hill.

Kim and Owen on the walk on top of the small hill.

Kim and Owen.

I liked this view of the marina path way.

Kim and Owen by the marina. ISO 200, 1/200 sec, F8, Flash at -1 FEV.

Owen on one of the marina walk ways. Program Mode, -1 EV, Flash fired.

After the marina, we went for a drive to Harbour Town a short distance away…

The Coffs Harbour horse race field flooded! Taken while driving to Harbour Town. ISO 640, 1/8000 sec, F4.

More flooding on the road side...

Kim and Owen. Taken on a 200mm lens.

Taken near were we had lunch on the river...

Another view... the water in the shot was from the flooding.

This is a bridge over the restaurant where we had a fantastic lunch!

Another view of the bridge...

After lunch, we took a walk along the river…

An on-the-river home. Notice the water level on the stairs!

I couldn't resist the reflection on the buildings on the flood water...

Hmm.. looks like Owen is struggling to walk any further after the large lunch!

Golf Course is flooded...

I asked Owen to stand by this wall... No flash for a change! 😉

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Day 37 – Evening in Coolangatta

Posted in General Ramblings, Outdoors on November 5, 2009| 5 Comments »

Cliff and I went to Coolangatta and we had a few beers… I took a few images of the beach area and Surfers Paradise… a few pics below…

Surfers Paradise and Main Beach at night.

Moon at night...

Taken at 4:30am in the morning...

Lovely early morning on the coast...

Hmm... Let's take the kite for a walk...

I guess the guy decided to Kite Surf after all... 😉

I used a polarising filter to remove the reflections of the sea... Taken at around 9:30am.

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Day 36 – Melbourne Cup Race Day

Posted in Flash, General Ramblings on November 5, 2009| 2 Comments »

Today I had to be a photographer! 🙂 My niece’s Gwen and Bronwen organised a visit to a popular race day called the Melbourne Cup. In the UK this would be the equivalent of the Ascot events. All the girls were dressed immaculately and they all looked great! It was my job to take photos…

I decided to the use the stair case of the apartment building and setup a single flash. I did 3 setups.

Stair case wide shot – ISO 200, 1/200 sec, F8. Flash.
Corner wall by the stair case – ISO 200, Program Mode, -2 EV. Flash.
Wall of stair case – ISO 500, Aperture Priority, +0.7 EV, F4. Natural light (no flash).

Here is a small selection of the shots…

My niece Bronwen.

I made the wall pop out to suit the image in Photoshop. This also looks good in Black & White.

I love the way this photo looks in Black & White!

Natural light (with +2/3 EV) close up of Bronwen.

Another natural light photo. Post production using Lightroom only.

Experimenting with different looks...

All the girls looked great!!

My niece Gwen.

A quick group shot before the girls got into Limo...

Girls ready to go off for the big day...

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Day 35 – Mount Tambourine

Posted in General Ramblings, Outdoors on November 5, 2009| 3 Comments »

On Day 35, we went up about to a large mountain range close by which took around 30 minutes by car. Where my brother is located, you have Coolangatta within 30 minutes and this lovely mountain range. The town of Tambourine is very “perfect like” and reminds me of a small village in Cornwall where everybody appears to be ever-so-happy!

Once at Tambourine, we went to the Skywalk in the forest where you walk close to the tree line on very high walking platforms.

Here are some photos…

We stopped at a lovely location for a coffee on our way up the mountain. You can see Main Beach and Surfers Paradise in the distance.

A kookaburra decided to join us for coffee 🙂

Surfers Paradise and Main Beach in the distance.

Garden furniture where we had coffee.

My brother Cliff on the Skywalk in the forest.

The walk around the Skywalk took around 45 minutes.

Its a long way down from the Skywalk platform!

The thick forest behind me! Photo by Cliff Cole.

Check the way that vine wraps round the tree!

At this point we're off the high platforms and walking through the forest.

The trees are really tall...

Me with my brother Cliff. Photo by Vania Cole.

Was very peaceful being here... listening to the water running by...

Can you see the Skywalk platform...

Me at one end of the Skywalk platform... I love that forest behind me! Was really awesome to look at.

Click on this image to see a larger panoramic view of the forest from the Skywalk platform.

A dead tree structure in the middle of the forest.

After the Skywalk, we moved on to a waterfall nearby...

The waterfall from another angle... Shooting in bright harsh light makes it difficult to get a shot where you can see the water running...

A very tame kookaburra! I love the way the bird is looking down. Taken at a 105mm focal length.

My last frame... taken at 200mm...

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Day 34 – Wondered over to Coolangatta

Posted in General Ramblings on November 2, 2009| 1 Comment »

Today we went to Coolangatta. The Gold Coast stretches about 40 Km and starts just north of Main Beach and goes on till Coolangatta which is at the South end. Coolangatta covers 2 states, Queensland and New South Wales.

Here are some pics from the day…