i think this is pretty...

But I could be wrong...
I have a tendency to think this are beautiful based on how they make me feel....

hmmmm......

I have no idea on a name for it.
Maybe if anyone has a good one,
You could let me know?

Niece's Formal.

We all went up to Rocky to visit Ruth's brother's family, and to take photos for our niece's formal.
All went well I think.

Here is one of the heavily processed photos of the event....

I think many of the shots turned out well - but I had good material to work with!


Photogeeking:  D7000, 85mm 1.8 lens, flash being shot through an umbrella, from camera left.  Everything on manual.  Slightly underexposed result that was then played with in photoshop at different exposure settings (from the raw file)...  highlights accentuated by letting the over exposed version show through the under exposed version in different layers of the same shot.

Karate Grading

The boys and I did a Karate (Zen Do Kai) grading over the weekend... all very fun.
We are now all extremely lethal blue belts (which for some reason comes before green in this style...) - so watch out, we are all likely to accidentally break you in half while trying to shake your hand or something!

Here is a photo of the two boys in full flght.
There are also photos of me, but I just look like a grey haired old man who should be watching from the sidelines rather than participating!

Queen Mary Falls

Went on another wander through the bush today...
No injuries!

Had a blast walking around different water falls, including Queen Mary Falls on the border of Queensland and New South Wales.  A great way to spend a public holiday!

Myky got a boo-boo.

and a lovely little Tigger band-aid for it!

Photogeeking: 10mm lens, Flash with a shoot through umbrella above, a flash with a snoot (a light funnel) made out of junk mail pointing at my leg...

Fun and Stupidity.....

We had a public holiday for the Toowoomba Show.... so we decided to go for a bush walk...

The boys and a friend, Ruth and I went to Crows Nest National Park, about half an hour from where we live.  Lots of fun scrambling over huge rocks and playing with waterfalls etc.

But it ended in another lesson for me about not being invincible....

Xander was on one side of the creek, I was on the other.  I called out that we were going to have a race back to Ruth, and we started....  Xan sensibly working his way across the rocks on his side... me doing big jumps onto the sides of boulders to start to get back across....
On one of my last jumps... a tiny little water crossing, that was little more than a step, I did something wrong (I think it was just forgetting that knees bend when I was working out where to land)...  I rapidly became the proud owner of a gash at the top of my calf, nearly an inch deep....  somehow it missed anything important.  Out came the first aid kit and some quick Veterinary attention and a little woosyness (on my part of course) later I was hobbling back to the car.    When Ruth was dressing it later (it took some convincing for her not to muzzle me while she was working), she said there was a deficit, so it would not be able to be stitched - which as far as I can work out is Vet/Medical speak for - you left a lump of you on the rock...

It was said later that the deficit was not in my leg, but in my head.
Right now I probably agree.

Minutes away...

From doing a little talk at the University here.... I am convincing young engineering students that they have done the right thing by choosing engineering by telling them about my exciting career......
.
.
.
I might need to leave out some bits..
Wish me luck.

Its a NEW CAR!!!!!

Well, maybe not....

Because I am spending too much time in China at the moment, having my leased car is no longer an option....

So I am moving out of my auto-everything, insanely comfortable, quite fast car into.....

this.....

It will have its 20th birthday next year.....
To think that when I first moved to the US I was complaining about driving a mini-van!

One thing I discovered as I drove it back home from Maryborough (about 400kms)... modern cars make it soooo much easier to drive long distances... the week before I did the same drive in Ruth's car without stopping.  Arrived perfectly comfortable...
On driving back my new steed, I stopped three times, and enjoyed every stop.  Not having airconditioning, comfortable seats, cruise control... all those little things I have taken for granted for quite a few years!

Still justifying....

Last night I worked my way through all the digitial entries... today I took a vacation day to get some things done including the judging of all the actual prints....  Well over 100 shots in all.

Presenting "my findings" tonight... hoping I get out alive!

He who Justifies...

I am sitting here tonight judging photos.... not that I really think I am truly qualified to do so - apart from the fact that my "spirit name" is "he who justifies".....

The set subject is ABSTRACT! How on earth are you meant to judge abstract photos???

day after valentines day....

Happy Late Valentines Day....
this is the following morning outside a florist in Zhuozhou..

Hope the people who actually received flowers lasted longer....

travel....

Sometimes.... sometimes, when I travel, it feels a little like this.....

arty area....

a wide angled me at an one of the art galleries I visited in Beijing
on Sunday.....
ain't i all kultured n stuff?

There were ceramic pots in this installation, stakcked one on the
other up to about 2 stories high.... lots of other things around, some
that felt very Chinese.. some that would be at home in a modern art
gallery anywhere in the world....

don't it just...

I would not have thought so.
Still it is on the window.
Large as life,
You cannot argue with it.
Everything here seems to be embodied with meaning
The coffee, a hotel stay, a towel
I wonder if it sounds as corny to the locals?
Nonetheless....
Who would have thought a coffee could do so much.....
The door says so - so who am I to argue?

sculptor

This guy really was goshdarn good!