What is Project 365? Well, if you are frequentor of Flickr.com you may be familiar with it as it is very popular among photographers. It’s basically a commitment that one makes to take a photograph for every day of the year (and then upload it to Flickr if that’s your choice of platform). I think if you are doing it seriously then there are other rules but I’m just going to do it for me so that’s as far as I’m going.

My main aim is to improve my composition and eye for an interesting photo by regular practice. As I only have a basic point and shoot I’m not expecting brilliant photography but I figure the science behind it is something I can learn at a later date when I get a manual SLR or the like. There is no point in being able to take a physically brilliant photo if my composition is shit. A good photo is a piece of art, in my opinion anyway.

So, you can find my photostream here for now and with any luck I will be able to add a Flickr feed to this blog later so that any new photos appear in the sidebar. Shown below are my photos for Tuesday, Wednesday and today:

The Ibis regards the somewhat jaded grafitti and is of the definite opinion that it is in need of an overhaul.

The first photo is already explained. Yesterday’s shows my brother’s amazing and wonderfully colourful piece of grafitti art that he did for Mat and I on his visit. I wasn’t sure whether to do a closeup or include all the surrounding rubbish. I opted for including some of the rubbish as I figured it depicted our “Life” which goes with the word “Life” on the art board.

This morning, as I was finishing tidying the kitchen I heard next door’s dog, Sparky, barking in the garden. I grabbed my camera and took the opportunity to snap some pics through the chain link fence and amazingly this one came out okay. He is the cutest little terrier (not sure what type) with the biggest sticky up ears I have ever seen

Our life surrounding Life

Come and play with me, please please please...

I wanted to go into the village and thought I start by walking in the opposite direction, head towards the north of Avalon Beach, then walk down the beach, cross the road and end up in the village that way.

On my way to North Av I found a wicked little footpath following a creek and all along the side was colourful graffiti. I assume it was legal as a lot of it seemed to be divided into sections so different artists could have their own canvas, so to speak.

It’s not the best graffiti in the world but I like it. I have developed a strong appreciation for the sometimes controversial art medium since my brother started to nurture his artistic flare in this field a year or so ago.

So much for a bracing walk. When I reached the beach my camera came straight out again and I spent a good half hour sitting on the rocks clicking away, trying to improve my eye for a good composition.

Once I’d finished with photographing the seascape I retrieved my bag from a nearby rock and proceeded along the beach only to get stopped by another photo opportunity. There were lots of Bluebottles washed up on the beach – a common type of jellyfish that has an inflatable balloon thing that it uses to catch the wind and drift along the sea along with long stinging tentacles. I’ve never been stung by them but it’s very common and it doesn’t hurt too much by all accounts, just itches a bit and leaves you with red wheel marks for a day or two. I tend to avoid the sea if there is a spate of them.

On googling Bluebottle to find out a bit more about them I was very surprised to discover this is an Aussie/Kiwi term and they are actually known to the rest of the world as the infamous Portuguese Man o’War! I always thought they would be so much bigger somehow. They are not jellyfish at all but siphonophores and are made up of a colony of four zooids. It’s fascinating and if you’re interested check out the wiki entry or I’ll be here for hours otherwise

This is typical of Aussies and their funny alternative language, what with their goannas (monitors) and white pointers (great whites). It’s good to know the wildlife is slightly more familiar than I thought it was.

When I’d finished with the Bluebottles I moved on to dead birds – there were at least ten poor bodies washed up on the beach after the recent storms – I thought they provided a fascinatingly macabre photo opportunity.

I’m not sure what sort of bird this is. From the beak shape I would hesitate a guess at some sort of petrol but on checking my bird book there are so many different types I really have no idea. Anyone out there an expert? Please comment below.

Old original header

New Avebury Beeches header

I took the photo for the new header back in May this year whilst we were on our holiday home in the UK. I spent a lovely day at Avebury stone circle with two of my close friends and came across this stand of beech trees on a hill just outside the main circle on the way to West Kennet Avenue. The foremost tree looks as though it is a wishing tree from the brightly coloured ribbons that have been tied to various branches.

I may have a further play with the format of this image as I think it could perhaps do with being a little thinner. I suspect it will impede on the first post even more now for anyone that is still using IE7. For now though it will suffice and I’m happier with the more personal feel it adds to my blog.

After spending a couple of days in Clydach with Chris et al, me Mat and Seb left on Thursday morning (23/5/09). We decided, as pre planned, to take a slight detour on the way home via Cardiff Bay so we could have a look at where Torchwood (off shoot from Dr Who starring the enigmatic Captain Jack Harkness as the main character) is filmed and take a load of pictures of the famous water tower.

We were a bit worried about finding the place as we didn’t have a map but we pretty much found our way straight there and then parked up in a muti-storey just down the road from the National Assembly for Wales building.

As you can see by the two pictures of Mat and me, then Seb and Mat, standing in front of the water tower on “the step”, the perception filter was clearly out of order that day, lol. Though on closer inspection, in all the photos I have, someone has always got at least a bit of their foot overlapping a neighbouring step, so perhaps this is why we were not invisible as we should have been.

I was pretty impressed with the third photo; after taking lots of different shots trying to get an artistic composition of the tower without making it look boring, quite by chance, the gull had flown across this shot at exactly the right moment. The tower isn’t quite vertical (tisk) and I couldn’t correct this without chopping off the top of it which is clearly unthinkable. Perhaps the seemingly backward lean adds to the impression of size and power or something?..

Here we have the Millenium Centre showing the words “In These Stones, Horizons Sing”, the title of a work of music composed by Karl Jenkins which was commissioned for the opening of the Wales Millenium Centre. The English is not a direct translation of the Welsh as is proabably assumed. ‘Creu Gwir fel Gwydr o Ffwrnais Awen’ directly transated means ‘Creating truth like glass from inspiration’s furnace’. A full explanation can be found here.

Once we’d taken enough pictures we went and had a bite to eat in Mermaid Quay before making our way back to the car and home. It was cool to be able to see the actual place of Torchwood, even if it is just a sci-fi TV series. Mat and I have both been reading the books too, so you could say we are Torchwood anoraks. We can’t wait for the thrid series to start: Children of Earth. Though unfortunately it’s only going to be five episodes long which is a bit disappointing. Still, I noticed on Amazon that another three books have just been published so I will have to get ordering those. In the mean time here is a trailer for the upcoming series:

My first thought was how I wished my dad could be there to see it, being a dinghy enthusiast, and so I decided to do the next best thing and take some pictures for him.

I’m not a huge fan of boats in general but I have spent some very enjoyable times with my dad out on his Laser 3000. Mostly on lakes, but we did have an adventure on the open sea once when we took it up to Abersoch in North Wales one Easter. There is something really exhilliarating about having to harness the natural elements, wind and water, and use them to your advantage, unlike power boats, which I’m sure are just as exhilliarating for some people but in a different way.

I can’t wait for my dad to come for a visit so we can go and try our hand at sailing on the vast expanse of Pittwater.

After Mat had left and I was just about to go into the kitchen to have some breakfast I realised I could hear a strange pattering of small feet on our balcony. It sounded like a small band of gnomes having a party out by the barbequeue so naturally I went to investigate. This is what met my eyes:

[click on the thumbnails to enlarge each image]

Of course I ran to get my camera and took as many pictures as I could before the battery went dead. At first I was worried they would all fly off on sight of me but unlike the other birds I try and photograph these cockatoos were true to their nickname – cocky! I was able to get up very close, within a foot from their faces, though I was not willing to try any closer due to their very strong beaks. When I used to try and stroke the lorikeets back in Collaroy they would give me little warning pecks and the thought of a cockatoo doing the same when their beaks have the equivalent strength of a Staffie’s jaws and could sever a finger with ease made me a bit more respectful.

I was quite pleased with these photos, especially the “pair of cockies”, hence adding this post to my photography category as well as general pictures. The morning was a little cloudy unfortunately and due to the whiteness of the cockies’ plumage the photos are slightly ‘blown out’. All good practice nonetheless.

Occasionally they would get a bit rowdy and start squawking at each other. It’s an awsome noise and when they do it in mid-flight as they pass overhead it makes me think of how terradactyls might have sounded like back in the day, very primaeval.

I captured this video clip as I disturbed them coming out of the bedroom door:

Fortunately, since Monday I have not been prematurely disturbed from my sleep by any noisy birds so I must have just been extra sensitive due to the stress of the move and tiredness. I’m guessing the people who lived here before us must have got into the habit of feeding the cockatoos, hence their invasion to see if the new residents had anything to offer.

We will not be feeding any cockatoos though; I have heard stories about people going on holiday and coming back to find their balcony ripped to shreds by the cockatoos out of shear spite, incensed by the fact that their feeders dared to abandom them for a week or two. Whether there is any truth to the stories or not, I am not willing to find out.

Whatever your take on art, it is definitely food for the soul and for the past year or more I have had the urge to create some of my own art. I have dabbled over the years in many different crafts but just recently got re-motivated to get out the acrylics by a course that was being run at the local college. It was a short course, just two evenings, on aboriginal art, but I have been so fascinated by the types of paintings that the aboriginals create and the deep stories and legends behind them that I was really inspired to give it a go. I also thought it might help loosen my artist’s block (my excuse for thinking about painting a lot but never actually picking up the brush) and help me find my muse.

However, after spending a whole week really looking forward to it, it was not to be. I had a phone call last Thursday to say that the tutor had unfortunately had to pull out due to personal reasons and that only two people had signed up so it was unlikely to have gone ahead anyway.

Very disheartened, I started to think about whether there were any other courses I could do instead and had a flip through the college pamphlet when I got home. After much deliberation I decided on “Photoshop for photographers”. You might think this a little odd but if you read any of my posts regarding my attempt at getting more into photography, you may recall me talking about the post-processing stage and how Nico demonstrated the difference between a good photo straight from the camera and a good photo that had then been adjusted and enhanced using Photoshop.

So, as Nico never got around to actually showing me how and what he did exactly, I decided this would be a really useful course and at the same time still encourage my artistic side, all be it in a different media. Fortunately I was not too late and attended the first lesson on Monday. We only managed to cover the basics of how a digital camera actually works and some of the settings you need to adjust within photoshop, including monitor callibration. All this in itself was very fascinating and technical and I look forward to next Monday when we will be starting to look at photos themselves and basic techniques for adjustment.

In the mean time, I found this photo saved in my draft posts.

I had meant to post it back in May when I actually took the picture, but for one reason or another never got around to it. It is a picture of the sun rising over Narrabeen Beach, taken from my little spot I used to visit around 6.30 in the morning before work. I was lucky with this shot because someone had just taken a walk across the sand and left a trail of footprints behind, something which I think adds a certain something to the composition.

Here is a similar one taken in portrait:

These photos have not been post-processed in any way (apart from reducing the size and quality for publishing on the web) and I have been told they have rather a lot of digital noise around the sun due to the limited capacity of my simple camera. Unfortunately I think this is one of the short list of things that can’t be corrected using Photoshop, however, digital noise or not, I like them.

More to come with better annotations but wanted to get something posted up at least.

As I approached the turn off to Fielding Street instead of turning right I decided to pull over into the beach front car park and take some pictures first.

The following are some of the better results I got and considering I did not have a tripod I think they have come out quite well (if you click on the photos you can display them at full size if you wish):

This photo shows the moon over the sea with a bit of Norfolk Island Pine showing in the foreground (a tree which is prolific along many beach fronts in the Sydney area due to it having favourable properties for making ships’ masts; in the olden days damaged ships could pull in, cut them down to build new masts and then continue on their way).

I have not post-processed these photos in any way apart from a little bit of cropping here and there. With this one I have used the technique of using the Pine foliage in the foreground to avoid having an empty expanse of sea and sky. I’m not sure if the composition is ideal, i.e. rule of thirds, but I don’t think it’s too bad.

This one does not use any foreground foliage to fill up the space but I have made better use of the rule of thirds and the grass in the foreground takes up more space. The horizon isn’t completely level but I believe this can be touched up in photoshop (I just haven’t learnt how yet). I certainly wouldn’t hang this photo on the wall but it’s all good practice.

I cropped this photo the most as to start with the moon was dead centre which looked odd and the whole of the Norfolk Island Pine was visible. By removing one side of the pine I think I removed it from potentially being the primary focus, which was not the intention, and also caused the moon to move off-centre. I made use of the interesting shape of the Banksia nuts and branches to take up more foreground space but cropped a bit more than I should have liked to avoid centring the moon again. I think that there is perhaps too much ground in the picture at the bottom but have not cropped it any more as this would centre the moon again. All in all I quite like this photo but think the composition has fatal flaws that I cannot rectify no matter how much I play around with the cropping.

I have included this photo, not because it has wall display potential (my ultimate goal), but because the moon came out so focused. Pretty good considering I only have a 3x digital zoom on my humble little Canon Digital Ixus 500 and was not using a tripod.

I’m quite chuffed with these photos considering I’m a complete novice. However, I welcome any advice and constructive criticism from more experienced photographers with open arms. Please fell free to comment away

Ok, so onto the little beauties themselves: These Golden Orb spiders are very common garden spiders here in the Sydney area (they are probably common in a lot of other places but I can only comment on what I have seen here) and this is a photo of one who’s web is just outside our front door, strung up over the Passion Flower.

They are charming little creatures because although they can be vast in numbers, especially over the summer months, they tend to keep themselves to themselves. From what I have observed they stay in their webs the majority of the time, which they build close to humans’ habitats. However, instead of a lot of spiders which tend to get in the way and can inadvertently string their webs across pathways for a poor unsuspecting human to walk into, these considerate little things seem to be intelligent enough to build theirs just out of the way. Whether this is a coincidence I’m not sure; there was one that spun her web dangerously close to our front door a couple of months back, but on leaving the house in the morning I had a little chat with her and on my return from work in the afternoon she had moved.

Here is another one which constructed her web between the Frangipani tree in the garden and the car port. I had to hold my camera at arms length to take the picture as the web was just above head height. This photo demonstrates another interesting fact about the Orb spider; they are very efficient spiders in that they do not spend time mending their webs each day, instead waiting until their web is practically falling apart before reconstructing a new one.

You can also see from this photo how they store their food all in one area of the web, although this one isn’t as neat as a lot I have seen. I have managed to catch quite a few now in the middle of catching their prey and stopped to watch the process. As soon as the fly (for example) gets caught in the web the spider is alerted to it’s presence, wanders over and bites it (I’m not sure if this just stuns the fly or kills it). She then detaches it from the web so it is dangling from her abdomen and spins it round and round whilst wrapping it in her silk until it is neatly cocooned. She then wanders over to her larder area, still carrying the fly from her abdomen and neatly reattaches it to the web. Sometimes this larder can be so neat the prey is all lined up in neat little vertical rows.

Here is a closeup of the same spider showing how scrappy the web is. It’s difficult to judge the size of these spiders from the photos but they tend to have an average body length between 1 to 1.5 inches, females that is. I believe the males are a lot smaller and I’m not entirely sure whether I’ve seen one of these or not. I’m assuming these are all females.

Anyway, there is a brief account of these curious arachnids, demonstrating that by no means are all Australian spiders to be feared. Quite the opposite in fact!