Thoughts on teaching, technology, learning and life in an era of change.

Archive for the ‘ Photography ’ Category

Thunderstorm across the Illawarra
November 14th, 2008

As I type the last few drops of rain are falling on the verandah. A storm just crossed the Illawarra coast. There was quite a great deal of lightning. I managed to capture one bolt. I left the shutter open for 10 seconds and narrowed the aperture.

Not too high tech or professional but it worked, at least for the photograph above. I have played around with the photography of lightning in the past. I am quite happy with the photograph below. After that shot was taken I went inside. The storm was too close for comfort.

Sri Venkateswara Temple
November 3rd, 2008

Last weekend Shao Ping and I took our Taiwanese homestay student Jenny and her boyfriend Ho Yen for a drive. We went north across Sea Cliff Bridge via the Grand Pacific Drive and up to Bald Hill to take in the view of the Pacific Ocean. We then paid a visit to Sri Venkateswara Temple which is located south of Helensburgh.

It is a beautiful temple. I shall be posting more photographs over time. The temple’s history goes back to 1978. The temple’s web site has a gallery of excellent photographs. We also had our lunch at the temple. We ate some prata with a rather nice curry plus some masala tea. Very nice indeed. I took a few photographs.

A glow in the sky
October 25th, 2008

Early this evening, well after sunset, I popped out into the backyard for a while. Venus was clearly visible in the western sky. There was also a long, straight and tenous glow in the sky. I took a photograph, leaving the shutter open. I rested the camera on a gate. The glow is barely visible so I emphasized it a little with ‘levels’ in Photoshop Elements. The image is displayed below.

Click on the image to view the original photograph.

Perhaps it was a contrail from a long gone jet. Whatever, it looked other worldly.

Wandering about Singapore
October 6th, 2008

Arrived in Singapore last night. Woke up this morning. Did some work. Then caught a bus and train into Chinatown. When I took the escalators from the Outram Park MRT Station up to street level I was struck by a wonderful aroma ~ rain. It was raining so heavily. It was wonderful. The rain smelt so good.

Grabbed some lunch. I took a few photographs around Chinatown. I love to see the old and the new mixed up. The tropical lush attempting, yet struggling, to reclaim its territory. Note the building below which is being retrofitted with elevators that stop at each floor. Previously, I think, they stopped at every fourth floor judging by the landings. One would alight and than take stairs up or down to your specific floor.

I went across to Bugis and Sim lim Square looking for a QuikPod but  I had no luck.

Grabbed a drink and took a few snaps of people. In particular, the Singapore Malay couple below who were dressed for post Hari Raya celebrations. They both looked so resplendent.

Took the train back to Boon Lay MRT. Like to see the bike racks outside the station. Should be more of that back home.

The Illawarra Escarpment
September 19th, 2008

A couple of weeks ago the students of our school participated in a walkathon to raise money for several charities. The students walked along the southern shores of Lake Illawarra to the mouth of the lake where it meets the Pacific Ocean. The journey there and back was about 13 km. I took 23,748 steps according to a pedometer.

During the walk I took a few photographs with a small Casio digital pocket camera. I photographed the Illawarra escarpment. I was standing on the eastern shores of the lake and, pointing west, took a few photographs of the escarpment. I stitched a couple together using Photoshop Elements. To make up for the differing exposures I adjusted the levels slightly. The yellow spot on the Google Map above marks my approximate position.

Simply click on the image to download a high resolution copy of the panorama [4703 x 959 pixels at 72dpi ~ 1.7mb]