Past Future, Stop and Go

The theme... well there is not theme here. I didn't really think about it when I was grabbing random old photos to chuck together into a blog. That would have actually made this blog twenty times more effective.

Now this is just a collection of random photos without any meaning.

Well really as the title suggests this is like the past but it is also the future, as in things don't really change as much as you think they do. Change is change until it is no longer change. That is the theme of this post.

Remember that saying "life starts at a train station". Well this post starts with a train station.

A campus.

This is the old Architecture and Design site. Well it is still there and probably looks the same. It was always so busy.

A camera.

...in the old gym, but it is still basically the same. Good old tape to keep the camera stable on the tripod.

A car.

Because I took a photo of it, now it is here. I remember I was driving up and down my driveway just randomly doing slow shutter speed stuff.

A jelly.

This is actually part of my corn project thing I done for photography class. The jelly part didn't go so well so I scraped it. I really didn't know what I was doing with this shoot, I just knew I had to do something to show at the tutorial(which I didn't go to but all was good but not good). There isn't any corn in this though.

A view.

This coastline is pretty cool. The beach. This day I did actually go for a long run(for me anyway) along the beach. That was pretty exciting because I hadn't run on a beach before. That would also mean this is around the time I went for runs like three times a week. I can only imagine how fit I would be if I kept that up til' now.

Another view.

This is Kilbirnie, it is where the airport is. There is also some roads and stuff. The ASB sports thing, fields, schools, and other stuff. It is from my camera so it is now here.

A flame.

Because sometimes you just gotta let it burn.

A drink.

Because sometimes you just need a drink,

A cow(s).

Because life would be so different without them. Just think about it, what if you lived in a country that didn't have cows or any cow products. It probably isn't a good thought when looking at the photo. They look so peaceful sort of. They just look bored out of their mind.

A light.

Lights are cool.

A cake.

Because it is someones birthday somewhere and everyone should have a cake. Not this one cause it doesn't look great.

A catch.

Because we all like to catch stuff. This bird has got some bread.

A body of water.

Because water is good for you. I personally wouldn't drink sea water though.

A contact.

Get a grip.

A train.

Life starts and ends with the same thing... Trains. This is the end. BB

....

Black and White and Grey, Always Enough

A bit of warning here, these are all Black and White only. I don't know much about B&W, it is a bit of a grey area for me.

But really, I was just playing with lighting today. Colour sort of gets in the way of light, shapes and other photography things. Just plain distracting and sometimes even taking away from a shot. Going Black and White is the easiest way to get away from bad coloured lighting or white balance. No colour means no colour balancing(sort of), I mean you still gotta pick how your B&W B&W's.

Today was kinda interesting cause I had left the campus later than I was thought I would be. Slight scheduling issues, just totally read test time wrong and it was an hour later than expected. To the point, I left campus thinking there was no way I could take photo's in this light without a tripod. Kinda need it to take long shutter speed, to get decent quality shots without blur.

Then it happened. Yes, I took photos, no tripod. To my finding, Wellington City has built in tripods EVERYWHERE. Long shutter speeds were coming. Paring meters, fences, seats, just surfaces where you can put stuff, and even those cone tops are perfect to sit your camera. Of course there is some risks involved when you have your camera on the edge from a deadly drop, one bump and the camera could be going to the grave, so always be very careful. Try to avoid very long shutter speeds(15+ seconds) in extra risky areas by bumping up the ISO or opening the aperture a bit. Is a better quality shot really worth the risk(the ground is not the only thing your camera can land on) ?

Another trick to angle a camera is prop it up with items you might find in pocket. Things like a wallet, cellphone, lens cap, camera bag(well that's in pocket but very useful). Only thing you can't really do in many situations is angle the camera down.

This is getting confusing and badly written, I'm referring to my self then using words like "your", then I just speak about things in general. This ain't some sort of tutorial, just a blog about my own photos. So I'll speak from first person in a story-past-tense type deal.

Also I didn't know there was a tunnel than ran under the terrace, just random, but it made some interesting lighting situation.

Walk down this pedestrian street all time, most because of the very nearby fast food restaurant. It is a Burger King of course. There has been plenty of work(construction/trade type) done on this little stretch too. This shot is simply called "Path" because you are set into one path coming out and it gets a bit crowded sometimes.

These are some seats. Not much to say about it. Just some seats, I've done plenty of these photos already. (But this is Black and White, surprise)

Old Buildings, and jumbled letters. Something here. Yeah, this is about the time I realized I truly missed my train, but I didn't really want to miss it. Just to get shots down the last stretch of road before I get to the station.

These shots kinda made up for it though. I just like this photo, The sharpness of the scaffolding. To be perfectly un-perfect, I have a feeling the previous photos weren't in focus because of this shot which is using the same focus and is really sharp with a closer object.

Another scaffolding image. I find looking up at something tall-ish that just goes straight up to be quite freaky. Like I just look up and there is height. This photo doesn't quite describe how I feel, maybe a wider fish-eye might, but you can see that height effect(which is one of the reasons I bought a wide angle lens to begin with.

Photos like this make me more confident I made the right choice instead of getting that 14mm prime me forgets the brand. That 4mm makes a huge difference in FOV. 10-20mm Sigma is great for me. I once said I could never go back to zooms because primes are usually sharper, but the Sigma lens is pretty damn sharp. The only major draw back is it is only for APS-C format cameras so upgrading to a Full Format may be a difficuit choice for me. Especially since I was eventually planning on getting the Sigma 18-35mm f1.8 which also has the same restrictions. Maybe I'll just get an 80D ?

More wide-ness, wide angle lenses were made for street corners. Well probably not, they are useful for many applications.

This is the place I probably walked past the most in Wellington ever. This very corner. Even last year when I was on my gap year. Well besides the train station duuuh.

Oh there's that place. Oh I must be off now, train station, check, yeah, this is the end.

This is the first time I've taken photos on my actual walk to the train station. That meaning, the walk I do most days on the way home. These are places I see on my normal efficient walk to the train station. Not diverging to the Waterfront or Newtown. These add a lot of time to the walk.

I probably won't be diverging so much especially with Daylight Saving, and by the time I get home, have dinner, edit photos, blog post, get ready for bed, it is already super late, and I have another 9am start the next day. It is really the worst of situations. I feel like it is a routine that I started. Probably start week-long blog shoots. Just for a change of scenery. I do shoot during the week but just don't post them onto the blog. Holiday shoots are definitely going to be heaps of fun. Actually being able to dedicate a whole day to a shoot sounds amazing.

I'm surprised this shoot got this far though. In fact, most of my shoots I only come up with after I start my journey to the train station. Some weeks have honestly been bad but just my opinion.

I enjoy writing in the blog, like actual writing. Well bad writing but writing still. It gives content to the photos.

Have a good week people that don't read, I really think no one reads this crap so that's why I write in a blog lols.

GG

VanSanDam outta here

vansanity checking out

Very Fast Van blasting off (worst nick name ever)

The Van has left the building

Writing my own name heaps just feels weird, I'm gone, not forever, for this week though. BYE

Slow Week, Slow Lens

Week 6 ? I think, yep, week hash tag six.

It is almost mid term, but that come fast enough so here are some slow things to remind you that things are slow. Keep watching, you might miss them if you fall asleep on the train. Although I have never missed my train stop before. That was not flow.

I decided all these photos would be in no particular order so that I could tell the story in reverse the right way round starting from the middle then flashing forward flashing backward no flash though just straight up lens on light action.

I like to call this photo "Ijustgothelensandwaswalkingalongthewaterfrontonthewayhomeafter"

Only one word is really needed to describe that one.

This one was interesting because I actually got no good shots that whole night including this one. That was a disappointing cold night at the wharf. But that's all the fun really.

Photoshop'd this one. The exposure was terribly low but thanks to the magic of Camera RAW you can bump up the exposure quite a bit without it being too terrible. Straight stars on lens. From the same night.

 This is what you do when nothing else is working for you.

Just think outside the box. Although it would be nice, the photo is within the constraints of a box which is kind of impossible with photography. Not IMPOSSIBLE though. Maybe one day there will be ovular sensors and you view them on spherical monitors, and that'll be really normal.

Shots, Shots, Shots, Shots, Shots, Shots, Shots, Shots

And then the Wainuiamata Lookout.

Photos don't need focus, this has that "didntcareaboutshutterspeedormovementwhentakingthephoto" type look. All about being creative with shooting. Remember, think outside the ball playing field rectangle.

How do you feel when you are traveling down an escalator, probably not like sick. Flown down.

 The final photo of the day. Lights are interesting. All sorts of lights, mountains, hills, snowboards, cats, dogs, water, sand. This one is on street lights though(I think). Who knows though, maybe you can reverse engineer long shutter speed shots and get an original sharp photo. Maybe that is the future of post processing. Future me will tell me that in 50 years. See you in 50 years, 50 years later me. Well I hope anyway.

Stay Creative out there, get the shot, get that shot.

Good Luck with your ventures out in the world.

Piece out.