Wellington point, Queensland

I managed to visit Wellington point, Queensland over the first weekend. This was my first out, since I bought my new Canon 7D cam.

[Focal Length 24mm, Canon 24-70L F2.8 ; 1/500, F5.6, M, ISO 100]

The camera is really cool and I liked it a lot. Less noise with the new generation controls made me purchase this ahead of 5D which has a full frame sensor. I really wanted to move on to 5D, since I have bunch of L series lenses.

[Focal Length 14mm, Tokina 11-16 F2.8 ; 1/60, F8, M, ISO 100]

But I couldn't justify myself being a generation behind with 5d. The guys at Brisbane Photography helped me a lot, in making the right choice.

I bought it from Photo Continental, with an Aussi warranty. The quality of service they offer and customer care is simply awesome. Way better than Ted's. ;-)

[Focal Length 11mm, Tokina 11-16 F2.8 ; 1/200, F8, M, ISO 100]

As usual, I couldn't bring my tripod. Hence, couldn't take the jetty with the nice shades of its own during the sunset.

River Fire 2009 - Brisbane

River Fire - 2009
After waiting patiently for over 12 months, I managed to find a *better* place to shoot this year's RiverFire. But not the best. Hence, I had to use my wide-angle lens Tokina 11-16 F2.8, ahead of Canon 24-70 F 2.8 L. It was bit sad, but I had to focus on the F-111s dump and burn , not just the fireworks. (You can click on images to enlarge them, I'm bit lazy to install lightbox, which does the same)

[Focal Length 11mm, Tokina 11-16 F2.8 ; 13, F9, M, ISO 100]

I went to the city (Brisbane) around 11:45am to find a suitable location to do my shooting later in the day. But to my surprise, at 11:45am, most of the handy places were occupied by hundreds and hundreds of people/families. It was filled with thousands and thousands by 2pm. I had to give up getting myself somewhere around the Story Bridge or around Kangaroo Point.

[Focal Length 11mm, Tokina 11-16 F2.8 ; 13, F9, M, ISO 100]

I left home for the RiverFire around 6:00pm, just an hour ahead of the scheduled time. I managed to take a cab and got myself into an "ok/ok" location just 10minutes before 7pm.

[Focal Length 11mm, Tokina 11-16 F2.8 ; 15, F9, M, ISO 100]

I was at South Bank, near Kurilpa Bridge, one of the ugliest bridges I have ever seen. I couldn't go any further down as the crappy bridge obstructs my view, unless I get on top of it.

[Focal Length 11mm, Tokina 11-16 F2.8 ; 5, F5, M, ISO 100]

Taking pictures of the fireworks wasn't my main objective but to capture F-111s doing dump and burn, across the river. I'm satisfied with what I've got, given the context how hard it was to find a better place and also based on the place I was in. ;-)

What is RiverFire/Dump and Burn ?
RiverFire is an annual festival hosted in Brisbane city to mark the end of the winter season. A large number of fireworks are displayed during the show where most of them are placed on building tops as well as on the Brisbane river. The highlight of the show is, dump-and burn performed by F-111 bombers.

The jets ignite fuel while dumping them off its tail, creating a massive flame. This is widely known as "dump and burn" among those who are familiar with F-111s. However, this is the final dump and burn, you could ever see off F-11s as they are decommissioned by the end of this year. Also, the RiverFire is the curtain raiser for the RiverFestival, which spans for couple of weeks.
You could also find more pictures of F111s, performing dump and burn off my older posts : Amberly Air Show 2008


-TW

Conrad Treasury Brisbane

Conrad Treasury Brisbane

This was taken awhile ago. Was missing somewhere between my laptops and just managed to get hold of this in my backups. :-D Taken on 29th March 2009.

[Focal Length 24mm, Canon 24-70 F2.8L ; 20, F22, M, ISO 100]

I didn't have my wide-angle lens by the time these were taken. Haven't modified much, just converted using ufraw. Generally, I'm not good at post processing. It's such a time consuming work.

[Focal Length 24mm, Canon 24-70 F2.8L ; 20, F22, M, ISO 100]

There weren't much vehicles since it was a Sunday. Couldn't get the beam I was hoping to get. Not totally disappointed at least I managed to take my tripod and take some pics :-;

vacation in sri lanka pics-II (April/2009)

it's been a couple of months ever since i got back from my vacation in SL. however, couldn't publish most of the pics which i took during my stay there. mainly due to the disappointment i had where i left my tripod at home, in brisbane. anyways, thought of putting the second set of pics. couldn't go thru all the pics i took as i was bit busy over the last few days .. but thought of putting these on.

[Focal Length 35mm, Canon 24-70 F2.8L ; 1/1000, F2.8, M, ISO 100]

i took this, on my way back. somewhere between nuwara-eliya and pusellawa. also the one below this. cool misty weather ... calm and quite environment .. fresh air.. water streams .. what else could you expect ? hmm... i wish i should go into the wild one day .. just like christopher mccandless. i have no words to express how much i love nature, wild, forests and to live a bit haunted life .. ;-)

[Focal Length 24mm, Canon 24-70 F2.8L ; 1/400, F3.5, M, ISO 100]

[Focal Length 70mm, Canon 24-70 F2.8L ; 1/4000, F2.8, M, ISO 100]

i took this one at the victoria park, nuwara eliya.. on the last day .. during our stay. i can't remember we went to haggala. normally, i don't like flower gardens.. sucks! but when you're in a group, you can't say "no" to your friends.. what to do.. poor me :-(

[Focal Length 58mm, Canon 24-70 F2.8L ; 1/200, F2.8, M, ISO 100]

same venue .. there was a flower exhibition .. managed to take this shot, while idling around . i like the abstraction. however, had to crop the image a bit to get rid of some crap around it .. ;-) the even organisation was very bad and premitive .. it was more like an event organised by a bunch of grade 10 students..

vacation in sri lanka pics-I (April/2009)

it's almost been a month since i went to sri lanka but couldn't upload most of the pics i took there. i wanted to take my tripod with me, but at the last moment i realised that it cannot go into my check-in baggage. which left me with no options but to keep it at home, in brisbane.

i didn't realise that decision was going be so costly, as i missed out so many great opportunities to shoot, at its absence. however, i did my best to do the justice to take as much as possible with what i've got with.

i stayed four nights and five days where the big mountains are. one night at bandarawla (bandarawela hotel) and three nights at nuwara-eliya (grand hotel).

[Focal Length 64mm, Canon 24-70 F2.8L ; 1/500, F2.8, M, ISO 100]

this portion of the land and the cattle belong to the "ambewela farm", located ~20km off nuwara-eliya. nothing much in this pic, but the cattle reminded me some of the politicians in sri lanka, so i thought of paying tribute to them by putting it over here. ;)

[Focal Length 24mm, Canon 24-70 F2.8L ; 1/400, F2.8, M, ISO 100]

the adisiom palace, located ~10km off haputale, sri lanka. this was built by a "brit" a century and a half ago.

[Focal Length 24mm, Canon 24-70 F2.8L ; 1/13, F2.8, M, ISO 100]

baker's falls, bit of walking required off the main entrance at the horton plains. to be precise 2.5km. you need to drive ~40 km from nuwara-eliya to here. the road isn't all that good and bit narrow.

[Focal Length 24mm, Canon 24-70 F2.8L ; 1/1600, F2.8, M, ISO 100]

i took this on the move by train, around ohia *again*, in sri lanka. i love this view. this is one of the reason why i always prefer to travel by train. ;)

first cup of wide-angle photography

well, i don't need to state how much i miss shooting with having a wide angle lens. a wide-angle lens is a must for someone like me, who's into nature/landscape photography, specially when i'm using a crop body.

[Focal Length 11mm, Tokina 11-16 F2.8L ; 1/500, F2.8, M, ISO 100]

plan for a wide-angle lens was pulled into two directions. norm was providing me with valid ingredients to stick to a full frame body, where there's no need for a wide-angle lens. but taken just 12000 shots off this crop body, doesn't let me dump it or use it as my backup body.

[Focal Length 11mm, Tokina 11-16 F2.8L ; 1/1000, F2.8, M, ISO 100]

after missing loads of nice opportunities where a wide-angle would have been a handy option, i picked tokina 11-16 f2.8 77mm lens yesterday. cost me $ 1100/= for the lens + hoya super 77mm filter.

this is the first non-canon lens i bought probably going to be the last as well. i'm not happy with the curve and soft pictures they produce. i went around south bank and took a few pics. the content looks fine but the picture quality, sharpness are not quite there.

[Focal Length 11mm, Tokina 11-16 F2.8L ; 1/1600, F2.8, M, ISO 100]

there's a *HUGE* difference between the pics i have taken with my canon L series lenses and with this one. yeah, no wonder why we call them L series lenses and the cost.

i rang suncorp and added to my insurance package. had to pay extra ~ $ 26 and didn't spend more than 8 mins to complete the entire process. hmm their customer service rocks!

on the move - somewhere around ohiya, sri lanka

i'm bit disappointed for the fact that i didn't bring my tripod. my calculations went wrong as i couldn't fit it in my bag, forcing me to leave it at home, brisbane. at the very last moment. (i generally pack my bags just a couple of hours prior to the scheduled departure time)

a trip to bandarawela was always on the cards as i landed on this beautiful country, sri lanka. i went with prageeth (forward), roy (midfield) and christy (defense) off the great soccer team ever produced by my school . the train was bit packed until we reached nanu-oya. however, i managed to grab a seat and take couple of pics on the move..

[Focal Length 25mm, Canon 24-70 F2.8L ; 1/1000, F5.6, M, ISO 100]

i believe i kinda like this one after bit of post processing, on which i'm not good at. ;)