Follow the madness! Alice, you know, once did

Originally published 28 November 2020

So, uhh… Covid. Yep.

Luckily we didn’t/don’t have it as bad as other countries but it sure did put a dampener on things, especially the going outside part. I obviously didn’t have much activity here since early this year, but funnily enough I noticed that the site has had a few visits every now and then (outside of when I specifically told other people about it). I always write this predominantly for an audience of one (“Future Me” when I look back at what I did) so the idea that some random people out there have stumbled across this blog still amuses me.

Anyway, I’m trying to think of project ideas or other activities I could do during this time for future blog posts. In the meantime, here’s a few shots from the pre-Covid days.

Early March this year we popped by the Wonderland exhibit at Te Papa. It was basically an exhibit on the history of Alice, from Lewis Carroll’s creation to contemporary media portrayals.

*17.5mm, f/1.2, 1/200s ISO 5000 | Voigtlander 17.5mm f/0.95*

I expected that the place wouldn’t be brightly lit so I took the Voigtlander 17.5mm for a spin. The Voigtlander 42.5mm is probably my favourite lens to shoot with, although it can get sidelined depending on what I’m photographing. Because the Voigtlander is fully manual, I don’t always trust myself to be quick enough with the focusing so I’d use an auto-focus lens instead for quicker subjects/scenes. The Voigtlander 17.5mm is in the same boat, even more so as I still have the Panasonic 15mm f1.7 lens. But when it comes to low-light shooting, I’m glad I have both Voigtlanders on hand. I used the 17.5mm for the whole evening.

The exhibit itself was pretty cool; there was so much that I didn’t know about Alice’s adventures and history. Dabbling in photography, I found the film memorabilia particularly interesting.

*17.5mm, f/1.2, 1/200s ISO 4000 | Voigtlander 17.5mm f/0.95*

*17.5mm, f/1.2, 1/200s ISO 3200 | Voigtlander 17.5mm f/0.95*

*17.5mm, f/1.2, 1/200s ISO 2000 | Voigtlander 17.5mm f/0.95*

Of course there were a lot of physical items on display as well. Some a bit too creepy for my liking.

The Clubs dress was striking, but the mirrors above and below made for an interesting reflection.

*17.5mm, f/1.2, 1/100s ISO 6400 | Voigtlander 17.5mm f/0.95*

*17.5mm, f/1.2, 1/640s ISO 200 | Voigtlander 17.5mm f/0.95*

There was an interactive display where you could create a cartoonish figure and have it scanned to be animated and projected onto the garden scene on the wall. The Voigtlander 17.5mm came in really handy as even with the aperture being practically wide open the ISO and noise was getting up there.

*17.5mm, f/1.2, 1/60s ISO 6400 | Voigtlander 17.5mm f/0.95*

*17.5mm, f/1.2, 1/50s ISO 6400 | Voigtlander 17.5mm f/0.95*

And here the Micro Four Thirds ‘equivalency’ actually came in handy - the brighter aperture still has a bit more in focus rather than the thin depth of field it would be on a full-frame camera.

There was a nifty projector exhibit as well. They had a tea party scene set up with the animation projected onto the table and all around the room.

This flamingo wasn’t really part of the exhibit itself, just some ambience decoration for the lobby.

I never noticed the lights at Te Papa before either, but I thought I might as well experiment and see what I can get out of it. I had a certain visual in mind, but the execution is a bit lacking.

*17.5mm, f/1.2, 1/4000s ISO 200 | Voigtlander 17.5mm f/0.95*

It’s weird writing up the evening - Covid had been in the news and was ramping up, but I didn’t really anticipate that we would be mere weeks away from a full on lockdown. This was basically my last ‘outing’ pre-Covid; the time since seems both recent and so long ago.

Today’s musical inspiration: Storytime by Nightwish. I got into Nightwish over a decade ago, and they’re still a big part of my playlist rotation.

Alice in Wonderland and other related trademarks, imagery and content owned by the Walt Disney Company and other respective creators.

Follow the madness! Alice, you know, once did

So I say 'thank you' for the music

Are we out of the woods yet