Where beer does flow and men chunder

Originally published 12 November 2018

Okay, so I haven’t been updating this as frequently as I should. Have I lost interest? Heck no. Truthfully, I just got sucked into Kerbal Space Program these last couple of months. I’ve always loved space and astronomy, and KSP has been an awesome game in rekindling that interest. But anyway, maybe that’s a blog post for another time.

Recently I went to a conference for work in Melbourne. I took the opportunity to stay a few more days and have myself a tiny holiday.

One major thing I learned off the bat was remembering to bring the camera battery charger! Luckily I brought my two extra batteries, which I charged before I left, so I didn’t run out of juice.

I only brought a few lenses, but I actually could have traveled even lighter. I ended up using the Olympus 12-40mm the whole time (even though I considered selling it since I got the Voigtlander 17.5mm) as I didn’t want to fiddle around changing lenses every time. I brought my tripod as well and, despite it not being a compact travel one, it was definitely a great decision.

I like buildings with nice architecture and cityscapes. And I think so far it’s the kind of photography I enjoyed the most.

My favourite photo from the whole trip is the banner image. I walked along the river trying different vistas and that one I felt worked the best.

I sometimes end up preferring black and white photos over colour. So I set the camera to monochrome to give me an idea of what the exposure would look like in the viewfinder. The camera takes a raw copy of the photo anyway, so I still had the colour version if I wanted to use it.

*12mm, f/11, 50s, ISO 200 | Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8*

The above is the colour version of the banner image. While it’s not bad itself, I simply prefer the look of the black and white image in this case. Not that I can articulate why.

The next picture is one where I definitely like the colour, especially the blue lighting along the elevated railway. I forgot to bring my ND filter (which lets in less light over time) so I couldn’t take as long of an exposure as I wanted. It’s a shame it didn’t turn out how I would have liked, but it’s definitely a learning opportunity!

*24mm, f/11, 1.6s, ISO200 | Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8*

I decided to get out and about at around 5am one day to try and get more night time long exposures. I of course tried a photo of the train station…

*15mm, f/11, 20s, ISO 200 | Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8*

The lighting on the station looked pretty in person, but it ended up looking quite harsh in the picture. I tried to soften it up a bit in editing but I think I made a mess of it. It’s not terrible, but not as good as it could be. Maybe when I get better at editing I’ll try this photo again.

I thought being out at 5am was enough to get me some more long exposures but sunrise came so quickly I had more light than I wanted in this case. Sunrise turned out to be serendipitous though as I got my second favourite shot of the trip!

*12mm, f/2.8, 1/1600s, ISO 200 | Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8*

Again, it’s one I could probably edit a bit better but I still really like it so far. In terms of settings, it’s another good reminder to keep checking. I left the aperture at 2.8 from when the sun wasn’t up yet, so the depth of focus isn’t quite as good in the photo with a bigger aperture. I think having it at f/8 or f/11 like some of the other shots means it would have had more in focus for a sharper looking image.

Another cool thing about being out early in the morning was all the things happening. There were early morning training sessions for the rowers in the river, and there were some early morning hot air balloons as well!

*12mm, f/2.8, 1/10s, ISO 200 | Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8*

There was a moment along my walk when I noticed that not having focused on anything it kinda made the photo a bit more abstract in the viewfinder. I tried it for the heck of it and I kind of like the result with the sunrise colours.

*12mm, f/4, 1/320s, ISO 200 | Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8*

Speaking of abstract and/or accidental, sometimes by sheer luck I end up with a photo that, while not technically great, I do actually like. I think maybe it’s the context of when I took the photo.

*24mm, f/8, 0.6s, ISO 3200 | Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8*

This photo is all kinds of crap. It’s shaky, with not really any kind of good quality to it. But I took the photo when I was walking through the park late at night, not really knowing if I strayed into a bad part of town. The ghost-looking carvings (which I didn’t actually notice until reviewing the pictures!) reminds me of the spooky vibe I had at the time. So maybe it’s only a cool picture to me, but luckily I mainly take photos for my own enjoyment.

Anyway, the city itself had other cool buildings. I don’t know what you call the style, but I like the contrast between the modern buildings and these kinds of designs: