Pragnamix

What You Can Learn From Your Battery Usage

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 25 Feb 2016 03:20:00 +0000

Few people ever take a good look at your battery usage and yet this shows you a great deal about what apps you are using and how you spend your time on your device. All tablets and smartphones have this in their settings and it is worth a look.

Apart from telling you what you use most, it also tells you what you are not using by the apps absence from the list.

If you are continually running out of memory on your device this is the best place to look. Then take a look at all those apps on your device and delete any of them that you are not using. You will be surprised at how much junk you have on your device which are hardly, if ever, used.

Nothing like a little bit of housekeeping every once in a while

Missing The Obvious With Kayne West and Tidal Saga

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 23:11:00 +0000

Kayne West certainly has achieved the publicity and the attention that he hoped to with his recent actions. One underlying driver behind Tidal is laudable in that it could potentially remove more of the unnecessary hangers on sitting between the artist and the consumer. These include distributors, retailers, publicists etc. Each taking a cut along the way.

Part of the problem the industry is facing is a price issue. With so much music and video content available today on so many different media, it doesn't take a genius to know that we live in age of abundant content. So logically, one would expect with the removal of unnecessary cost barriers between the artist and the consumer, together with lower costs of distribution and an abundance of content that costs to the consumer should fall.

And to an extent, you can argue that streaming services are an example of this fall in price but Kayne and the industry's continued rants and raves about the billions they loose are simply loosing their validity. No one has seriously considered dropping the prices of their albums so we really cannot tell whether dropping the price would have any effect.

Somehow, the artists and their managers seem to look badly upon any price reductions associating it with some mythical lowering of the quality of their music. Just looking at iTunes Store quickly shows you that albums cost anything between $17 to $23 and single songs cost between $1.19 to $2.19 The individual specific prices naturally reflect many factors including the popularity of the artist.

And right there is the pricing issue staring at you in the face. Go to JBHiFi or any of the few outlets that still sell physical CDs and you will find that the pricing is not terribly dissimilar to the above.

So despite no longer needing so many layers between the artist and the consumer and hence removing that and all the physical distribution costs, the consumer is actually no better off. Granted that the artists, should in theory be better off by gaining better control of their music and the monetary rewards from selling it.

So does this suggest that the business arrangements, master distribution rights and agreements and all the old, now defunct practices, are still being propped up underneath the exterior veneer of the shinny new services. The problem has and will always be that a few mega stars dominate the industry and the business models coalease around them. This should not surprise anyone

All rational analysis suggests that both the artists and the consumer should be better off pricing wise but that has not happened. One hopes that the Unknown and rising artists are now getting a better deal but the consumer certainly isn't getting a better deal.

If this is really the case then what have we gained or have we merely exchanged one unseen master for another

Changing The Meaning Of Plug-and-Play

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 22:45:00 +0000

I always understood that plug and play means simply that; plug it in, switch it on and away you go. So when I read that a company called Redflow was going to introduce "plug-and-play" solar battery storage systems, I was naturally quite excited to find out more.

http://ecogeneration.com.au/news/redflow_to_roll_out_residential_flow_batteries_by_mid-year/101236/

But reading through the article left me somewhat confused and disappointed for it would suggest a rather misleading use of the term "plug-and-play". The article goes on to quote the Executive Chairman and his quote gives you the first hint that what the term is being used is not quite what it seems.

The Chairman is quoted as saying that the "battery would be a plug-and-play solution that could easily be retrofitted to existing solar systems". I like the sound of that very much but the article goes on to refer to "installer partners" to perform what is referred to as to as a "simple system integration".

I am hopeful that the Redflow system turns out to be more cost competitive and longer lasting than the Tesla solution which the media has already reported to be around $12,500 and purportedly has a pay back period of 25 years, which is a whole lot longer than the projected effective life of the system. The Tesla system is also reported to be only compatible with two inverter models sold in Australia which in all likelihood means having to swap out your existing inverter which explains the $12,500 price tag.

Companies like Redflow should be applauded and supported as pioneers in battery storage in the renewables industry. What I have issue with is the kind of misleading reporting that actually does not, in my view, help the company nor the industry as a whole. If the term "plug-and-play" means needing qualified installers then it differed from what is generally accepted in most other industries where it generally means that the customer is able to perform it themselves.

Most people reading the article are likely to conclude that the system merely needed to be plugged in and switched on and that, to my mind, would be very revolutionary and would give Redflow a major advantage. Unfortunately because the system is not yet available for sale, the company's website, quite rightly, does not advertise the product nor its pricing and, at least for me, does not preclude it being a real "plug-and-play" device. We simply cannot say just yet.

Why Call It A Smartwatch

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 19 Jan 2016 02:55:00 +0000

I have often wondered why the marketing gurus elected to call them smartwatches. The current crop of smartwatches are anything but a watch. I very much doubt if the majority of people buying them think or use them primarily to tell the time.

The Oxford Dictionery defines a watch as "A small timepiece worn typically on a strap on one’s wrist"

The manufacturers themselves will sell you on every conceivable feature that they can cram in except the time keeping element. Sure they will promote their snazzy watch faces but precious little else about its time keeping function.

While there is intense debate about whether smartwatches are a resounding success or not, it seems to me that something is amiss in all the analysis and debate.

Before the advent of smartwatches in the form that we know it now, timekeeping was the primary function of a watch. I am old enough to remember that my first watch had to be wound up every few days. Then came battery powered and quartz watches which Casio popularised by adding calendars and calculators.

But the thing that for me defines a practical working watch is just simply being able to tell the time of day with the minimum of fuss and maintenance. And maintenance is the key word here. I have a solar powered watch and have never had to do anything to it apart from putting it on since the day I bought it.

But today, we have smartwatches which barely last a day on a single charge. Forget to recharge the watch and you suddenly have a useles lump of metal. Ok I am being harsh but you get the point. Furthermore we have, at any moment of the day, many devices near to hand that tell us the time. All phones, smart or otherwise, laptops, tablets, PCs, cars and trains, to name just a few, all show the time of day.

Which brings me back to the term smartwatches. I think they are remarkable devices which are only going to get smarter and last longer on a single charge over time. However the same Oxford Dictionery defines a smartwatch as "A mobile device with a touchscreen display, designed to be worn on the wrist". Funny how the definition has had the word timepiece omitted altogether. In fact the definition makes no reference to the function of a smartwatch at all.

So it looks like the only thing common in the definition of watch and smartwatch is it is something that one wears on the wrist.

This Is What TV Sport Coverage Should Be Like

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 18 Jan 2016 11:25:00 +0000

In my last post I slammed the new Food Channel as a really poor example of how to use a valuable TV Channel. Then along comes the Australian Open and the new Seven Tennis App. Kudos to the folks at Channel 7.

This app puts the viewer in the driving seat and gives them choice and control. Someone at Seven needs to be congratulated for surrounding the customer with the right service at the right time.

This massive enhancement to tennis viewing was not hard to figure out and it shows exactly just what is possible.

But this should not be limited to just tennis. I can think of almost every sport where this would be possible. In golf you could stream by golfer leaving the viewer to decide who they want to follow. It could also be by hole. Imagine the viewer being able to decide when to switch from the main play instead of replying on the telecast team to decide when to cut from the main play.

I tried watching the Tour de France and I have to confess that the telecast is boring not matter how good a job the commentators are doing. For goodness sake stick micro cameras on the riders helmets and give viewers live status of riders they wish to follow. This has already been done by F1 in their ridiculously expensive iPad app.

I am sure that there are heaps of very smart people who have got brilliant and innovative ideas.

But let us not miss the biggest challenge. This kind of multi view live streaming is only possible in an internet based app. While it is possible to do it over broadcast frequencies it is terribly cumbersome to implement and even more cumbersome to use.

And this is the heart of the problem. You see TV executives are largely still living in the last century sitting on top of years of fat profits. The change required is just too hard and so they just don't do anything about it. Just because they have a license to the airwaves does not mean that they ignore customer needs. This is why we are seeing and increasing number of so call "Cord Cutters" who are abandoning traditional TV broadcasting in favour of services like Netflix and YouTube.

TV executives seem to think that they are the only ones who know what customers want and keep them captive simply because they own one delivery mechanism to deliver content. That they have struggled to come to terms with the Internet as a delivery mechanism is not surprising but even worse are governments who continue to grant them protection behind archaic licensing arrangement.

TV audiences are falling and will continue to do so under the watch of the existing TV executives.

Slow Death Of TV

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 17 Jan 2016 11:53:00 +0000

I do enjoy watching food programs and documentataries but trying to get enthusiastic about the Food Network is really hard work. The programming is filled with near unwatchable content and then to make matters worse they take the better content and butcher it.

For example they have taken a program hosted by a popular chef links say Luke Nguyen and lift single recipes and run it as as single segment and call it "bite size".

This was the channel that was promoted as the food channel for foodies. Now I would hardly consider myself a foodie but I would be surprised if the ratings are very high.

If this is the best that the network is capable of producing, they are already starting down the slow road to obsolescence. The fact that the channel boasts virtually no new content leaves one wondering why anyone would watch slate content which is just repeated over and over again.

TV networks just do not seem to get it that people are moving away from watching programs at fixed times. They are moving to an on demand world whether they watch what they want when they want it. It is great that the networks have recognised this through their "catchup TV" apps.

But now I notice that another new channel is being promoted and guess what, it looks like the food channel rehashed but using reality TV content.

Ok forgive my I could be the few people on the planet that is not intralled by reality TV but to have reruns and who know "bite size" chunks of it does not even remotely interesting to warrant me watching the channel.

The decline of TV is beginning to show. It will still be around for many years to come but like newspapers the decline is already underway. It is going to take a whole lot more than new channels to reverse this decline.

The Scourge Of Unsolicited Phone Surveys and Sales Calls

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 13 Jan 2016 00:08:00 +0000

It's 9:30AM and I am sitting down to a late breakfast and sipping my coffee. The phone rings and the person on the other end of phone hurriedly announces who they are. It seems like they know that they are not going to get a warm reception and they are right. Would I mind answering a 5 min survey. Well actually no. But they launch into it anyway and I have to stop them, sometimes politely but at other times not so politely.

I am amused and irritated at the same time why companies think that doing unsolicited telephone surveys is a good practice and what do they hope to gain out of it.

I am already in an irritated frame of mind so what would that say of the answers I am about to give.

At the heart of this practice is the desire to get customer feedback. Some companies do it at the end of a call that you make to their customer service line, which is probably not unreasonable given that it is fresh in your mind. But calling days after the engagement is just irritating and pointless.

Good customer service does not come about from unsolicited feedback. People who experience bad service are likely, these days, to just jump onto social media and pan your service or tell 5 of their friends about. I know I have done that.

It also says something about the organisation plainly ignoring your request, when you signed up to their service, not to be contacted for marketing purposes. Oh but they do not view a customer feedback survey as a marketing exercise.

But the biggest scourge is the unsolicited sales cold call. Don't even get me started on that. Regardless of whether you have signed up to any government "Do Not Call" service they will stilll make the call. It is clear that they have not run their call list through any of these lists.

Companies need to get the message that it is NOT OK to make unsolicited sales and survey calls. It is disrespectful of the customer and more likely to put the customer off.

Alfred Nicolas Gardens

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 19 May 2011 11:52:00 +0000

From Yarra Ranges

Not far from the George Tindale Garden is the Alfred Nicolas Garden. The entrance to the gradens looked rather formal and give not hint of what awaited me further into the garden. The main path in offers nothing particularly spectacular and I decided to follow the signs towards the lake. The path meanders downwards though quite beautiful and bright red and yellow autumn foliage.

Reaching the lake, I was completely taken in by what greeted me. Words simply will not do justice to the scene of rich colours that unfolded before me and I can only let the pictures tell its own story. But the pictures do not do justice so get out there and see for yourself. I know I will be back in the different seasons.

From Yarra Ranges

A Chilly Walk Through George Tindale Memorial Gardens

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 15 May 2011 11:44:00 +0000

From

It is cold and wet when I wake on Sunday morning. I know I had planned to explore this garden which is now managed by Parks Victoria. But winter has come early and I drag myself out of bed and head on over up

From Yarra Ranges

OK I would have preferred spring but nothing a piping hot cup of coffee and a glass of red could not redress. Unfortunately more than half the park is closed off for maintenance but I still caught the lovely, albeit wet, autumn colours. It was worth getting out of bed for.

Why On Earth Do We Import Halloween?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 23:05:00 +0000

I note with concern this year the increasing promotion of Halloween in Australia. It seems that the big boys retail boys have decided that this another revenue generating opportunity and have gone all out for it. Why oh why are we so intent on taking on another aspect of American culture? Is Australia so bereft or ignorant of our own cultural heritage to have to adopt every thing that comes out of America?

Let's be very clear about this supermarkets were charging $20 for a US Halloween pumpkin. This is not a food item. It is merely so that a Hollywood inspired face could be cut out in it and a candle placed in it. Don't even get me started on the silly "trick or treat" nonsense.

Hey don't get me wrong, I am certainly not against children having a good time but why send them out into the street dresses in ghoulish outfits knocking on doors asking for lollies.

There was a time when Australians used to have a street parties where the whole street just had a good time. As Australians, this practice has all but disappeared which is very sad as we are prepared to adopt something else instead.

Come on Australia let's not get led by the nose and make a stand

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Cowwarr Weir Reflections

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 13:34:00 +0000

I came across this weir in a tiny place called Coowwarr and amazingly had the place all to myself and absolutely no wind which created a mirror surface which gave me the opportunity to quickly fire off several shots

From Moe Walhalla

Location:Cowwarr Weir, Gippsland, Victoria

Smart Meters Continuing Fiasco in Victoria

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 02:52:00 +0000

The continuing fiasco with the rollout of electricity smart meters in Victoria is would be comical if it wasn't for the fact that the consumer is footing the bill for something that should have been a good initiative for better energy consumption and more responsible energy consumption.

It is clear that the existing mechanical meters have outlived it's use by date and the benefits of the new smart meters is obvious. For reasons known only to the Victorian State Government, it has chosen to roll out smart meters putting the main bulk of costs on the consumer. The key benefit to the consumer of having being able to see their actual consumption patterns is that it should lead to a change in behavior to adjust consumption patterns to make realize cost benefits of cheaper electricity during off peak hours.

Without these, there is no benefit for adoption and only the cost of installing the new meters, which is mandatory anyway. So what you get is the electricity companies gaining the benefit of more efficient meter reading and therefore lower costs which are not passed onto the consumer.

This is just another example of how badly out of the touch the government is with the people. What is more bewildering to me is why the people of Victoria simply keep voting them back into power. With the coming election I simply say get rid of them and send a clear message to a new government that there has to be a better way.

Location:Mahoneys Rd,Forest Hill,Australia

Street Markets In Hanoi

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 04:33:00 +0000

Street life in Hanoi is well...different. Not only are the streets teeming with motor cycles and bicycles but mobile sellers just park themselves on the roadside or wonder from street to street selling just about everything from vegetables, fruits, straw hats and baskets, presenting a colourful and unique scene for visitors from Western cultures.

From Hanoi and Ha Long Bay

Even grain is simply loaded up in baskets spilling out into the street protected from the elements overhead by canvas awnings.

Hanoi - A City In Transition

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 23:17:00 +0000

I did not know what to expect of Hanoi. Many of my Vietnamese associates back in Australia had recommended that I visit Ho Chi Minh (formerly Saigon) city but I had decided that for photographic reasons I would instead do Hanoi and the world heritage listed Ha Long Bay which is 3 hours drive away.

From Hanoi and Ha Long Bay

The city is a fabulous mix of the old and new. We stayed in the Old Quarter with its narrow three to four storied shop fronts. I am told that the most roofs are used for drying clothes and the uppermost floors house Buddhist altars.

From Hanoi and Ha Long Bay

The city is one of contrasts. The main government buildings are a remnant of the French colonial days. New economic activity is giving rise to construction of new talller buildings. But despite the growth and changes, one cannot help but enjoy the many older way such as vegetable sellers going from door to door selling their wares.

From Hanoi and Ha Long Bay

Australian Footy St Kilda 2010 Season Round 14

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 10:44:00 +0000

St Kilda wins 100-65 and continues its march towards September

From Australian Spo rt

From Australian Sport

Twas A Wet And Winter Morning

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:56:00 +0000

From In And About Melbourne

Having to get up early on a weekend is not one of my favourite things to do but I had an errand to run and so I just took my camera along as I was thinking of getting a couple of shots so that I could play around with black and white conversion. It started to drizzle after about 15 minutes so I gave up as the temperature was only just pushing 6C. Lo and behold about 2 Kms from home the sun peeked through the clouds and I was presented with a beautifully formed rainbow.

Parking my car quickly, I jumped out and snapped half a dozen pictures in quick succession with very little time to find a better spot. Unfortunately the widest focal length on the zoom lens that I had on could barely get the whole rainbow in and it also had electric wires which I simply could not avoid.

As I was shooting the half dozen pictures, the rain started to fall more heavily and the rainbow just vanished right in front of my eyes. This picture was probably the cleanest shot composition wise. If only it lasted a few more minutes

Up Close and Comfortable Mr Salty

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 27 May 2010 12:42:00 +0000

How close do you want to get to an Australian Salt Water crocodile. Hopefully the answer is close enough as long as I am sitting in the safety of a boat with a 70-300mm zoom lens. These fellas are not I would describe as friendly but they are magnificent creatures and a wonder to behold. This was taken on the Yellow Waters cruise in the world heritage Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory.

From Northern Territory Australia

Waterfalls Of Litchfield Nationnal Park

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 23:25:00 +0000

The waterfalls of Litchfield National Park simply quite incredible especially during the wet season when they are full of water. Driving from Darwin, Florence Falls is the first of the 3 falls I visited.

From Northern Territory Australia

The next fall I reached was Tolmer Falls. Unfortunately the trail to the ground level and plunge pool was closed to the public as there were rare bats living in the cave at the bottom of the falls.

From Northern Territory Australia

The last of the 3 falls was Wangi Falls which really had a very large plunge pool which unfortunately had been closed off to the public for swimming. This is normal for the wet season as the water level rises so high that crocodiles migrate into the area and the authorities quite prohibit swimming until they clear the area and declare it safe. Nevertheless the falls are full to capacity at this time of the year and a a sight to behold.

From Northern Territory Australia

If you have the time, a trail loops around the top of the falls and takes about an hour to complete and is worthwhile doing as you will get to see the creek at the top that feeds the twin falls.

From Northern Territory Australia

The locals tell me that during the cooler months of the year from June to August with the dry season the volume of water will be smaller but the pool is open to swimming, Guess you can't have it all

Fogg Dam has Lilies Too

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 12:24:00 +0000

Birds were not the only thing that made my afternoon at Fogg Dam so rewarding. As it was the wet season the water levels were high and the lilies were in bloom

From Northern Territory Australia

There were two lookouts just by the road that runs the full length of the weir which allows you to literally stand over the lily blooms.

From Northern Territory Australia

All the shot of the lilies were taken hand held using my Sigma 70-300mm APO macro zoom lens

From Northern Territory Australia

[Pictures taken with Pentax K20D and Sigma 70-300mm APO Zoom lens]

Fogg Dam a Hidden Treasure In the Northern Territory

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 11:06:00 +0000

Fogg Dam is a hidden treasure tucked away in Conservation Reserve between Darwin and Kakadu National Park in Northern Territory.

From Northern Territory Australia

It is actually more of a weir than a dam but then who really cares when the bird life is so abundant and easy to get to. I visited this gem of a place in the saddle between the wet and the dry season. Spoonbills, egrets and darters were to be found everywhere and arrived to find them feeding in a creek just by the lookout.

From Northern Territory Australia

It was exhilarating to watch a whole flock of birds take off in flight and I got to see it close up time and time again here. There is something about the sound of a flock of birds taking to the skies

From Northern Territory Australia

School for Orphans of Cyclone Nargis

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:45:00 +0000

Cyclone Nargis left many orphaned children in its wake. A few of them ended up in this school set and supported by a local church. It goes without saying that the neater of the two dormitories belonged to the girls. The children board here in the school.

The two doctors then proceeded to conduct the first of what would turn out to be three clinics in three days. They determined that almost all the children were suffering from scabies and treated them accordingly.

Working diligently the doctors treated nearly 70 individuals including one student who had a wound that was not healing properly.

As the clinic continued into the early evening, the students sat down to dinner in the same room that served as one of their classrooms during the day. This was quickly followed by the sound or a surprisingly melodious voice of a tutor delivering algebra tuition to a class of enthusiastic students. I have never seen or heard algebra taught in this way before as tutor sang out and the children repeated his teachings.

Faces of Myanmar

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:27:00 +0000

Myanmar is made up of many different tribes. These pictures are my first real attempt at taking portraits.

The street seller standing at the corner was selling chilled water by passing water over a block of ice.

The remaining pictures were are of local residents in the village of Seikkyi across the Yangon River from the city of Yangon.

Geo Tagging Photographs with I-GotU Geo Tagging Device

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 09:12:00 +0000

I don’t know about you but geo tagging my pictures is a painful and time consuming task. Unless you have a camera that had geo tagging facilities, the rest of us have had to manually tag our pictures by dragging and dropping them into a mapping facility like that in Picasa or Flickr. Then I heard Chris Marquardt (Tips from the Top Floor Podcasts) in one of his podcasts taking about geo tagging devices, so last week I just decided to order an I-GotU 9289.com which came to about $80 including shipping.

The device is deceptively simple and quite small having only one button and nothing else. The device logs GPS coordinates at fixed intervals when it is switched on. Every photograph that you take with your camera is also time stamped in your camera. So the trick is matching up the GPS coordinates with the pictures in your camera based on the time stamps.

This is done firstly by uploading the trip details from the I-GotU device with the bundled software named @trip using the simple uploading wizard. After the trip GPS coordinates have been uploaded, the wizard then asks whether you would like to add any photographs. All you have to do it to point it to the folder containing your photographs and the wizard does the rest attempting to match and allocate a GPS coordinate to all your pictures based on their time stamp.

Sounds simple enough. Just a couple of gotchas (1) don’t forget to check that the time on the device is exactly the same as the time on your camera clock. (2) annoyingly there is a “daylight saving” switch in the wizard and if you are not careful leaving it on will cause a log entry to have one hour added to them upon uploading and annoyingly means that the pictures cannot be mapped as they will be one hour out of sync. I recommend that you un-tick the setting and everything will be sweet

Don’t worry if you don’t quite get it right, the bundled software allows you to easily come back later and make some fine tuning and it will write the changed GPS coordinates back to your photograph.

I will update a few more tips as I play with this over the next few weeks

A Winter Afternoon At Sir James Hamer Arboretum

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:06:00 +0000

We had just had a lovely lunch at Credo in Olinda and bumped into some friends who had just come into the restaurant as we were just finishing our meal. Dressed in sports outfits they had clearly come from a spot of exercise. They recommended that we check out Sir James Hamer Arboretum which was hardly 5 mins drive away.

This spot is reached by taking either Woolrich Road or Chalet Road off the main Olinda Monbulk Road. This was the view that we were presented upon arrival at the car park.

We really were not dressed for walking but despite being a chilly winter day, we decided to take a short walk along Dam Road which is really more of a walking trail.

I think winter colours in Mt Dandenong offers has more variety than the usual forest green of summer.

Although we did not venture too far from the car park, just the views you can see from the photographs convinced me that I really should to come back and make a more extensive walk around the place. Hope you agree too. Oh and by the way there are BBQ facilities available too

[Photographs taken with Pentax K20D and Pentax DA 18-55mm Mk II zoom lens]

Wetlands In My Backyard

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:22:00 +0000

It was raining most of Saturday and I was getting restless. Sunday morning did not start any better and then the clouds cleared a bit and the sun started to peek out. I had seen an area of wetlands almost every day as I make my way to work. But somehow, I never really ever made the effort to get to it even though I had seen bird life from the highway which passes by this wetland. So this time I decided to investigate it properly.

I decided to be really brave and took along my 30 year old 50mm SMC f1.7 to see how I would fare without an fully automatic lens. This lens is older my my oldest son and was bought more than 30 years ago when I was in university in Birmingham, England.

I got the hang of it after a a dozen or so shots. I guess it is like riding a bicycle. You never really forget how to do it. The sequence I used was (1) set the aperture manually on the lens, then hit the “green” button on my K20D to get the exposure right and then focus, again manually.

I stumbled upon this scene just off the main trail surrounding the wetlands. The sun was struggling to break though which meant that I had pretty soft light even though it was around 1pm in the afternoon.

Much I was enjoying getting to know my old 50mm lens again, I was glad I had my Sigma 70-300mm lens with me which allowed me to get this picture of an unusually twisted gum tree.

This tree stump was lying just on the edge of the stream that was meandering around the wetlands pretty much following the trail I was following.

I was faced by a problem in that while I could walk around the wetlands, I simply could not find a way to actually get to the wetlands proper. To add to my frustration the stream seemed to surround the wetlands area cutting me off completely.

Eventually I spied a couple walking their dogs emerging from what looked like the middle of the wetlands and lo and behold I was able to finally make my way towards my target destination. As I hurried towards the direction the couple emerged from I passed by the remains of this fallen tree.

I was able to cross over a very narrow part of the stream and finally found myself in the wetlands proper

Most, if not all of the ponds were surrounded by high shrubs which blocked by view. Using the breaks in the scrubs I kept looking for bird life that I could hear inhabited the area. Eventually I was rewarded by a pair of black swans feeding in their natural habitat.

[pictures taken with Pentax K20D, Pentax SMC 50mm f1.7 and Sigma 70-300 APO zoom lenses]