[Posted 11.11.12]

A few weeks ago I took a trip interstate and finally managed to achieve a project I’ve long wanted to do. Recording a holiday with almost hourly photographs, no matter what the shot is. Enter Instagram.

I hadn’t Instagramed before (it’s a social media thing, and I’m just not that social) and I won’t now the holiday project is done, but it was a really interesting experience. I found the whimsical nature of shooting everything and anything kind of liberating. For example, I ended up taking photos of things I wouldn’t shoot with my DSLR – art in a gallery for example, with a less than perfect (cluttered) background and people in frame. Fuckit, snap, choose filter, post. It returned me to my early G3 days where I was less precious about my subjects and just enjoyed taking photographs.

But, it was fun while it lasted, and now that I’ve had my fling with Instagram I think I’ll move on. Yes the limited post-processing along with the rapid-posting nature of it all did free me from being too damn precious with the final results, but at the same time those limitations created a certain ‘sameness’ to the results that I quickly grew tired of. And at the end of the day, a crappy shot of a baggage carousel is still a crappy shot of a baggage carousel no matter which of the filters you apply to it. I’ll happily go back to being more selective in what I shoot.

Still, I did come out with a nice record of some good beer and good times. Plus some Detour-worthy images, so there’s that!

[Posted 07.10.12]

I went out drinking with my two good friends J and JP last weekend and we had an afternoon session at our favourite pub. Lots of beer, and a round or two of whisky. This was a ‘tasting flight’ we got of three very nice drops. And of course, there was a kodak moment for the nicely lined up glasses.

[Posted 07.10.12]

A long-forgotten sign I spotted along the road in one of our wine regions not too long ago. I liked how it weathered it was, and how it’d been left there all this time. I couldn’t see any horses around.

And then when I was processing the shot, my inner 12 year old chuckled – a stud farm, without shooting? Isn’t that an oxymoron?

[Posted 21.08.12]

This one’s been a long time in the making – the reverse view of Settlement Winery. I just couldn’t get the processing to where I wanted it, so it languished for the last year or two. I find that when it comes to processing shots you’re either in the mood and have the patience to fuss over getting it just right, or it’s the complete opposite and nothing seems to work to my satisfaction. Which is probably why Detour itself is languishing a bit these days. I’m time poor and when I do find the time to processing anything I just can’t seem to hit my mark. Doesn’t help I’m my own worst critic.

[Posted 21.08.12]

I mentioned ages ago that signwriting is still alive and well in southern India, and the trucks were especially popular items for signwriting. But I don’t think I got too many photos of them, so thankfully H snapped this as we walked by a petrol station one afternoon. Classic India.

[Posted 21.08.12]

This one’s been sitting in the ol’ Quick Collection for a while. More than just another alley shot, it pairs with this post, hence the stars embedded into the ground. Not all that obvious as first glance, which just makes them that bit cooler.

[Posted 21.08.12]

This sculpture was like an oversized coat-rack, but with a large steel sphere at the top. I like reflective spheres, so I had to take a photograph. And yep, that’s me there in the reflection.

[Posted 21.08.12]

As well as the balls made from welded steel rods, there were balls made from thinner wire, which reminded me of tumbleweeds.

[Posted 21.08.12]

Looking through one of the Great Balls of Wire posted yesterday.

[Posted 21.08.12]

SALA is on again this year, and I’ve got some work I’m trying to sell – essentially a repeat of all the prints that didn’t sell over the last year, plus four new prints. Anyway, I mention this because I was at a winery the other week and as part of the same arts festival (SALA) they had these large steel ball sculptures all around the winery. I liked them, though they weren’t cheap. Then again, they’re not something I could knock out so I suppose you’re paying for someone else’s expertise/skill.

They made for some good photos though.

[Posted 21.08.12]

I went to an industry awards night a few weeks back and at the after-party they had these cool LED cube things. I researched them and they have a rechargeable battery inside which keeps them lit up for 8-12 hours apparently. Want, want, want!

[Posted 21.08.12]

Two of these beers are mine, and I reckon they’re the ones that put me over the edge I didn’t know I was near. Good beer is a double-edged sword that way, makes you feel invincible one day, and a complete twat the next. Oh well.

I’ve had a bit of fun with the colour in this one. The actual scene was more like Detour 6 but after I processed Golden Sun I made a Lightroom preset and now I give it a quick try on various images I might process. It’ll be a rare case when the preset suits a shot but in this case I thought it turned the torchlight into a fire stick.

I had a new winery experience at the recent wine tasting – a barrel tasting. Interesting stuff. Really young wine isn’t particularly palatable, medium aged wine is like the next days stew – the flavours are starting to develop together nicely –, and sufficiently aged wine almost ready to bottle is bloody nice. Course, it helps if the underlying winery tends to make quite good wines.