Canberra Hot Air Ballon Festival.

[Wyno]

Well boys and girls, I'm finally able to start taking pictures in Canberra. Next Sunday I will be up very early (like 5am) to get to the shores of Lake Burley Griffin to take pictures of the hot air ballons starting off from the lawns of old parliament house. I will be using the Tachihara with B&W and (shock, horror) a 35mm with Fujichrome Velvia. For those of you who know me, this is almost as bad as using a digital camera.
If anyone on APUG who lives in Canberra wants to come and join me, I'll be on the shores of the lake just near the Archbishops residence.
By the way, helo to all my friends in Melbourne and Geelong.
Mike :

 

[Kevin Caulfield]

Glad to hear you're up and running photographically in Canberra, Mike. Have fun, even with the 35mm.

 

[SMBooth]

Hi Mike, with the 8x10 you may even make the local papers. I wish you had some 8x10 Velvia left for the colourful air balloons. Glad to see your settled in, was sorry not to have caught up with you before leaving, but I did see those lovely shots you left at Garys.

 

[munz6869]

Two replies so far, and no-one has made a "Canberra/hot air joke"?? Good to hear you're out and about with the Tachi, Mike!!

Marc!

 

[Yamaotoko]

Good one Mike, sounds like a great event to shoot on the Tachi.

 

[Wyno]

Hot air and Canberra is not a joke, it's the truth, everyone, and I mean everyone talks politics. It takes up most of the local news, on TV the newspapers, everything. It's kind of apprpriate that the balloons are taking off from the grass in front of the old parliament house.
Maybe I should do some advertising and tell the local newspaper that there's going to be a guy with an "old fashioned" camera taking pictures of the balloons. You never know, I might make the TV news. LOL.
I'm going to have to go on Saturday instead of Sunday now. We've got to go to Sydney for the grandson's 1st birthday.
Mike

 

[Kevin Caulfield]

So, the reason it's at the old Parliament House is that there is still enough hot air floating around down there? And if it was at the current Parliament House, there would in fact be too much hot air floating around? Sorry, but Marc made me do it.

 

[Wyno]

Well, I just got back from the festival. Got down to Lake Burley Griffin at about 6.20 just as the balloons were starting to take off. Set the camera up and then had about 6 other people set up just near me. I had a chat with 2 people who came up to me. They both recognised the camera for what it was. One has inherited his fathers Thornton Pickard, and the second used a LF camera at the tertiary institution she attended and is good friends with Rob Gray. She wants me to come and give a talk to her students about "real photography, not digital" (her words), so I said yes and gave her my card.
I ended up taking 16 shots, ranging for 8 seconds down to 2 seconds. I was shooting Efke 25, but I really wished that I had some 8x10 Velvia. Jenni came with me and used her DSLR and got some very good shots. You know, it's a shame I can't convince her to take up film photography again, she'd actually print some of her shots that way.
Hopefully I'll be able to process the shots I took in the next week or 2. Then I've just got to find a scanner to upload them to flickr for all to see.
cheers
Mike

 

[Yamaotoko]

16 sheets?! Wow, that's commitment! Would love to see how the longer exposures turned out with all those balloons.

 

[Wyno]

Hi Steve,
When I get to print them, I'll send you one. By the way, how are Laura and the baby?
Today, I'm going to walk to the top of Mt Taylor here in Canberra with Jenni and her sister and some friends of hers. It's been raining a bit, so I'm actually hoping for a full on thunder and lightning show to photograph. Yes, I am going to slog up the mt with the 8x10, so I might as well hope for something dramatic. I should be able to get some panoramics from the top.
We went to Sydney yesterday, leaving about 6.20 and driving through thick fog for most of the way. I wish I had the camera because I would have got some stunners. HUge orb spider webs covered in dew with the fog hanging all around. You never have a camera when you need one, eh?
Anyway, I've got to go, just made a pav to take with me to Jenni's sister's place, and now we're off to the Queanbeyan cemetery where Jenni's parents are buried.
I've just started shift work on Thursday, working in a psych ward of Canberra hospital, so I'm finally going to have some money to join Camera Access to develop and print my photos.
Talk nto you soon.
cheers
Mike

 

[Yamaotoko]

Sounds great Mike, hope you get some dramatic shots up there!

We're doing alright here, struggling along a bit, I've just managed to get the little fella back to sleep and handed him over to his Mamma, I'm going to try and sneak off into the darkroom, where you can't hear anybody screaming

Psych ward sounds fun, say G'day to all the ex-pollies for us

 

[OldBikerPete]

Hello Mike! Glad to see you've come to life again. You'll remain an honorary mamber of the Melbourne LF group, of course.

 

[Mick Fagan]

G'day Mike, hmm, trekking up the mountain with an 8x10 and sundry equipment, then you go to work in a psych ward?

What are the chances you may be kept at work??

Best of luck with the job and looking forward to some more of your very good work.

Mick.

Ps:- the little Shen Hao got a thrashing over the Labour day weekend, still works a treat!

 

[Wyno]

Thanks for the words guys.
You know Mick, I sometimes regret selling the Shen. It was SO much lighter than the Tachi. But I really wouldn't give it up, it suits my style.....and I get to whinge about the weight. Still, I'm glad that you're enjoying it.
I did get some rude remarks from the women I walked up the mountain with, but they did say that I did well going up the mount for the first time and with all the gear. I don't even have any aches or pains today. The new pack has made all the difference.
Talk to you all soon
Mike