Melbourne Gathering Soon?

[Molli]

The next order will depend on whether I can sell a kidney or not... Or perhaps a heart? My brain's unlikely to get me enough for even a single roll of 24exp!

Did I thank you for getting this film order for Andy and I? Your kindness is very much appreciated.

 

[wotalegend]

Yes, you thanked me more than enough already. But thanks for your appreciation anyway. Don't forget that a) I benefited from it too, and b) you contributed by initially collating the order.

I'm just happy to have found some friends who share my passion and don't have tickets on themselves. But seeing all those lovely instruments of pleasure in polished wood has inflamed my GAS again. Now I am taking notice of the 4x5 ads which I would have ignored in the past. Oh, the pain.

 

[Mick Fagan]

Molli, congratulations, do the negatives look reasonable?

GaryH, Mike sold his 4x5 to me so he could fund the 8x10. I only wanted to have a look at a Shen Hao before purchasing one So I contacted Mike, before you know it, I took it home with me.

W9CAE we (missus and I) will be heading down to Geelong early on Saturday morning. Our game plan is to leave home around 0600hrs, we should arrive in Geelong around 0730hrs. I intend to use my 4x5 this time

I've taken my motorcycles over the ferry a few times, yep it's quicker over the bridge, even if you're in Queenscliff!

Perhaps a side tour down to Drysdale or even Queenscliff if the sailing ships turn out to be not too flash, is on the cards.

Mick.

 

[w9cae]

Mick sounds like a good plan. I havn't decided on which camera to take out, might be a digital day ?

I will be leaving about the same time but stopping at McDonalds for me egg mcmuffin.

Mick I ment to mention to you last W/end we have meet before ? Now you mention a motorbike. Did you ride a MotoGuzzi way back ?

 

[Molli]

Thanks Mick - and thank you for the confidence building course. The only thing wrong with the negatives are where I've messed up the metering - development-wise: no scratches, no kinks and, as far as I can see via a dirty window for a light box, no dust (well, fingers crossed on that one - I'll probably discover all of that when I try a few prints.

Speaking of, if anyone wants to start a photo paper business catering to 35mm shooters put me down for 4x6, 6x9 and 8x12 packets. I'm not cropping anything - if I don't have every inch of my mistakes in large, glaring disarray in front of me, I'm not going to learn.

 

[OldBikerPete]

Hello everybody.
I am very new in APUG forum (from to day) I am french and i am going to your country at the end of April. I hope to travel through Australia until June 2010.
project to go in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Alice Spring, Cairns, brisbane, Darwin. I practice analogical and numeric photos, but I prefer analogical. I have an Hasselblad 500CM , a Nikon F50 and when I travel lighter, a Minox. Pentax K10 in my numeric reflex.
I thought color will be better to shoot in Australia. To day, i think maybe i was wrong. Could you tell me what you think about my little problem. My choice of cameras will depend of your answers.

Be prepared for higher contrast (in full sunlight) than you are used to in Europe. I shoot 5"x4" myself and would lean towards the hassy which can achieve very similar results except for grain. If you are going to shoot transparency, I would recommend a spotmeter to evaluate contrast conditions on your subjects.

 

[Mick Fagan]

Ralek, can you send me a pm or email, I tried to pm you but you don't have that facility switched on.

Mick.

 

[ralek]

answer for everybody

Molly : I didn't go on Flickr.com. In first, I thought to Apug, where i knew there are many forums, and i searched an australian forum. I will do to morrow.
I'm not a subscriber to day.I am very new on APUG. I knew Apug, but didn't have time to write on. Now, I take time. But very late. It is 1 am in Paris. I don't know what time is it for you. I will verify and try to connect me earlier tomorrow.

Munz6869 and Wymo : Thanks for your advices. To day, I saw a lot of photos, in colors. Before to see, I was sure, color was necessary. After 1 h. I thought differently. B&W will be interesting for some landscapes and why not in infra red? But not easy. I like to take animals in B&W and you have a lot, different than in France. But I'm not sure about the format and the optic.

OldBikerPete : I saw the high contrast light. Very difficult...I thought to bring the special filter which attenuate the light for 2 stops minimum.With my Nikon, I have the AF, but i work with an old spotmeter for my Hassy. I control badly it. I need to bracket and with only 12 pictures by film, i need a lot of films. Lucky am i, I develop films and prints by myself. So, it's cheaper.

Mick :I don't understand what is a pm. i send you an email to morrow.

I hope I will find this forum easier than to day.

 

[bluedog]

Just loaded some of my pics from last Saturday. (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

 

[Mick Fagan]

Ralek, a pm is a Private Message, it is a way of messaging each other on this forum.

It isn't switched on, so I sent you an email but it bounced back to me.

Mick.

 

[w9cae]

So glad I stayed home today. Got up like 5am looked out the window & went back to bed. A friend got caught in the city trying to photograph Moomba stuff. I was planning on the Birdman rally, but might be canceled till these storms pass on monday.

 

[Mick Fagan]

Well we have just arrived back home after a wonderful day at Geelong and environs.

On the way down we saw signs for quite cheap fruit, would you believe a tray of Strawberries or 15 punnets for $10.00, a case of Mangoes for $5.00, Avacados for $1.00 each, case of plums $5.00. Strawberry jam making day tomorrow after visiting Aldi for the sugar

We firstly went to the central area of the bay where we walked up to a Brigantine that was open for a walk-on inspection, which we did. Stayed aboard for about 45 minutes as the other half fired away.

Then had lunch on a grassy knoll watching ships, sea planes take off and land and another tall ship give a broadside cannon shot (loud) to the Brigantine as it sailed past, great stuff.

We then strolled through the show/expo which was all about water conservation and solar stuff, picked up our free bucket, water bottle and bucket of water holding crystals from Barwon Water.

Then we headed off to the You Yangs and did the 12 kilometre one way round trip. About halfway the rain was so bad we couldn't see more than 2 or 3 metres in front of the car, we pulled over and had our salad and a banana.

We then wended our way through Little River where we checked out the river itself for some pictures.

Heading home we crossed Westgate bridge and immediately saw a monumental traffic snarl. We side stepped through Port Melbourne and eventually down Beach Road to home.

You missed a fabulous day!

Mick.

 

[Wyno]

Hi Mick,
I went down to the Waterfront at about 7.30 and took some of the Brigantine from the carousel. I was taking my second shot when the sun broke throught the clouds. Absolutley lovely light, but without a tele, I might have to cut the neg down to 4x5. I went over to where the Enterprize was berthed, but was unable to get any good shots because of the pilings obscuring the bulk of the ship. I did take some of the masts and rigging.
I also took one of Corio Villa before I went down to the ships.
I went back to the Waterfront with Jenni later and saw the Enterprize let go its broadside, then picked up my water bucket and bottle from Barwon Water. It's about time we got something free from them.
Mike

 

[Joachim_I]

Mick and Mike: would like to see your prints of that day. Maybe at the next meeting. Last weekend I mounted the slides I took during the Williamstown Tall Ship Festival (ships Stad Amsterdam, Young Endeavour, One & All, and Enterprize). I think I have some keepers.

 

[Kevin Caulfield]

What I will do, however, is put together a short video of the day. I think there's only a few minutes of footage, but probably enough. So, if anybody is interested, drop me a PM and I'll get a DVD to you (when it's edited, hopefully soon), on which I may even include a short video of an APUG day from back in 2006.

Okay, let's see, so far there are ... zero takers for the DVD. Last call. If anybody would like one, please drop me a PM.

Thanks Mike for taking and posting that group shot. Yes, there are some scared and scary expressions there, but so far it's the only group shot from any Melbourne APUG gathering.

 

[munz6869]

but so far it's the only group shot from any Melbourne APUG gathering.

Except for the blurry group polaroid we made at the Hawthorn Rowing club one... (June, last year?)

Kevin - I'd love a DVD - I'll PM...

Marc

 

[Kevin Caulfield]

Except for the blurry group polaroid we made at the Hawthorn Rowing club one... (June, last year?)

Oh yeah, somebody mentioned that. I was there but missed that shot as I had a bored three year old to deal with.

 

[Mick Fagan]

Joachim, I'm afraid I didn't take any pictures that day, I wasn't too good and would have had difficulty carrying the tripod, let alone the camera.

If I had gone down the previous week it would have been perfect as I had quite a lot of strength, such is life!

I would like to propose that we organise ourselves for a country destination on one of our erratic outings, not too far, perhaps somewhere west? This would allow those west and south west, a respite from the mandatory cruise control Geelong to Melbourne trip.

Maybe somewhere like Stieglitz which has some abandoned buildings and deep holes

What do you lot think?

Mick.

 

[SMBooth]

Deep holes could be useful, but where is Stieglitz?

 

[Mick Fagan]

Shane, on the Geelong Ballarat, or Geelong Bacchus Marsh road, or thereabouts.

I knew a few holes in a former life, didn't think they were useful.

Mick.

 

[Joachim_I]

Mick, I am sure there will be similar opportunities in near future. Just read that Queen Mary 2 is expected in Melbourne next year. I am looking forward to this. I took some decent shots of Queen Elisabeth II (still the most beautiful ship in the Cunard fleet) and Queen Victoria during several of their visits to Rotterdam.

Regarding some activities in the (south-) west, I am definitely for it. But my knowledge of possible locations is still very limited. I never heard about Stieglitz (well, there is a famous economist of that name), for example. Shane mentioned the Werribee Gorges at the last meeting which also sound very interesting.

 

[Wyno]

Joachim,
Werribee Gorge can be a bit strenuous for people with bad legs, backs or carrying heavy gear. It is beautiful though. Some parts are a bit tricky. There is one section with toeholds and a length of steel cable to hold on to, that sometimes is under water. I suppose it all depends on how adventurous you are. Steiglitz is a really good place for disposing of bodies (if you need to) and does have some really nice old buildings, specifically the courthouse. If I remember correctly, Steiglitz had the highest yield of gold per tonne of any goldfield in Australia back in the 19th century.
Mike

 

[Joachim_I]

I googled Steiglitz. It looks very interesting. At this moment, I am too busy with work. But after mid of April I would be happy to go there.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Deep holes could be useful, but where is Stieglitz?

Steiglitz still draws in the visitors and there's a lot of photogenic bushland about, particularly in Spring. The non-town has a neat olde world café down that way, too, the "Peppercorn Café" with yelping Jack Russells and eccentric owners, but serves a really good cuppa.

I second Wyno's comments on Werribee Gorge as having considerable photographic merit, but can I suggest Blackwood-O'Briens Crossing area for a less strenuous environment. I could not get to O'Briens Crossing last Sunday; DETOUR-ROAD CLOSED barriers in place, presumably from hazardous road conditions following Saturday's deluge and yet more vile weather shortly after continuing to Blackwood — the "little town in the big hills".

If the South-West still appeals, I am happy to lead a couple of walks into the Great Otway National Park, particularly Yannathan Falls before winter, but another option is a longer day walk down to Cumberland Crossing to explore the pretty Galliebarinda Falls and the exquisite middle section of the Cumberland River above Brunswick Falls (walk grade would be medium). Good rains recently means the Cumberland is flowing well and will continue to do so. Also, Wreck Beach and the tideline below Moonlight Head may interest, but a bit further away than the bit on Yannathan Falls — but still within the boundaries of a good day out.

 

[Oxleyroad]

I concur with Mick. In heading out of town and west. Having missed the meet at the front of the Tan, I will do my best to get to the next one.

Can I suggest we start a new thread for the next day out.