For no reason and with no real narrative, some shots of Poppie and Bella doing their thing.
F5.6, 1/160th sec, ISO400, Effective focal length 450mm
Tonight was close to a full moon, and as it rose over the horizon and cleared a bank of clouds I managed to capture this shot.
I’ve tried to get a shot like this many times before but I usually end up with a white blob on a black background. This time the fact it was only just dark and that the moon was magnified because it was close to the horizon all helped.
But this shot was still not what I’d seen through the viewfinder. Given the fact I was hand holding the camera and shooting at 160th of a second to minimise camera shake any detail outside of the moon was lost.
So with a little assistance from my favourite image editor, I’ve put together a view more in keeping with what I saw.
I’ve often wondered if our girls miss us when we are out of the house. Based on Poppie’s behaviour over the weekend when Jean went shopping for a few hours, you’d have to say they do.
She sat at the window, looking up the street, just waiting.
Groom day in Siena was a major family outing. We had found a groomer just a few metres from the Campo and they would take one girl at a time. So we spent the afternoon sitting in our favourite bar firstly with one girl and then with the other.
This was no hardship and gave us ample opportunity to check some emails, watch some people and do some shopping – as you do in Italy.
Birthdays galore – that’s February at our place. And a huge thank you to everyone who has wished us well or commiserated over the number of candles that festoon the top of our birthday cakes these days.
It’s fair to say both Jean and I have had a cracking time with lots of visitors. And lots of presents – everything from some Vuitton bling for Jean to every possible Weber Q barbecue accessory for me.
Once again, thank you all.
No not that type of tattoo – I’m talking about the Edinburgh Military Tattoo – in Wellington. We attended last weekend’s sold out event at Westpac Stadium and enjoyed a cracking show.
There is nothing like the sound of massed pipes and drums to bring out the Scotsman in everyone. Apart from the pipes and drums, the highlights for me were the Top Secret Basel Drum Corp and His Majesty The King of Norway’s Guards Band and Drill Team. Both were superb.
And let’s not forget our own New Zealand Army Band who brought their unique spin to military band music and marching.
It was a sell out show and, unlike the usual stadium concert crowd, there was overwhelming representation from the silver fox brigade. So much so that I felt like a youngster.
All in all, a great night out.
This year, summer is the kind we always dream about. Hot sunny days and warm calm evenings that seem to stretch on forever – with the weather forecaster’s prediction of impending wind and rain being proved wrong time and again.
Tonight, as the sun dropped below the horizon, we were on our front verandah enjoying the view. The girls were waiting patiently to terrorise anyone who dared to pass the gate. What a great evening.
In summer we often spend evenings sitting in the backyard catching the last of the sun – much to the apparent displeasure of Poppie the dog who sits inside, on the window seat, eyeballing us through the Lavender.
We’re not sure why she does this. I suspect she’s wondering why we are just sitting around enjoying ourselves – when we should be getting her dinner. Just a thought.
My first ever digital camera was a Canon Digital IXUS V. It boasted a 2.1 megapixel sensor, an optical view finder and a LCD screen on the back that was about the size of a postage stamp. Overall it was about as big as a packet of cigarettes and built like a brick.
I purchased it over 10 years ago and it has sat in a draw, unused, for the last few years because the battery has refused to charge. I ran across it a few weeks ago and decided to see if I could track down a new battery to bring it back to life. Surprisingly I managed to find a new battery – thank you dc-battery.co.nz – and the camera came alive.
A comparison seemed to be in order – my rejuvenated Canon versus the Leica D-Lux 6 purchased in Hong Kong last year.
This is in no way a scientific comparison, just me playing around one afternoon at my desk. I was expecting the Leica to blitz the Canon – which it did – but in good light the antique Canon held up reasonably well – much better than I expected.
It’s the height of summer in Wellington and our garden is full to bursting with flowers. Which explains why some have made their way into a vase on our bench. I think the florist in the family has done a great job arranging them – so I took a photo.
The holiday break has seen an addition to our back yard in the form of an outdoor couch. It wasn’t exactly what we went looking for but we think it’s a nice addition. It catches the last of the sun and is a great place to relax on a warm summer evening.
Presenting two photos that you can only take when you’ve got the time. And that’s the great thing about holidays, you have the time.
The dog shot involved two tired girls and Jean acting as a wrangler behind me. It took about 30 shots to get the one I was looking for with Poppie staring down the lens and Bella on guard.
The moon rising over Nelson shot took time because I had no tripod and the shutter speed had to be quick enough to ensure a sharp shot but still have a reasonable depth of field. In the end I pushed the ISO to 800 and managed to hand-hold the camera steady for 1/30th of a second exposure. Then it was into Photoshop for some cropping, colour balancing and exposure work.
It’s great to have time for all this faffing about.
The tree is up at our place and, for the first time, the front balcony is festooned with sparkling lights. It was a little concerning when Jean, standing and admiring her work, mentioned in passing “we really need to do the upstairs balcony as well, and the gutters”.
Who knows where this will end?
It feels like we’ve been home for ages but every so often something reminds you of holiday times.
Like the photo above. We were having breakfast at the villa one morning and two ladies arrived to clean up the madonna next door. It was our madonna apparently – because it was on the villa property – but locals take the responsibility to sweep, clean and polish it.
It was also a useful landmark if we needed to describe which vila we were in – the one next to the madonna – ahh, si la madonna. Bene.
After 3 weeks of rest and relaxation we’re back home in Wellington and back into our routine – including the daily commute to work. And despite it being spring we were met with a pretty good impersonation of winter. Sigh.
La dolce far niente 
