Visual Journey: Stanley

My wife and I visited Stanley last Sunday, which is a small town in Tasmania, two and a halhours away from Launceston. It is famous for the Nut, a rock plug that for an extinct volcano. Tasmania has one like in the mainland, only smaller and surrounded by sea not the desert, hah...


The Nut, Stanley

We had some surprises with the weather because when we head out from Launceston, the weather was fine, but it soon changed as we are getting near to Stanley. The rain poured heavily but there were occasionally glimpses of clear skies and the sun. However, they did not last very long, before we knew it, the dark clouds reappeared and it rained heavily again.

My film rangefinder camera was equipped with a colour film, Fuji Pro 400H, hoping to capture Stanley in colour with fluffy clouds, like when I was in Wetlands. Obviously this wasn't the case. So I learnt the lesson to check the weather before hand and to equip my camera with the film when I reach there. This is because on cloudy days, black and white photos look better than colour as they can be rather dull.

Our first stop, the toilet of course... after two and a half hours...



Sorry, I can't show you how the ladies toilet look like, but you have an idea right? Pretty neat toilet if you ask me, with the clever use of daylight to save electricity and very spacious...







When we reach there, it drizzled and the sky, well cloudy and grey...no sun at all. I took some shots just in case, after all it took me two and a half hour to reach here. So we decided to have some lunch in the local town cafe. Initially we wanted to dine in a restaurant but it was Mother's Day, so it was fully booked for lunch. When I say the town is small I really mean it. The other place we could find food was a homely cafe just opposite, that's pretty much it... The cafe was very cozy and the menu is down to earth, very much homemade like. We both had scallop pies with salad and as expected, it was good, but it will cost you, AUD $ 13.50... Ouch...



As we had lunch, the skies cleared up, so we headed to the beach...













After we had enough goofing around at the beach, we head to the Nut, or rather up the Nut. You can either hike up ( it is pretty steep though) or simply take the chairlift up, Being us, we took the chairlift, only AUD $10, pretty cheap compared to the chairlift at the Gorge, Launceston. The scenery was good, but not breathtaking, if you know what I mean.

















Breathtaking or not... you be the judge, but worth to just come and see it for yourself if you ask me. On the Nut, the walk will take you approximately 45 minutes, worth a stroll around on the Nut.











Hope, you readers enjoy my journey to the Nut, that all for now...

Visual Journey: Wetlands

Not long ago, I went to Wetlands to take a walk with my wife... It is just 10 minutes away from Launceston, Tasmania but I have not been there and this is my first time, believe it or not. The place is like a swamp, except there are no crocodiles, haha. Here are some of the pictures I took of the location.









All taken with my film rangefinder, Bessa R4M with Fuji Pro 400H film and scanned with my new Plustek 7600 Ai film scanner. I just love this colour film. I love how the film renders blues in the skies and the saturation of the colours. Thanks to the scanner, there were profiles for any negative film from most manufacturers, so I had no problem getting the colours right. The grain, well looks pretty good, if you can spot it at all,except for the last shot. I converted the last shot into black and white in Photoshop, so there is some digital grain there. I get wider dynamic range shooting with this film, meaning I can get more details from the skies and shadows in one shot wihout resorting to HDR (High Dynamic Range) post-processings. I haven't really tested this film on people yet... I will do so and review how the film renders skin tones but no problems using the film for landscapes for sure...

I will not review the new scanner as you can find the reviews on the Internet. Briefly, it is very good and much more capable than most flatbed scanners, except maybe the Epson Pro v750. The only downside to the Plustek scanners that you have to feed the negatives or slides manually and that well it only scan 35mm negatives and slides.

The Epson Pro v750 is maybe as good as the Plustek 7600Ai and it is much more versatile as it can scan other film formats. There are only two reasons why I did not get the Epson Pro v750. The price, about AUD $300-400 more than the Plustek 7600Ai and the fact that I already have a flatbed scanner; the Epson v300. Perhaps the v300 will be upgraded in the future when I have medium format film cameras... More GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) kicking in...haha.

I find the place perfect for portraits and here are some pictures of my wife. These were shot on Olympus EP-1 with the Voigtlander 50mm f1.1 via an adapter, so yea they are digital...





















Although the lens render the bokeh a.k.a. the out of focus area a bit harsh, not as smooth as would like but it is growing on me. The signature look I get from the lens is definitely special and the lens is superbly sharp at f1.1 !!! though I mostly shoot at f1.4. That's all for now..

I spook myself at myself

Last week, my wife decided to put some make up on me, (blame my inperfection on my skin) and decided to take some pictures of me. I have been contemplating whether I should post this... but here it is anyway...The camera used here is the Olympus EP1 with Voigtlander 50mmf1.1 via an adaper. She made me look like a Japanese by the way... So here goes...


(Note: I don't own any diffuser or any studio equipment for portraits yet... and this image reminds me why I may need them...)









I have decided to play around with slow shutter speed with minimal lighting to create some ghostly images JUST FOR FUN... This is what I got... At night I transform...















Sorry for wasting your time...haha