On the road again

The little red Corolla was working hard today. A reasonably early start from Taree took us through some beautiful green and healthy countryside - which we didn't allow time to stop and photograph - because we were "on a mission"! The evening before we had been aiming to reach Karuah and the oyster sheds so that Colleen could get a few dozen rock oysters. Unfortunately it was after six when we got there and of course, nothing was open! Great disappointment. However we did a little exploring and noticed the setting sun making a beautiful display over the estuary. I couldn't help myself, the car was stopped and I took several pictures. Here is one of them.

We reached our motel in Taree soon after eight - it was just as well I had run earlier in the day to warn the proprietor that we would be late and our approximate arrival time. We were only ten minutes later than my estimate!
We were surprised to find that we had exactly the same motel room that we had stayed in on our trip down to Canberra.
Next morning the sun was rising behind the paddock of cattle through the trees behind the motel. I had glanced through the small window behind the kitchenette and noticed the mist on the ground and the glow of the sun on its way. I grabbed the camera and dashed around the end of the building and down across the lawn to the stand of tall trees and rattled off half a dozen shots as the light changed.

I tried all kinds of different things - with the trees and with a few and will only a couple. It would have been good if one of the cows had come close to the fence that was just behind the trees - but apart from looking up to see who was looking at them not one of them moved any closer!
This shot is half way through the stand of trees. A little later and the sun was up and the pattern of shadows across the grass made yet another great shot!
We drove into a coastal town called Nambucca and found Colleen her oysters. They are freshly "shucked" (what a horrible word!) this morning and put in brine in bottles - so she has eight dozen of them to enjoy! We put them in the car refrigerator to keep them cool.
Just as we were about to turn off the highway onto the Linkway at Mudgeeraba the phone rang and it was Colin! I was able to ask him to get Colleen's car up to the road so that we could transfer her case from my car to hers. A cup of tea and a chat and she was on her way to Brisbane in her own vehicle.
It has been a great week and I appreciated her company on the long drive down and back again.
AJ

Last day of the Canberra Convention

The last morning of the convention was really (and I mean REALLY) interesting. Firstly we had a young man speak who talked about the cameras he used for different video projects. This was of major interest to all the “tech heads” especially when Patrick Gallagher talked about the really expensive high definition cameras and the little toy that has become so useful for adventurous video makers, the Go-pro (or some such name!!!!) The camera is tiny and can be strapped to bike handle bars or the toe of a surfboard or on the dash of a car that is dropped from a crane and it will survive anything that it faces. Several speakers through this week use one for awkward or dangerous angles.

After talking about the cameras used for short film making, Patrick went on to talk about the cameras that were used in Parliament for recording proceedings in the chamber. He is one of the camera operators and they work from an office below away from the proceedings and controls eight cameras with joysticks and buttons to change feeds from one camera to another.

The second speaker was one of the coordinators of ABC Open. This is an exciting project that is less than two years old and is in 45 regional centres around Australia. The program is aimed at both teaching people who have never used computers, cameras or the internet how to use them by giving projects and the means to complete them. The spin off is that there are now lots of fascinating stories of real people that can be accessed by the people who created them and the rest of the world too. I must find the web site and take a closer look at what has been done there – it all sounds so exciting that I want to be involved myself! I believe the address is http://open.abc.net.au  but I will check and edit this link if it is incorrect.

Colleen was waiting for me when the sessions were over and after lunch and farewelling as many people as I could we packed the car and set off for Taree. Of course we managed to strike the peak hour traffic but it was never stationary so although it was a long trip we made base by 8.20pm (we left about 2.00pm) After checking in we raced into town to the Chinese Restaurant we so enjoyed on our first stay here and luckily found it open.

We took a photo of ourselves as we waited for the meal to be cooked!

 Cheesy grins to a hand held camera from AJ and Colleen

The food was brought back to our motel room – which again is the same room we had when we first came through Taree! Room 16. There were real plates and metal cutlery so we dined in style! The family are all eager to have us home! The phone has been running hot! It took us eight hours to get here from the Gold Coast so I guess it will take the same length of time to get back there. That is including time for stops along the way – and lunch. It has been a great week.

AJ

Video talk

Being in Canberra makes me appreciate the heat and the humidity of the Gold Coast! Thursday morning was foggy – not foggy like I once encountered on the Yorkshire Moors where visibility was so limited I couldn’t see the other side of the two lane road or even whether there was a corner ahead, but foggy like steam on spectacles! I think I had my coat on for the best part of the day – and I was indoors! (complain, complain!) Sitting still does not warm you.
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A lot of “Official” stuff was dealt with in the morning. Nothing was changed and nothing improved. I really have no idea what my official role is supposed to entail. When the issue of judges was raised and the FAMM president asked if clubs would appreciate having twelve FAMM approved judges to pick from to judge their major video competitions there was a very negative reaction. So amazed was I by this response that I swallowed my own ideas on the subject. I get a distinct impression that these club members are unwilling to accept change and jump in to stop any suggestion of change. Sigh.
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There was a fair bit of discussion about music and copyrights. It is a difficult issue and a real problem for amateur video makers who wish to show their videos to fellow club members and most likely only shown the one time, without fear of reprisal. The majority do not like the Royalty Free music that is available because they need music that dominates the sound track and Royalty Free music is not designed for that, it is for creating a mood and is usually quite short.
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Videomakers need friends who can create music. I would imagine there are composers around who would love to try their hand at creating a musical sound track for a short film. The difficulty is . .. . . to find someone!

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Two excellent speakers gave inspiring talks to us. One, a young man with lots of passion and ambition is sure to go places because he has so much confidence in his abilities and so much energy to see that it will happen. I am sure we shall hear more about Daniel Sanguineti.
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Our second speaker is a scientist with the CSIRO and he also is responsible for a short (science)film festival. As well as showing some of the incredibly crafted videos from previous competitions he talked about the sorts of things that video judges looked for. It was a valuable talk.
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Later in the evening we watched more videos that had been sent in by the Video Clubs – each club sent along the five best movies from the past two years (the convention is held biannually) and when the lights came back on the winners were announced. One video was awarded first prize but the club that won the coveted FAMM Shield was the club that acquired the most points from the scoring of all five videos.

This year the shield went to Newcastle Video Movie Makers.

AJ

sightseeing in Canberra

On the day that was set aside for sight seeing as a group what does the weather do? Oh yes! There was a thunderstorm through the night and it was not exactly “wild” but it certainly wasn’t sunny when the coach pulled up to the front door of the Country club. (The Country Club is where the Convention is being held.) A row of umbrellas between the front door and the coach door amused me – why stand in the rain and then have to struggle to put down the umbrella before entering the coach when the distance between the two entrances is only six paces?

Off we went with the wet raincoats contributing to the steam that built up and made looking through the windows impossible! Realising our plight the driver instructed everyone on how to open the top window vent to let some cool air in!

Our first port of call was the National Film and Sound archives where we were ushered into the theatre.

Entering the imposing entrance

We had three presentations. They were SO interesting!

The three individuals who gave us the presentations are so passionate about what they are doing that you could not help but be fascinated by their talks. We were told about the actual preservation of film and shown several examples of before restoration and after as well as watching a very amusing clip of the running of the first Melbourne Cup – without actually seeing the race except as a diversion in the background!

We were told about glass slides that were one of the first moving picture shows and shown how they worked. A short film showing a few of them working had sound effects and music added and that really gave them an extra dimension! Good fun!

Fortunately the rain had stopped when we walked from the Film and Sound Archives to the Museum because it was almost a kilometer between the two buildings.

 Young at heart and fit as fiddles!

The people unable to walk that distance were taken by car. There were only about five of them.

What an unusual and dramatically shaped building is the Museum! The main entry took my breath away!

 The foyer of the museum

It was past lunch time so everyone made a beeline for the cafeteria to recharge the batteries! Me included! Not interested in stuffed animals or relics from past civilizations I found the camera and information about Frank Hurley and more examples of glass positives more to my taste.

 A glass positive - a light is behind the glass

After the walk through the museum we were taken on an interesting drive around Capital Hill having landmarks and buildings pointed out to us as we went. We drove around several of the foreign embassies but saw no one of any importance – in fact we saw no person at all!

Up Red Hill lookout we drove but didn’t stop, instead we moved on to Ainslie Lookout where everyone dismounted and swung their cameras into action – the clouds were breaking up and the city below us was beginning to glisten.

 Telstra tower in the background.

Shots were taken of all the landmarks including yet another of ANZAC Parade. It certainly looks impressive from up here.

 ANZAC Parade from War Memorial to the Old and the New Parliament Houses

The day was rounded off with a splendid meal – the “Convention Dinner” and an entertaining talk by a retired Public Servant – I am still smiling. His talk was about hobbies and totally not what I was expecting after the introduction! He knew how to hold an audience’s attention! I wish I was as skilled.

AJ

Animations and Features

On the first morning of our FAMM Convention we were treated to talks by two very interesting and talented young ladies with very different experiences to tell us about.

Marisa Martin gave us an insight into the life of a stop motion animator. Most of us are familiar with animated clay models, these characters are often to be seen on children’s television and are delightful three dimensional objects. What we were shown this morning was animation with paper characters and sets.

The presentation started off with a trailer that introduces the three stars of the show which started off with an aerial flight over the scenery with turning cogs and blimps and smoke and steam giving lots of atmosphere. The characters were introduced and they nodded, winked and smiled coyly with movement to their heads, hair and mouths. We all accepted this as any TV watcher would – with no appreciation to the work that had gone on behind the finished product.

Once we had been enlightened as to how each little element of the face and hair and lips had been made and manipulated we were all in awe of the patience of this girl.

 Examples of the elements of the characters

Each of the elements had been hand drawn to begin with, scanned into the computer, coloured and arranged on a page for printing and cutting out (with a craft knife).The pieces were assembled with tiny split pins and between five and ten seconds of movement were recorded in a day. That’s a lot of days to get a ten minute movie!

 Marisa Martin

We sat open mouthed as Marisa explained how everything was calculated before any filming took place, with so much time involved in any one scene, every shot counted. There was to be no cutting of anything from the final production. So there was a lot of mathematics involved. A lot of calculation into the mouth shape for the different sounds in speech – in the close up shots the mouth shape was changed every two or four frames.

Amazing!

Our second speaker, Monica Pender, spoke about her experiences as a producer of a feature film. How anyone could speak so cheerfully about something that took so long and had so many difficulties and set-backs amazed me. The film is available on DVD “The Secret of Moonacre” and after hearing all about its actors, costumes, locations and the strict rules about the length of time a juvenile actor is permitted to work in a day and the many other set-backs that affect the shooting of a film, I would like to see it. The film is aimed at a teenage audience and cost $3,500,000 to produce and thanks to a blizzard on the first day of release to the public, bombed! As I say, how Monica can be so positive and eager to work on another feature film, amazes me.

I didn’t manage to get close enough to take a photo of this lively lady.

So, a video enriching day was spent indoors on this Tuesday. It is always good to learn about facets of this activity that I will probably never attempt myself. However they give me an appreciation of the work that others do.

AJ

Capital works

Well I didn’t think that I would find it too difficult to link to a wireless network – but even with the help of the motel manager I failed to link with the Miranda motel’s free internet – well, they do say that nothing is for free! Usually there is a pop up that asks for the security code – but we couldn’t get this to happen! Grr! Just as well I have the pre-paid Telstra thingy with me!

This morning I managed to find out that parking is almost impossible to find when you are looking for it! I thought I would take a quick look at Parliament House – but I need more than road signs to get me there – I couldn’t find the road that would take me there – I went round and round it! I did not come across a road sign that told me where to get off the road and up to where I wanted to be! Time ran out for me so I gave up and drove over to pick up Colleen and Shirley and the three of us went to take a look at the War Memorial. Finding parking for that was much easier – we had a local with us to give direction!

 Colleen and Shirley talk seriously before going in to see the War Museum.

The Museum is a simple but magnificent building with guided tours running all the time. We really could not afford the time for a tour so we wandered around by ourselves, I took quite a few video shots with the Pani-blog but here are three that I have taken from my Nikon shots.

Here I am looking towards the entrance from near the beautiful tomb of the unknown soldier.

The long pond is decorated with coins that have been tossed in - I wonder if people think that their wish will come true if they throw money into fountains and ponds, you often see coins in decorative water features in public places.

 This last image was taken from the steps in front of the Australian War Memorial and is the view along ANZAC Parade. Parliament House is at the far end of the parade.

This evening after the official opening of the FAMM Convention by the ACT Chief Minister, Katy Gallagher, the attendees to the evening enjoyed a delicious meal and a great deal of camaraderie.  A few competitions with film titles followed - I am not very good with that sort of thing, not being much of a film buff! Fortunately for our table we had a fellow and two ladies who were very clever on this topic so we did quite well!

Since I am not able to get the free internet connection I was expecting I have topped up my pre-paid internet so I have no worries about running out while I am away! The blog will continue!

AJ

Second day of travel

With only a six hours driving ahead of us Colleen and I did not leap out of our beds until after seven and then had a leisurely breakfast and loaded the car. The key was returned to the reception and off we went – eight o clock wasn’t too bad! Our later start meant that we would avoid the heavy traffic of morning rush hour.

Once again we had a beautiful sunny day so the scenery was seen at its best. Our lunch stop was at the side of the road in a rather busy parking and picnic bay but we were fortunate to find a sheltered table and seats. Pulled in a little way from our table was a small truck on which trays of fruit and veggies were displayed for sale. After clearing away our lunch things and packing them in the car Colleen ambled over and bought a box of nectarines to take to the relative she was going to stay with in Canberra.

 In the afternoon I was ready for a break from driving and there seemed to be no picnic bays anywhere so I took an exit an drove 3 kilometers to a service station at a small town. In the car park was a small market so after enjoying a rather bitter coffee (our own would have been much nicer!) we wandered around the half dozen stalls and both Colleen and I picked up a little trinket that will go into our “Christmas present” collection! We enjoyed the exchange of banter with the stall holder! He did too!

This time the GPS took us to the motel I had booked on line without a fault. I checked in at about 4.15 had a quick look around, took Colleen in to have a look too before we drove on to the suburb of Cook to where Colleen was going to stay.

I was introduced to Shirley and her daughter Pat and we had a delightful meal together before I begged my leave and returned to my “lonely” room to write my little story for this blog. I even set up the pani-blog (my pistol grip camera/camcorder) ion a little tripod and took a shot of myself with my laptop!

I think I must have run my fingers through my hair because I seem to have lost my fringe! Do I look tired? I am now, so I will post this and do something about it!

AJ

Canberra Trip - Leaving Home

Both Colleen (my lady friend from Brisbane) and I found it almost impossible to sleep soundly with a big day of driving ahead of us and knowing we were to wake up at 5.00am. So after waking up half a dozen times through the night we were both seated at the breakfast table by six. The dogs have to be fed before people! So they were given their doggy roll and the lorikeets raw sugar and bread was prepared before we sat down to eat. (There is a ritual in our kitchen that cannot be changed!)

Colin waved us goodbye at seven and we were on our way with a full tank of petrol and far too many clothes, since we had been told that it was to be cold in Canberra and we need to be “prepared”.

Colleen has two bad knees so I didn’t ask her to take over the driving at any stage but we stopped for a morning tea at a roadside picnic stop and then stopped again when we reached Coffs Harbour to have a banana split at the “Big Banana”! Boy, was that good! I had strawberry topping and Colleen, Caramel and we struggled with the bendy plastic spoon and the delicious creamy banana icecream. Perhaps the customers have stolen all the real spoons – or else the staff has decided against washing spoons!

When we got back into the car I plugged in my USB memory stick with folders of music on into the car radio so from there on we were entertained with music. When Colleen nodded off I changed the music to classical and enjoyed a different style of sound.

Just as we pulled into the motel we are staying in tonight the phone rang. Colin must have telepathy – he thought we should have arrived “by now”. The woman in the reception was puzzled as to why we were taking so long to get out of the car!

 Colleen and AJ

Of course the kettle was the first thing that was checked and filled! I know my priorities!

Here we are enjoying the results of that great move!

Once I have posted this tale we shall go off in search of an evening meal. We both fancy Chinese food tonight – but we shall see.

AJ

Having another go with Photoscape

I have spoken to a few people who have downloaded Photoscape and are having a play with it and they are quite excited about what can be done. None of these people are clever "photoshop" users, they find the layers and masks and processes all very confusing and yet they are having a great time with this program and are getting very good results. It is good that a program such as this is not only easy to use but effective at all kinds of tasks too.
One of the people I have chatted to is scanning old slides and the results of the Photoscape manipulation I have been shown are excellent.

This photograph is a comparison shot. The photo on the left is how the original scan looks (I worked on this photo - it is of me a VERY long time ago!) The program allowed brightness and contrast correction, colour removal and cloning. The cloning tool is faultless! I was totally amazed at how easy and how invisibly the repairs were made. When scanning old photos there are always little black and sometimes, white, dots that mar the picture. I was able to zoom right in and use the clone brush to remove those blemishes.
If I wanted to give the corrected photo a sepia wash so that it looks as dated as the original a quick click on the appropriate filter will do that. But since the photo was a black and white originally and only time and poor developing has changed it to dull brown I will keep it the way I have now made it!
AJ

Playing with a free program

I am an avid reader of a blog called Digital Photography School and thanks to a link provided by one of the respondents to an article I downloaded a free photo editing program called Photoscape. What a find! There are so many useful little features in this program that most people would be able to edit their photos using this program alone! It can colour correct, light correct and give some super effects too.
I am going to show a few things that can be done with this program.

This is a photo that has not been manipulated. Now lets see what can be done with a few quick clicks.

How about a reflection? Admitedly the reflection happens at the very bottom of the picture - but a bit of cropping helps the effect! (I cropped just at the trainer wheel)

This is a fun pic - this is another filter called Coloured pencil and it gives an excellent coloured drawing. If you wanted this to be just a graphite - black and white - drawing you would only need to tell the program to remove the colour and "bingo"!

Finally with the bike wheel, an effect that is called "newsprint" - the pictures in a newspaper are made up of dots. to this has been added a black inner line around the edge and a coloured border edge - white.
Now for a bit of fun with a picture of pelicans.

Not too much has been done with this photo that is clear (other than the "call-outs") but white balance and levels have been used that made a good difference to a dull picture.
After that text was added - "The Chorus line" - and I was able to move it and turn it to put it where I wanted it.
Next I chose to put a couple of "call-outs" and there were so many different shapes to chose from that I took a while to find two that I would stay with!
Next I rounded the corners and decided that I had done enough to one photo! Its easy to go too far!
I do recommend you try this fun program - it comes with links back to the video tutorials so you will never be stuck for ideas of what to do with your photos.
Have fun - I know I will!
AJ