12 months in photos

This is shamelessly stolen from a forum I frequent but I thought that this could be an interesting blog - I could be wrong but what they hey! At least here I also get to expand on the photos and the processes behind it...

:)

so let's go...

January

This photo was part part of the Melbourne Silvermine's Australia Day Challenge (theme being "girt"). I was wandering around the back garden with the disposable camera and some of the daisies were in bloom so I though what if... and here's the result.

February

This is one of those "fluke" shots. I love this photo. This was our tour guide in Varanassi, he was taking me someplace I can't remember where - he was taking me around Varanassi while Larry was with a Guru. And I grabbed this shot with my iPhone for me it just works and it shows the colour and vibrancy that can be India.

March

This was an interesting month for me. The 300D I had been using for nearly 3 years died and I bought a replacement (my now very cherished 40D) and I'm a car nerd. So the Melbourne International Motorshow + new camera = perfect opportunity. I was really looking forward to seeing the BMW M1 Homage and I was blown away by it. This is probably one of my favourite shots of it. It's not technically brilliant but I like it.

April

Huzzah! Holga! A double exposure of the view from the rooftop terrace from our townhouse in Port Melbourne. I love the almost "end of the world" feel to this. Part of what I love about photography is that I can play. Part of what I really love about the holga is that you can play with double exposures (and triple etc...)

May

I love food & I love cooking. I didn't take many photos in May and this is the best I think out of the photos I did take in May. And also one of the first times I made cupcakes...

June

A lot of what drives me in life is curiosity and one of the things in photography I have been curious about is HDR. This is one of my better HDR images (again of the view from the townhouse roof), I have a few better, namely from the motorshow but as that was in March - they don't count ;)

July

I bought a vintage film camera. A 1954 Super Ikonta (it's a folding camera) which is just seriously a thing of beauty! I carried this camera around more than I did the 40D. This photo is on the road between Trentham & Kyneton. I went through a brief spate of standing in the middle of the road to take photos...

August

This is one of those 'lucky' shots. I saw the tape around the bottom of the parking meter and grabbed the ikonta and went for it... really happy with how this came out :)

September

I was made redunant, I had time on my hands and I had new lenses. So I did something else I had been curious about for a while. I made my own lightbox. I also like geeky toys so the two seemed to be a perfect fit (this was shot using my 60mm macro lens).

October

We were in India for the girls and the Ramada Powai had diwali celebrations that we were invited to. This is again just one of those photos. I didn't expect it to turn out as I was shooting in AV in low light and that normally causes issues (as the 17-85 lens isn't that fast). But this to me pretty much sums up Diwali.

November

More fun with the macro lens. I was feeling rather hideous in terms of photography in both October and November as I only really felt I was taking photos of the girls. So I decided to take my macro lens outside into the garden and see what I could do. I guess also many people do forget there's an underside to flowers. This is one of the numerous daisies we have growing here in the backyard. I love the gardens here :)

December

It had to be a Christmas shot. We got some goofy santa hats for the girls and I had already done a shot with Cookie Monster in a santa hat and I was baking cookies (originally it was a christmas bbq at the bowls club but the cookies didn't last that long!). So I thought about doing a shot with cookies and milk for Santa... with the tree in the background. I had the brilliant idea of teaming it with Cookie Monster in his santa hat. This is probably one of the images I'm the happiest with.

chickpea, brown rice & spinach pilaf

chickpea, brown rice & spinach pilaf, originally uploaded by nettsu.

2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tsp coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
2 x 250g packets microwave brown rice
400g can chickpeas, rinsed, drained
1 cup (250ml) chicken or vegetable stock
120g baby spinach leaves
1/2 cup (55g) raisins

Heat the oil in saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, spices, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, for 10 minutes or until the rice is softened. Add the rice, chickpeas and stock, bring to the boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium, cover & simmer for 5 minutes ot until the rice is cooked through. Remove the pan from heat, stir in spinach and raisins. Cover, stand for 5 minutes to wilt spinach slightly, then serve.


this was very tasty and really quite simple/fast to make. Will definitely be making it again :)

Tuscan Bean Soup with Crunchy Croutons

Tuscan Bean Soup with Crunchy Croutons, originally uploaded by nettsu.

I love italian style cooking it's so simple & so very tasty!

Soup
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled & chopped finely
leaves from 3 to 4 sprigs fresh thyme
4 x 420g cans cannellini beans (I used organic)
1 litre vegetable stock
cracked black pepper & fresh flat-leaf parsley to serve (I skipped these0

1. Heat oil in frying pan and gently fry onion, thyme, garlic for 3 to 4 minutes (I chose to do this in the frypan to increase flavour & save on dishes). Drain cannellini beans and rise well with cold water.
2. Transfer onion, thyme & garlic to saucepan, add beans, stock and cook over a medium heat for about 5 minutes.
3. Using blender or food processor, roughly puree soup. Season to taste. Serve garnished with croutons & parsley.

The croutons
The recipe I used has it's own version of how to make croutons. But I have my own method (comes from watching far too many cooking shows!). Cut or rip bread into pieces (i've used the bread I use for sandwiches & toast). Place on baking tray, drizzle with good quality olive oil and season with salt & pepper. The salt will help draw extra moisture out of the bread and make for crunchier croutons.

Linguine with Crab & Lemon

300g dried linguine 2 tsp salt plus extra 250g cooked crabmeat Handful baby rocket (argula) leaves 1 tbsp grated lemon zest 1 tbsp salted baby capers, rinsed Lemon Sauce 1/2 cup chicken stock (I used vegetable stock) 2 tbsp lemon juice salt & cracked black pepper 50g chilled butter diced 2 tbsp cream or creme fraiche 1. Bring saucepan of water to boil. add 2 tbsp salt and pasta, cook for 8 minutes or until pasta is al dente. 2. Meanwhile, make sauce. Bring stock to boil in saucepan. While whisking, add lemon juice, salt & pepper. Over gentle heat, whisk in chilled butter, a few pieces at a time, without allowing the sauce to boil. Stir in cream or creme fraiche. 3. Drain pasta, keeping aside a cupful of cooking water. 4. Add pasta, cupful of cooking water, crabmeat, rocket, lemon zest, capers, salt & pepper to sauce. Toss lightly until rocket has wilted and pasta is well coated.

Asiatic Lily

Asiatic Lily, originally uploaded by nettsu.

I bought new lenses w00t!!!

I used part of my redundancy payment to finally buy myself some new glass!

It's funny - I was thinking when was the last time I bought a new lens (apart from a kit lens). And it was the 50mm f1.8 that I bought when I was given the 300D over 3 years ago... shocking isn't it?

So I bought myself the 50mm f1.4 and a macro lens (60mm f2.8) and so far I have to say I am very happy with both :)

yay!

a non-photo post!

I guess also now that I have more time on my hands (at least temporarily) I may try to blog a bit more frequently...

I'm in the throes of finally doing my tax return - I've avoided this for nearly 2 months - I thought it was time to do it. Although I am still scared I will end up with a tax debt (I seem to every year!).

So anyways...

I came across this interesting little definition -

"Your spouse is your husband or wife to whom you are legally married, or a person who lives with you on a genuine domestic basis as your husband or wife. It does not include someone who is the same sex as you.

For 2009-1o and later years, a spouse will also include a person of the same sex who is in a relationship with you that is registered under a prescribed state or territory law (my emphasis) or who you live with on a genuine domestic basis."

Now I'm a little confused here... if it is a "registered" relationship (which ours is) then why not just allow gay marriage?

Seriously is it that different?

Dangerous

Dangerous, originally uploaded by nettsu.

I'm still struggling with the whole idea of shooting film. I think maybe its because I'm still in too much of a digital mindset. Digital is easier... there's a delete option ;) and you also know pretty much whether something is in focus.

Anyways...
this is probably the shot I'm the happiest with out of the last bunch :)


It's funny I also shot a roll through my holga - they all (apart from two) were pretty much crap. it's funny how fast you can fall out of being comfortable and familiar with something to having to struggle with it again.

c'est la vie really :)