Category Archives: Photography

Supper Snaps: Summer pasta

20th February, 2012 on Food, Photography No Comments

We haven’t really cooked pasta in about a year (controlled carb diet), but I think now I’m able to indulge a little every now and then without going overboard with a big caveat – I have to make fresh pasta from scratch. Making fresh pasta is a bit of an involved process, but it feels so rewarding to eat at the end of it!

I decided to make it a bit healthier and used wholemeal flour. We have a pasta roller which made things fairly easy – but if you don’t have one you can just go oldschool nonna style and roll it out with a rolling pin or olive oil bottle. Chopped up onion, garlic, cherry tomato, zucchini and olives with herbs from the garden, olive oil and tomato paste made a simple sauce. It’s really filling, so I ate the leftovers today with some extra vegetables, olive tapenade and braised rabbit leftover from another dinner. Delicious!

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Phone photography

18th February, 2012 on Photography No Comments

* Yes, I know that's a typewriter, not a phone. I'm just a rebel like that (also I couldn't think of a cool phone photo)

This month I’ve been participating in Feb Photo a Day, which is a daily theme for photos. It’s fun to have a bit of a challenge trying to think of something creative to do with the theme, and since I’m just taking them with Instagram on my iPhone there’s less pressure to lug around a heavy DSLR or worry about a missed opportunity. I know using Instagram shots on a blog seems like a bit of a cop-out compared proper photos, but camera phones are getting pretty good these days and it’s really convenient to always have a camera with you (albeit not a great one).

I still kind of suck at phone photography, but here’s my thoughts on how to get the best shot:

  • Light is the most important thing – direct flash always sucks, and that goes double for a camera phone flash. Bright natural light is ideal, although artificial lighting can work well too. Avoid taking photos when it’s really dark with no lighting available – phone cameras just can’t really handle it.
  • Using a photography app can give some more options for editing on the phone. Some of these can be really in-depth (especially the ones you pay a bit for), but I usually just do some auto lighting adjustments.
  • Composition is obviously just as important in phone photography as it is in regular photography. Interesting angles and diptychs seem to work well.
  • There’s apps for combining two more more photos into a single frame to create interesting composite images. I use Picframe which is really handy.
  • If your camera has a front camera (for video conferencing), it’s usually much lower quality than the back camera, so try to avoid using it where possible. It’s hard to take a self-portrait on a touch phone with the touch screen facing away from you, but see if your phone has a physical button you can press instead – on the iPhone, the volume buttons can be used to take photos.

You can see my Instagram photos here – if you’re on it, add @chisathechi :) If there’s a March Photo a Day I think I might have to join up on that one too!

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Let’s drive away

2nd February, 2012 on Photography, Travel No Comments

The Boy and I had some friends over for breakfast last weekend (apparently they read this blog – hello Adam and Vik!), who suggested that we think about getting a car and driving around Europe rather than the trains and budget airline tickets that people usually do. Apparently you can save a bit of money and have the flexibility of your own transportation, which sounds good to me! We’ve done a few driving holidays now – a short one along the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, and longer ones around the north and south island of New Zealand. Driving definitely has its issues (we got a speeding ticket in the North Island, and got our campervan stuck up a hill and broke the back windscreen in the South), but with luck and common sense it’s pretty enjoyable.

From some quick research it also sounds like it makes it much easier to see smaller towns, opens up the opportunity for camping, and means you can take scenic routes and stop when you want to take photos – much better than attempting a blurry photo out of a train window! I found this (slightly old, but from what I can tell still relevant) forum post about the logistics of driving and camping around Europe if anyone else is considering doing the same.

Ever done a driving holiday?

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January Review

31st January, 2012 on Life, Photography No Comments

I’m going to try and do a monthly review of how I’m going with my resolutions for 2012 to make sure that I’m keeping on track! I won’t bore you with every month (probably), but here’s how I’ve gone in the first month of the year. If you’re struggling with your new year’s resolutions or goals, consider breaking it down into smaller goals and reviewing them regularly to see how you’re going.

1. Re-commit to a maximum of three servings of carbs per week day, or four on weekends - SORT OF

Okay so I haven’t been completely good with this (oh how I love bread, and beer!) but definitely an improvement over the excesses of December. Despite my indiscretions I’ve still managed to lose about 1.5kg, more than I’d planned to lose per month. I have a feeling it’s because of the crazy heat we’ve had – even at night it’s barely dropped below 25 degrees, and we’ve had several 40+ days. It’s like that crazy yoga that you do in intense heat, except instead of yoga all I’m doing is housework and drinking beer (okay, and some pretty intense group fitness sessions). Whatever, it’s working right? I’m going to consider this a sort-of win.

New health/weightloss interim goals: 1) attend Saturday morning boxing class every week; 2) stop drinking beer.

2. Stop buying clothes and accessories; start thinking about a minimalist wardrobe – WIN

I’m actually doing great on Project 333, and thus have not had any reason to buy anything new. It’s really made me think about what makes a good capsule wardrobe, and I think what I’ve picked out actually works really well for me. Obviously I have my ‘cheat’ allowing me to add clothes and things that I make to my wardrobe, but that’s just making more excited about making my own clothes, fulfilling another vague goal of mine. I don’t think I’ll have any issues keeping up with this for the rest of the 3 months, and it will definitely help me make more considered choices for the rest the year.

New Europe/money saving interim goal: Investigate extra forms of income – affiliate programs, photography work, stock website templates etc.

3. Investigate the best and cheapest way to light food photography at home, hopefully without having to buy any new gear - NOT REALLY

I made some half-hearted attempts, but haven’t really come to a positive conclusion in terms of working with lighting. I’ve found that my speedlight bounces light nicely in our courtyard and reasonably well in the kitchen, but on the dining table it just doesn’t look as nice as my regular lamp lighting. I think my post-processing has improved though (Sab’s post-processing tutorials are a huge help), so that’s something.

New photography interim goal: same again – spend more time playing around with lighting options.

So I haven’t stuck completely to my resolutions for the past month, but I’m still making progress overall! How are you going with yours?

Wai-Con 2012

30th January, 2012 on Crafts, Photography 3 Comments

click to see the BIG version

This year I managed to score a media pass to Perth’s anime and gaming convention, Wai-Con! It was a super warm and hectic weekend, but as always at these things I was blown away by the intricate cosplays (that’s costume + play, or dressing up as fictional characters for the uninitiated) and the energy of the event. Now that I’ve had a taste of the perks of having a media pass I don’t think I’ll ever be able to go back to being a regular con-goer – not having to line up for the cosplay competition and getting one of the best seats in the house was the best!

I struggled a little with stage photography (so many coloured flashing lights!) but managed to get at least one decent photo of every entrant. Perth’s cosplay competition beats every other one that I’ve seen interstate, for one main reason – the MCing of local comedian John Robertson, who even got talked into doing a rather terrifying crossplay.

These One Piece cosplayers were my absolute favourite – besides the great costumes, they stayed in character throughout their interview, made all the more hilarious and bizarre by the fact that John was still in his crazy nun outfit.

I spent the rest of the time wandering around the main hall taking photos, bumming around friends’ art tables, consuming an awful lot of Pocky and doing a few quick photo shoots outside (to be posted here soon).

Big congratulations to all the cosplay competition winners, props to everyone who had the courage to cosplay or step up on stage for the first time, and well done to the organisers for putting together an excellent event!

Photos from around the con on Saturday and Sunday are up on my ChiGarden Facebook page – if you’d like a high resolution version of any of these photos of you, please get in touch and I’ll send them on through.

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