Unexpected Gift

Yesterday (Christmas Eve) at 3pm, I received a package that I thought would not arrive within the week. A very unexpected but delightful christmas gift!

It is a photobook of my recent trip to Australia! I started working on this project earlier this month and I surprised myself when I finished it in a record 2 weeks. It shows how you can get many things done when you are as disciplined as I am...

Ok so I lied. I was supposed to have the project wrapped up by October. October turned into November and very predictably November faded away faster than Rafa Benitez managed to lose his job at Inter. I decided that I was not going to let December slip away too. So I clicked and tapped away at the keyboards as much as I could. I devoted a couple of hours each day to sort through the photos that I've carefully chosen to ignore for the past few months (By the way, ask any photographer this and he will tell you that one of the worst things about photography is what comes after you're back from a long trip or a wedding. I don't think I've met anyone who enjoys sifting through gigabytes of pictures on his computer).

When I uploaded the finished files last weekend, I read the FAQ and noticed them mentioning that due to the festive season it may take longer than usual to process and deliver. To their credit they delivered on time. I must say that I'm very pleased with the finished product as well.

Since some of my favorite shots from the trip had been taken with a film camera, I had to include them in the album. I was a bit worried about the quality of the lab scanned images since a lot of them were averaging around 1MB but they turned out great. Even the cross processed ones.

Four of the pics you see in here are taken with the Olympus Trip 35 and FED 5C film cameras

If anything, seeing our finished album has made me want to go and travel even more in the coming years. Ok, I said ours but If you flip through the book, its more like my wife's album. Since I'm the one behind the camera most of the time, I can count the number of times I've appeared on the album with the fingers on one hand. We'll need to work on that for our next adventure.

All in all, its been an eventful year for us and I hope its been one for you all as well. We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy 2011!

Olympus Trip 35 : A Review

Again, yes I have to admit, another impulse buy and from the same seller that I bought my FED5C as well. I've since ignored all his posts on his blog and facebook page. I think nothing but a mint condition and reasonably priced Leica can tempt me any further than the collection I have now... I hope.

The Olympus Trip 35 also has a selenium light meter (around the lens) but that is where the similarities with the FED ends. The FED is a rangefinder, this is a compact point and shoot. The FED can break your skull while this one will probably only give your skin a bruise. The FED is a bit complicated to use while the Oly can be drawn from your bag, shot and returned in under 5 seconds without your subject even aware of what you have done. The soft click of the shutter helps as well (take note all you stalkers...).

I got this camera before I left for Australia and I quickly shot a roll of Velvia using it. I got mixed results. That made me quite hesitant in bringing this camera for the trip. Thankfully I decided to ditch the FM2 and bring this one along due to its lightness. 

All in all this was a very fun camera to use. Composing was easy enough and since it is practically a point and shoot all you have to do is click the shutter. I especially love the color and contrast of the images thanks to its Zuiko lens. 

After analyzing the shots from the first test roll, the failed ones were mostly the ones that were shot in very dim light while the outdoor shots were perfect. So I kept this in mind while I was in Australia and used it exclusively for the outdoors. However I've been following a Flickr group  for quite some time now and I always marvel at their ability to coax some great images from their Trips in very low light conditions. I don't believe my Trip is not capable of this. I'll need to go and try again. 

If you're thinking of buying this camera, go ahead! There is one thing that you have to be wary about. This camera is essentially a point and shoot and therefore the selenium light cell is key to its functioning properly. Do make sure you confirm that this is in working order before buying. Even if you end up with a non working meter, they're so cheap that you can just get a new one or if you choose, replace the meter. Olympus sold 10 million of these cameras over the years so you don't really have to worry about parts. Hey, maybe I'll get another one for myself too...

Posts with Oly Trip 35 - Beach Outing

Phillip Island Penguin Parade

There are a lot of animals that are unique to Australia - kangaroos, wombats, koalas are among a few of them. A lesser known one is the Gippsland earthworm found in the state of Victoria. These giants can grow up to a length of 3m. Of all the animals we saw down under, the one that I will remember the most are the fairy penguins.

(Image from Wikipedia)

These penguins are not as famous as their more well known cousins the Emperor Penguins. They weren't even  among the 3 different species of penguins featured in the animated movie 'Happy Feet'. They are naturally very small in comparison to other types of penguins with the average adult measuring under 50cm therefore earning them their name (Fairy Penguins, Little Penguins, Little Blue Penguins).

You can see these penguins in a zoo (we saw some of them in Sydney and the Gold Coast) but I do advise you to see them in their natural habitat, Phillip Island. It makes the experience that much more special. There are many day tours that operate from Melbourne that will take you to Phillip Island.

The penguins normally go out fishing as a group at dawn and return to their burrows just right after sunset. This is a safety precaution. Though they are master swimmers and divers in the water, they are not very good at walking. They feet looks disproportionate and not capable of sustaining their own weight on land. If you see them up close, it almost looks like its struggling to walk - almost always stopping and panting after a few steps. Imagine sticking two 20 sen at the bottom of the iPhone and try making it walk. Very wobbly and unstable. It is this handicap that makes them easy targets when they go out and come back from fishing. 

They're not always on time you know

It is also this handicap that makes viewing this awesome penguin parade possible for us. There are stands and walkways built all around the beach where the penguins come home. At the appropriate time, we will be ushered out to fill the seats and await the penguins' return. Once the first group of penguins come ashore, the main spotlights will be switched off within an hour. So normally what  everyone will be advised to do is adjourn to the walkways where we can get a more intimate view of the penguins. Touching is definitely a no no and so is photography. There are many park rangers scouring the vicinity so its better to keep the cameras in your bags. 

An amazing fact is that penguins are generally monogamous. When they find a mate, its really 'till death do us part'. Literally! Penguins will only find another mate once their current ones are deceased. Also, have you ever wondered why penguins have black/blue backs but white bellies? Its another safety design. When penguins are in the water, airborne predators will have a hard time differentiating the penguins from the air thanks to their black/blue coats. The same goes for seaborne predators who look up and see the white bellies that are similar to the rays of light shining in from the sky.  

After many of the tour buses have left, our tour guide asked us to follow him to a corner of the car park where we found a couple of penguins in a dark corner. There weren't any rangers around so I quickly snapped a shot in bulb mode. Can't risk using the flash because that will be like throwing flashbangs in front of them. 

If you're ever in Melbourne, I do urge you to consider going for this. Looking at our itinerary in Melbourne, I thought the highlight of the whole trip will be the 12 Apostles and the Great Ocean Road. I wasn't expecting much from the Phillip Island day trip but I was proven wrong. This was a lot more memorable to me than looking at huge rocks and winding roads!

We couldn't pet them but we did bring one home

I'm Back!

I've spent the past couple of weeks travelling around Australia and its been a blast. There were many things to prepare and attend to but it was all worth it. My wife and I visited Melbourne, Sydney, Gold Coast and Brisbane in a space of a couple of weeks and left with many fond memories and pictures. 

A kangaroo gets close

There will be more posts on the trip after the photos have been sorted out. I do plan to make them into an album as well but that will be much later. Here are some thoughts on the trip...

- Zebra crossings (the ones without traffic lights) mean nothing in Malaysia but over there, they are very important. Pedestrians always have the right of way on zebra crossings ... a concept that I found very hard to get used to. I almost ran over 2 people and had to remind myself to slow down and look out for people each time after that. 

- Koalas sleep 20 hours a day! And don't call them koala bears. They're not bears.

- 50% of the people we meet in Brisbane are Asians. 

- It must suck to be a tourist from China. Souvenirs are all made in China and I wonder how its like to fly over seven thousand kilometers to a foreign land and buy products at prices that will cost a trivial sum if they had bought it at home. I didn't see any Malaysian products there though I did pity the fella who was driving a Proton Persona (Wira). 

This kangaroo got too close...heheh

- Planning a trip all on your own as opposed to going for an all-inclusive tour package (like our Korean trip last year) is a lot more fun but tiring. No one is there to greet you at the airport, take your luggage and ferry you around. You have to read maps, learn train routes, decide between different modes of transport, etc.  It was a great experience but will think twice before doing something like this again. 

- Nothing beats the feeling of coming home. Really.