Late to the party.

Late to the party.

A few shots from the light show last night, kinda missed the best bit but glad there was still a bit of love in the sky to give.

I think someone needs to have a word to the weather gods in the southern highlands, it was like 4 degrees on the drive back while rat running it thru the countryside and dodging kangaroos and wombats…

I think a NZ possum merino beanie and gloves would have helped…

The lights where pretty cool, not a great deal to see with the naked eye, but there was actually some beams of light to be made out rather than just a coloured glow.

6 Days.

6 Days.

As my middle child unit wold say, sometimes things ‘just hit different’ and this is true of this picture. I was looking back thru images trying to find a particular picture and I’m reminded of the countless number of images sitting on my hardrive waiting to be looked at or processed – this folder was one such one. Which to be honest probably deserved more attention, but I suspect 6 days into Little E being here I was probably abit busy…

A great shot (if i do say so myself 🙂 ) of Little E with her late Big Nan.

We spent so many Sundays over at Big Nans place – when people die they just leave a big hole in your heart and life, you can dress that up anyway you like but…

(c)Gerard Blacklock 0415702740

UPS Tribute.

Spare a thought for the 3 crew on board the MD-11 that recently crashed in Louisville and also those who perished on the ground as well.

I’m sure the cause will be determined in good time, what most don’t realise is that takes time, sometimes alot of time (years) and usually well after many armchair experts have forgotten about it.

Here’s to raising one for the freight dogs, day in day out and all thru the night to keep your packages coming.

A couple of pictures from last weekend as i watched a cool old (yet new) UPS 747 coming into Sydney .

La Pavoni.

My old pavoni was looking a bit worst for wear, needed a service and was having some pressure issues (bit like me really ;). After a new seal kit and some maintenance followed by tracking down a small bit of calcification on the pressure stat inlet tube and replacing the pressure stat (just for good measure) it was back to being like a brand new machine.

Hence a good time to take some photos of it. Although I gotta say I did not clean it that well, its amazing how little spots and dirt really stick out in these kinda of photos. Also shows up all those little bits of missing or chipped chrome…but hey thats ok, it is pretty old now and we all end up a bit chipped around the edges right…

These shots are taken using a lightpainting technique, rather than just use a static setup of flashes or light source. The light painting works which well since the light is very directional and dynamic allowing it to minimise reflections from the background, like my head and the kitchen bench. Basically i use a softbox with a torch inside and move it over the model during a long exposure, in this case about 20 or 30 seconds.

Thanks to Euroespresso (Caffe’ EuroBlend) and Vera Nadile for the new seal kit and pressure stat – the best place to get your spares and great coffee! Vera tell Marcello he was right about the blockage on the pressure stat tube. Its so good I can fix and replace any part on this machine, really great contrast to the throw away culture we seem to have found ourselves in…

#lapavoni

Back to great coffee now!

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Twizel Canal

Just a bunch of drone shots whilst filling in time in NZ – its a pretty cool spot where you can see the canal and the river snaking along together, however perspective is everything, the canal is actually a whole bunch higher than the river, which makes sense since its for the hydro electricity and needs have maximum drop at the turbine locations.

Also a few shots of the pine plantations

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Shoalhaven Photography Club Image of the Year

Shoalhaven Photography Club Members Group

Shoalhaven Photography Club

Congratulations to Joseph Horvat for his image ‘GARGOYLE’. This is a fantastic image with alot qualities that have been brought together to make it an epic shot and worthy of the Shoalhaven Photography Club Image of the Year.

A few notes on why I think this shot is worthy of image of the year and how it connected with me as the viewer. I’m sure irrespective of your photography genre you will appreciate this image.

Composition: The framing of the shot is perfect, the negative space on the left of image is filled with the gaze of the bird and also the lighting source which provides a perfect of example of giving a subject ‘room to breathe’ in the frame.

The branch which the bird is perched upon creates a pleasing geometric angle to support to the position of the subject in the frame and is illuminated just enough to provide context but not overpower or distract from the subject.

Technical: Getting a shot of a bird from behind such that the focus is maintained on the eye is challenging on a good day, however Joseph has done well to do this but has also has added an additional focus element, this is the sharp focus of the wings and consequently the great texture and lines of the wings which helps lead the viewer into the shot. The sharpness and texture of the wings is awesome.

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Kawasaki on the Parkway.

Kawasaki on the Parkway.

I think the gigs up now and everyone know 🙂 its Parkway – thats an Australian metal band for those who don’t know 🙂

This was part of their music video or something to that effect – probably worthwhile checking out their latest album, its called Sacred i think. PParkway Drive check ’em out.

I don’t normally mix my photography with work, however this is one exception I suppose, mainly since its my favourite kinda of helicopter, the Kawasaki BK117-B2. Why you ask, cause its a formidable piece of engineering married between Japanese precision and German brilliance thats why 🙂 … The -B2 is pretty old now, its a well and truly legacy product of the BK117 line but given its age and its still going strong is a testimony to the quality I say.

Looks fantastic in red too, well done to Bear Designs for a great wrap job.

Its not often you get to see a helicopter up this close to the Opera house and probably equally less rare to see some lead singer fast rope it outta the chopper and onto the sails. Typically thats a activity reserved for those specialists in the Military, must be said tho that, Winston certainly gave the fast rope a new style, one handed 🙂 that would put those SAS dudes to shame 🙂

Here are a bunch of pictures from the morning, gotta give credit to the driver as well, pretty impressive to be able hold a hover over a walkway which is about a 1m width with the wind gusting all over the shop from city.

Basically in order from the start to the end..

and don’t forget, behind all that giltz and glamour of bands, cameras and stunts like this, there is a bunch of cool engineers making sh$t happen 🙂

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