Scaber's Blog

Glancing visit to Lake Ellesmere

Scaber — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 05:20:25 +0000

Last weekend I travelled out to Little River for a coffee with my friends Steve and Catherine. They had thought that it would be a good opportunity to take some landscape photographs. Not my usual thing, but the thought of coffee and a chance to view the art at the Little River Gallery was enough to provide the extra incentive that I needed.

These photos were taken on the little outcrop near Aorangi the site of an old disused quarry. Those travelling along the rail trail will easily recognise the rocky outcrop – and there is also a sign in case you miss the significance of the semi-quarried rocks.

You can click on the photos for larger images.

The next photo was taken a little closer to Christchurch, near Ataahua. Catherine and Steve were busy introducing themselves to a friendly pig and her young owner so I took the opportunity to take a look over the other side of the road where I found this more interesting (to me) view.

New Brighton Photo-walk

Scaber — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 05:08:11 +0000

This weekends photo-walk was in New Brighton. My last visit here had me struggling for images so it was a pleasant surprise to find that this time I was in the right ‘seeing’ frame of mind to find interesting sites to explore and make photos.

As is usual, ended up with coffee, this time we chose ‘Switch Espresso’ and sat outside to enjoy the sun, passers by and the coffee. All were worthwhile – no smokers today!

Click on the thumbnails to see a larger image

Sublimation

Scaber — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 01:06:22 +0000

Out doing a photo-walk with my friends Steve and Nick last Saturday. We visited an industrial area which Steve and I had previously visited a few weeks previously. Although I wasn’t feeling too positive about finding new subject matter, I was pleasantly surprised to ‘see’ things afresh and to come away with some interesting shots, including some improvements from our first visit.

(Click on the images for a larger view)

Here are some interpretations of one subject which I’ve named the sublimation series refering to the change from solid to gas without an intermediate liquid state…

And two more which I found to be of interest..

Persona #1 – how do we portray ourselves to others?	Stars dust crucible – We are all made from recycled stardust . . .

Snap–photographic coincidence

Scaber — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 03:45:16 +0000

I was out visiting one of my favourite areas last Wednesday with my friend and fellow photographer Tony and although we wandered around the Godley Head site more or less independently we both managed to end up with almost the same photograph – the first one shown below.

You can see Tony’s vision of the same scene here. It’s interesting that in this case we both observed the same thing as so often we seem to take photos a few metres apart which the other hasn’t even been aware of. Some of my panoramas showing the interior of a World War II gun emplacement and its radar control room can be found here (bottom and 4th from the bottom).

The next photo was taken on the previous day during another walk, this time up the track at the end of Bowenvale Avenue.

I recently came across a most interesting article regarding out use of time and how precious this is (or should be) to us. It’s titled ‘Life is Short’ and contains the thoughts of photographer David du Chemin in response to how we do or don’t take the opportunities presented to us both for our own good but also in the way in which we are able to help or interact with others. It’s a great, thought provoking read. Click here to read the article and here and here for follow up posts.

Scenic panoramic vistas

Scaber — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 03:48:59 +0000

I’ve been out doing some walking and in the process have taken some scenic shots. I know this is not my normal thing; however, these are both from areas I like to visit and so have some emotional meaning for me as well as their intrinsic aesthetic qualities.

Each of these are from 2 (or more) stitched 8mm photographs so they are a much wider angle of view than would normally be expected and to me this is part of their appeal.

The first ones are from Castle Hill on the way to Arthurs Pass

The second one are from the top of Cooper Knob near the southern end of the Crater Rim Walkway on the hills above Christchurch.

Urban-scapes

Scaber — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 05:18:15 +0000

From a photo-walk around Blenheim Rd/Clarence St. It’s quite surprising the hidden treasures that can be found when we take the time to explore what at first appears to be a very ordinary urban scene.

Steam never dies

Scaber — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 04:08:05 +0000

Visited Ferrymead historic park recently and found to my surprise that they were having a ‘Steam Day’. Apparently this happens once a month on the first Sunday of the Month. I had an interesting time observing the trains and trams (and the people riding on them). I took a number of panoramic 360×180 degree images and then moved on to these photographs.

I like the close-up views of this sort of old machinery – maybe I’m a closet Steam Punk devotee or some such – though more likely it’s the result of some sort of remembrance of the machines of my kitten-hood living on the Westcoast.

Dark Matter Series

Scaber — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 09:31:48 +0000

Visiting Godley Head appears to be a recurring thing with me. Each time I go there I seem to see something different or maybe because of how I feel it could be a different emotional response. Whatever it is, I come back with new interpretations of that site. These are a few of my last trip there a bit earlier this year. They are exploring the semi-hidden aspects of what we see in our surroundings; in the surface is a recording of what has passed before. The resulting patina is like a visual diary of previous events written in the surface of what we are viewing if we can just pause to look more deeply.

I hope to explore this concept a little more in future photographic expeditions and explorations.

VR Panoramas

Scaber — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 10:43:46 +0000

Been practising my techniques over the last few days. Found out how to make a simple edit to the XML files to add an overlay textbox – took 3 hours though so not that encouraging for two lines of code On the other hand maybe this is the start of some new understanding…. My efforts on this can be seen at www.scaber.org/panos/vpark

Today’s effort was to take a panorama in a bathroom where the mirror reflected the camera and then edit the file to remove the camera so there is nothing hiding the room in the reflection in the mirror. Made a bit of a mistake and managed to get myself in shot too (reflected through the door). I forgot about the reflection and just stood back and to the side a bit so the lens wouldn’t pick me up from the side. Silly – but just goes to show that it’s worthwhile having a practice run! This one is at http://www.scaber.org/panos/bathroom/bathroom.html

Website

Scaber — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 01:52:24 +0000

I’ve been busy updating my website to more clearly reflect my interest in panoramic and virtual reality photography. All this in the hope of generating a little income to offset some of my expenses for both hardware and software!

For those interested, the site can be found at:
www.scaber.org
You can follow the links to look at some of my panoramas or do there directly via:
www.scaber.org/panos

Any feedback would be welcome.

On Saturday I’m going to an artists seminar run by the Chrysalis Seed trust (www.cs.org.nz). The photo below is the one that I will probably be taking for my contribution to the ‘impromptu’ exhibit associated with the seminar.