Bakery Girl

Bakery Girl

We drop by Beechworth Bakery on the way back to the city for an afternoon tea and have a look in their kitchen. This girl (lady) served us, in return other than giving my money, I took a picture of her too.

"If you say 'I can't' you won't

If you say 'I quit' you lose.

If you say 'I'll try' you might just win.

Only you have the power to choose."

'Breadwinner 11' by Tom O'Toole of The Beechworth Bakery

(courtesy of lilydale.swinburne.edu.au)

Get A Turn

Get A Turn

Those turny corner, tall trees all around. Again, beautiful but of course the danger always kept the whole car on tight wits. It's also fun to do drifting here too.

Drifting refers to a driving technique and to a motor sport involving the use of the technique. This article deals primarily with the sport. A car is said to be drifting when the rear slip angle is greater than the front slip angle, and the front wheels are pointing in the opposite direction to the turn (e.g. car is turning left, wheels are pointed right), and the driver is controlling these factors.

Drifting competitions are judged based on line, angle, speed, and show factor. Line involves taking the correct line, which is usually announced beforehand by judges. The show factor is based on multiple things, such as the amount of smoke, how close the car is to the wall, and the crowd's reaction. Angle is the angle of a car in a drift, Speed is the speed entering a turn, the speed through a turn, and the speed exiting the turn; faster is better.

(courtesy of wikipedia.com)

Under The Tall Trees

Under The Tall Trees

This windy place was really really beautiful, but also dangerous. It is the strech of road that we need to drive past from Healesville to Marysville. Anyway, the car infront of us is Yan Fan's car.

Waterfall Show

Waterfall Show

Close this tap and the waterfall will stops. Who's kidding? This tap is used to control the flow to the river or dam I believe.

As The Water Grows

As The Water Grows

A HDR shot of the Steavanson Falls from the bridge. Total of 3 shots combined to make the HDR, and the resulting image is further tuned in photoshop.

Yin Yang

Yin Yang

This is also the flow from the Steavanson Falls. The yin yang pattern interest me for this shot. The 'S' curve where rock and water are seperated. One soft one hard, one bright, one dark.

Filter

Filter

This is the rocks of the Steavanson Falls. These rocks acts like a filter, a giant filter filtering large branches along the river.

Pattern of Nature

Pattern of Nature

This two pattern really caught my eyes. One smooth with lines and another teeth rough fern. Notice the plastic looking ferns and a tiny dried one too. The contrast does not only lies in the picture, but also the subject itself.

A recurring theme found in the biology of nature is the golden ratio, approximately 1.6180339887. Two numbers a and b keep the golden ratio when (a+b)/a = a/b, in this case a/b equals the golden ratio. It has a direct relationship to the Fibonacci numbers. This pattern was exploited by Leonardo da Vinci in his art. The Fibonacci pattern has a closed-form expression. These patterns can be seen in nature, from the spirals of flowers to the symmetry of the human body (as expressed in Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man, one of the most referenced and reproduced works of art today.

(courtesy of wikipedia.com)

Sideway Steps

Sideway Steps

This steps let visitors to go to Keppel lookout, of course none of the lazy us will volunteer to walk the 1km trail. The picture had been converted to black and white to stress out more on the texture.

95 To Melbourne

95 To Melbourne

This photo has been inspired by Sam. I decided to take this photo when we were all waiting for those peeps who had went to eat at another restaurant. One interesting feature of this sign is that the size grows as the distance grows further away. Gaussian blur had been introduced to this picture with extra effort trying to make it as realistic as possible.

Moody Doody Day

Moody Doody Day

We passes this stretch of road a couple of times before but was just unable to take a photo of it. Not because we were lazy, but just that we were not able to get off the car and take a couple of photo. Imagine 20 people taking photo in the middle of a country road. The picture has been digitally "warmed" with yellow and orange colours.

Holding Us Up

Holding Us Up

This rusty screw is what holding the wooden bridge together. Not easy to accept that yeah. For me, I like the details of the wood fibre that was produced when the hole was cut.

Loosening rusted screws, soak overnight in lemon juice. A tissue wrapped round the area keeps the juice where it can do its work - - Dave Edmunds

Rusty Bolts. When trying to free bolts that had gone rusty I found that a drop of Coca-Cola helped loosen them. I had to try it a couple of times, but the phosphoric acid in it ate away a lot of the rust, letting me get it off once it had dried. -- Bill Walker New Mexico. .

Rusty Bolts: If you are trying to remove a very rusty bolt, and you don't have wd-40 or anything like that to loosen it, then you can use Tabasco sauce. Just shake a small amount on the bolt and wait for a few minutes then you should have no problem taking it off. -- Gerry gapobnospam@accesswave.ca 8 Jul 2002

Rusty Screws. If you are trying to remove a very rusty screw, use the tip of a very holt soldering iron to heat the head of the screw. The heat should expand the screw head and loosen the rust. -- Andy Baxter, London England

(courtsy of thetipsbank.com)

Rusty Perspective

Rusty Perspective

Rusty Perspective shows the vertical perspective but also the perspective of the rusty screw. Notice the diagonal going holes to the right. Oh yeah, this is from a bridge near a location where we were lost during our last club's outing.

One Car At A Time

One Car At A Time

This wooden bridge surely do feel strong and steady. However, you surely would not want to stand on it when a car roll past.

Bridges may be classified by how the four forces of tension, compression, bending and shear are distributed through their structure. Most bridges will employ all of the principal forces to some degree, but only a few will predominate. The separation of forces may be quite clear. In a suspension or cable-stayed span, the elements in tension are distinct in shape and placement. In other cases the forces may be distributed among a large number of members, as in a truss, or not clearly discernible to a casual observer as in a box beam. Bridges can also be classified by their lineage, which is shown as the vertical axis on the diagram to the right.

(courtesy of wikipedia.com)

Framed Over Decoration

Framed Over Decoration

This is the same place where we were lost at. Look at those silvery water with rocky riverside. The title was given due to the beautiful light branches overhanging on the right side to act as a frame and balancing the vegetation on the left.

Flashing The Model

Flashing The Model

Not flashing in the sense of any perverted meaning. The flash that I had use in this picture improves the quality by lots. It's called the flashin in the broad day light to light up your subject and "fill" it. It also makes the face less grainy and shows a hint of reflection in the eye. The clouds has been toned down to bring out the texture of it.

Lost At Nowhere

Lost At Nowhere

Yes, we were all lost, the trip should only take a few mins but it was taking us more than 15 mins. So everyone get out of the car, stretch a little and hey, it's a nice place. "Purnima! Walk for me" and I started snapping off. Well, we didn't get to the place we wanted to go even after we turn back (the GPS failed us too).

Beat of Jenga

Beat of Jenga

Val Erie trying to carefully wiggle one of the Jenga block out without toppling it. Me, in the mean time, was trying to irritate her by taking lots of photos with flashes. But well, it doesn't topple, good for you.

Once the tower is built, the person who built the tower moves first. Moving in Jenga consists of taking one and only one block from any story except the completed top story of the tower at the time of the turn, and placing it on the topmost story in order to complete it. Only one hand at a time may be used to remove a block; both hands can be used, but only one hand may be on the tower at a time. Blocks may be bumped to find a loose block that will not disturb the rest of the tower. Any block that is moved out of place may be left out of place if it is determined that it will knock the tower over if it is removed. The turn ends when the next person to move touches the tower, although he or she can wait 10 seconds before moving for the previous turn to end.

The game ends when the tower falls in any significant way -- in other words, any piece falls from the tower, other than the piece being knocked out to move to the top. The loser is the person who made the tower fall (i.e. whose turn it was when the tower fell); the winner is the person who moved before the loser.

The game in its current form was invented in the 1980s by Leslie Scott. It grew out of a childhood game created around a present of wooden building blocks purchased from a local wood craftsman in Ghana.

(courtesy wikipedia.com)

Don't Dry Me Up

Don't Dry Me Up

This dam was taken during the camp. Over at the Lake Eildon in Marysville. Of course this view was from the top of the hill. The title is dedicated to the always dwindling reserve in the Victoria's dam and also the searing 37degrees temperature that we are experiencing now.

Rock-fill dams
Rock-fill dams are embankments of compacted free-draining granular earth with an impervious zone. The earth utilized often contains a large percentage of large particles hence the term rock-fill. The impervious zone may be on the upstream face and made of masonry, concrete, plastic membrane, steel sheet piles, timber or other material. The impervious zone may also be within the embankment in which case it is referred to as a core. In the instances where clay is utilized as the impervious material the dam is referred to as a composite dam. To prevent internal erosion of clay into the rock fill due to seepage forces, the core is separated using a filter. Filters are specifically graded soil designed to prevent the migration of fine grain soil particles. When suitable material is at hand, transportation is minimized leading to cost savings during construction. Rock-fill dams are resistant to damage from earthquakes. However, inadequate quality control during construction can lead to poor compaction and sand in the embankment which can lead to liquefaction of the rock-fill during an earthquake. Liquefaction potential can be reduced by keeping susceptible material from being saturated, and by providing adequate compaction during construction. An example of a rock-fill dam is New Melones Dam in California.

Earth-fill dams
Earth-fill dams, also called earthen, rolled-earth or simply earth dams, are constructed as a simple embankment of well compacted earth. A homogeneous rolled-earth dam is entirely constructed of one type of material but may contain a drain layer to collect seep water. A zoned-earth dam has distinct parts or zones of dissimilar material, typically a locally plentiful shell with a watertight clay core. Modern zoned-earth embankments employ filter and drain zones to collect and remove seep water and preserve the integrity of the downstream shell zone. An outdated method of zoned earth dam construction utilized a hydraulic fill to produce a watertight core. Rolled-earth dams may also employ a watertight facing or core in the manner of a rock-fill dam. An interesting type of temporary earth dam occasionally used in high latitudes is the frozen-core dam, in which a coolant is circulated through pipes inside the dam to maintain a watertight region of permafrost within it.
Because earthen dams can be constructed from materials found on-site or nearby, they can be very cost-effective in regions where the cost of producing or bringing in concrete would be prohibitive.

(source wikipedia.com)

Cold Stare of Photographer

Cold Stare of Photographer

My model, Sam posing for me as I was about to test for my lambency (Gary Fong's lightsphere) flash diffuser. We were all on a photography camp trip which explains the huge camera he's holding.

Keppel Smoothie

Keppel Smoothie

This is the Keppel Stream from the Keppel falls. After a drive along the Lady Talbot drive, one lane road with many potholes and about 1km walk, you will reach the Keppel Falls. This image is a HDR image composed of 3 exposure. It may looks so colourful and so exposure correct that it seems fake.

Roughy

Roughy

This is part of the Keppel fall. The area looks so natural and it can be seen that not much man made change was introduced. This made the walking trek quite challenging. The title was given due to the rocky river with the rather heavy foliage around it.

It is a 1-km walk to the viewing decks over the falls which were named after the brothers who settled here in the 1880s.

(smh.com.au)

Curl The Fingers

Curl The Fingers

Those big fern you see around. These are their childhood state. There is a newly sprung fern on the back. The curly, hairy pattern can give some chill to some people, including me.

The Stare of A Beak

The Stare of A Beak



This bird has definitely got some long beak. I framed it on the 1/3 line to create a negative space on the right of the image. This angle shows a much fiercer look of the bird compared to the previous photo. What do you think?



Beaks can vary significantly in size and shape from species to species. The beak is composed of an upper jaw called the maxilla, and a lower jaw called the mandible. The jaw is made of bone, typically hollow or porous to conserve weight for flying. The outside surface of the beak is covered by a thin horny sheath of keratin called the rhamphotheca. Between the hard outer layer and the bone is a vascular layer containing blood vessels and nerve endings. The rhamphotheca also includes the knob which is found above the beak of some swans, such as the Mute Swan, and some domesticated Chinese geese (pictured).

(courtesy of wikipedia.com)

Incubating The Invisible Egg

Incubating The Invisible Egg



This animal, bird or whatsoever had "volunteered" for to be our model. It stayed so still and calm while dozens of cameras are pointed at it. I love the sharpness of the shot and the yellow rim in the eye.

Half Close Eyes

Half Close Eyes



The sleepy kangaroo supporting its heavy eyelid. I had shot this picture a few times in landscape mode the first few times and had ran back to get more shots of this guy in portrait. Find that its claw, ears, nose and head is appropriately framed.



A collision with a vehicle is capable of killing a kangaroo. Kangaroos blinded by headlights or startled by engine noise have been known to leap in front of cars. Since kangaroos in mid-bound can reach speeds of around 50 km/h (31 mph) and are relatively heavy, the force of impact can be severe. Small vehicles may be destroyed, while larger vehicles may suffer engine damage. The risk of harm to vehicle occupants is greatly increased if the windscreen is the point of impact. As a result, "kangaroo crossing" signs are commonplace in Australia.

Vehicles that frequent isolated roads, where roadside assistance may be scarce, are often fitted with "roo bars" to minimise damage caused by collision. Bonnet-mounted devices, designed to scare wildlife off the road with ultrasound and other methods, have been devised and marketed.

(courtesy of wikipedia.com)

The Star Post

The Star Post



This kangaroo doing the star post for the camera. It's whole body and tail can be so nicely framed in the camera. What a joy to all photographers. After processing the photo, I find that its head looks like a skull. I mean it looks bony and seems fleshless.



Europeans have long regarded Kangaroos as strange animals. Early explorers described them as creatures that had heads like deer (without antlers), stood upright like men, and hopped like frogs. Combined with the two-headed appearance of a mother kangaroo, this led many back home to dismiss them as travellers' tales for quite some time.[citation needed]

Kangaroos have large, powerful hind legs, large feet adapted for leaping, a long muscular tail for balance, and a small head. Like all marsupials, female kangaroos have a pouch called a marsupium in which joeys complete postnatal development.

(courtesy of wikipedia.com)

Peaceful Nap

Peaceful Nap



Night = Afternoon = Sleep. What other things are there to do the kangaroo to do? Firstly, yes that is a kangaroo, not a wallaby. It had chosen a nice shady spot under the measly branches, acting as a roof.



A kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning 'large foot'). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the Red Kangaroo, the Antilopine Kangaroo, and the Eastern and Western Grey Kangaroo of the Macropus genus. The family also includes many smaller species which include the wallabies, tree-kangaroos, wallaroos, pademelons and the Quokka, some 63 living species in all.[1] Kangaroos are endemic to the continent of Australia, while the smaller macropods are found in Australia and New Guinea.

The kangaroo is an Australian icon: it is featured on the Australian coat of arms,[3] on some of its currency,[4] and is used by many Australian organisations, including Qantas.[5]

(courtesy of wikipedia.com)

Holey Loggy

Holey Loggy



Tree trunk eaten out hollow or man made? I don't know. What I care is that it makes interesting subject. Check out the weathered wrinkles and its barks.



In old stems the epidermal layer, cortex, and primary phloem become separated from the inner tissues by thicker formations of cork. Due to the thickening cork layer these cells die because they do not receive water and nutrients. This dead layer is the rough corky bark that forms around tree trunks and other stems. In smaller stems and on typically non woody plants, sometimes a secondary covering forms called the periderm, which is made up of cork cambian, cork and phelloderm. It replaces the dermal layer and acts as a covering much like the corky bark, it too is made up of mostly dead tissue. The skin on the potato is a periderm.

(courtesy of wikipedia.com)

Dirt Track

Dirt Track



This dirt track attracted me. It is a classical dirt path with trees growing by its side. The sunlight highligting the leaves. When I took this picture, the guide was so confused on what attracted me. I had wished to be able to go lower but there was tall grass in front of me.

Wallaby Wannabes

Wallaby Wannabes



Wallaby yet again. From this picture, you can see the colours and shades of its fur. Does anyone mistake this as a kangaroo? I often do. The name wallaby always reminds me of wannabes. They both sound so alike!



Wallabies are widely distributed across Australia, particularly in more remote, heavily timbered, or rugged areas, less so on the great semi-arid plains that are better suited to the larger, leaner, and more fleet-footed kangaroos. They are widespread in New Zealand, where they are often hunted. There are also a few populations of wallabies in the British Isles all having escaped from zoos, the largest of which can be found on the Isle of Man where there are around 80 wallabies and are breeding.

(courtesy of wikipedia.com)

Food Shed

Food Shed



This wallaby was standing by its food shed. The way it stands and looking at the other direction makes it look really kind. My guess who it was looking at is my friend, Matthew. He was also shooting around the area with flash and this may have captured its attention.



A wallaby is any of about thirty species of macropod (Family Macropodidae). It is an informal designation generally used for any macropod that is smaller than a kangaroo or wallaroo that has not been given some other name.

Very small forest-dwelling wallabies are known as pademelons (genus Thylogale) and dorcopsises (genera Dorcopsis and Dorcopsulus). The name wallaby comes from the Eora Aboriginal tribe who were the original inhabitants of the Sydney area. Young wallabies are known as "joeys", like many other marsupials.

(courtesy of wikipedia.com)