Tag Archive for 'Photography'

Have you Heard about The Heard?

Photo of The Heard from 2006Have you heard the heard? I hadn’t, until Wednesday morning. That is, I didn’t know their name until then. You may recognise them from their antics at the 2006 Australian Open, when they simulated a tennis match within the audience itself. Most definitely their most ambitious stunt ever (including 2007, unfortunately – but I’m sure there’ll be heaps more to come in the coming years).

Anyway, a friend of mine sent me an email on Wednesday, inviting me to a “quiet” day at the tennis – little did I know what I was getting myself in for! Ok, so, maybe I made that bit up – I knew exactly what I was getting myself involved with, and I guess that was the point in going!

I’ve put up a whole bunch of photos I took yesterday on Flickr and my website (only my favourite few made it up to Flickr – unless you’re a friend or family, but you can see all of them on my website). We (The Heard) originally planned on being outside supporting Robert Smeets, but due to the weather, we decided to remain indoors instead. I, however, had borrowed my father’s funky new camera and had brought all the equipment assuming I’d be outdoors, so most of the action shots of the sports didn’t work too well. Oh, and there was also the problem of being told I couldn’t use the long lens I brought (75mm-300mm for any photographers out there), because it was deemed to be a “professional” camera, and due to some arrangement with the official photographers, professional cameras could not be used (except by the professionals, of course). Still, I got a few decent shots – even if they’re not quite as close-up as I hoped for!

Oh, and you might have also seen some photos in “The Age” or other papers of a large group of people in yellow straw hats – unfortunately, The Age thought we were “The Fanatics” (despite the fact that almost everyone there had “The Heard” printed on their T-shirts). Just thought I’d clarify that.

Acknowledgement of December 25th to you

As we all know, December is a time for celebration. Of course, it’s politically incorrect to specify WHY December is a special time of year. It’s so bad, that even Microsoft have a 7-step way of ensuring you have a politically correct holiday season.

My favourite, however, is a comic which recently appeared in our Herald Sun that summed it all up quite well, discovering that the only politically correct way of wishing someone the best for this “special” time of year was something like “extending acknowledgement of December 25th to you”. Of course, this completely ignores anyone who may choose to use a non-Gregorian calendar.

Christmacide LightsAnyway, in the spirit of the season, I’ve been nice and slack. I’ve generally tried to write SOMETHING for my website for this time of year, but haven’t quite made it (although, to my/our credit, Kel and I were able to send out a number of christma… I mean… greeting cards to many of our friends).

So, you may be asking (or not) what have I been up to for the last week or so? Well, I spent this Christmas out at Edenhope with Kel’s family, then making a mad dash back to Melbourne for boxing day with my parents. I’ve also had a little bit of fun with other people’s presents (hehehe), as well as taking photos of lots of “pretty” christma… I mean, holiday… lights. New Years (I can say that, right?) isn’t quite planned yet, but it might be a quiet one.

If you’re interested in a bit of a “PC Holiday Fun”, check out some of these links…

And, for a bit of fun…

Anyway, best wishes for the new year (except those using a non-Gregorian calendar… in which case, happy whatever day January 1st happens to translate to), and all the best! Hope you guys have had some fun over the last few days, and will continue to have more fun over the next Gregorian calendar year!

Merry Late Christmas! (oops)

43 Things to Procrastinate With

It’s exam time again, and guess what that means? Yes! You got it! Time to post to my blog! What? I should be studying? What are you, my mother? Oh… well, you’re allowed to tell me off then… the rest of you, keep quiet.

Study So, what’s this post about? Well, partly about a new site that I’ve discovered, called 43things, and how great it is to procrastinate on. On one level, 43things is a “todo” list for your life. Think about all the things you’ve always wanted to do, put them on 43things, then check them off, get reminders, talk to other people who are trying to do the same thing, … it’s great! Of course, the problem with a site like this is it gives you too many ideas of things TO do.

Have a look at my 43things list (which currently only has 8 things), for example – sure, I’ve got some great long term plans like live in a foreign country and finish my degree (hopefully not TOO long-term with the second one). Then, I also have some good short-term goals like go back to the gym and finish my exams (only 1 more to go).

Then, we have the one which sparked both the picture in this post, the post itself, and (with any luck) plenty of time spent doing non-study related things (mostly after my final exam, of course). Anyway, the picture in this post will hopefully be the first of many to come, since I’ve taken on the challenge of taking a photo every day. I can’t guarantee I’ll post a new photo on this site each day, so I might post them up in batches, but I’m definitely going to try to take at least one decent photo each day for the immediate future.

Feel free to check back to my A Photo A Day album if you want to see how well I keep up with my goal.

Oh, and feel free to check out 43 things for yourself, if you’d like there’s: