A personal record of places I've been and observations

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*Just for the record ...* It would be impossible really to fit every image I have taken 'on the fly' on this or any other website without incurring a very significant loss of valuable production time — and a fee for extra Mb! I'm a stickler for keeping my eye on the better stuff I produce! On this page are a selection of personal "snaps" I have captured during my variegated travels, mostly in Victoria but a few in Tasmania (Tassie being almost my second home); most were made on my quaint Olympus XA; here and there, I am including some that were made on either my EOS 1N or EOS 5 as part of standard bracketing practice during imaging. None of these pictures are meant to reach the high art status in appearance or quality that my Superchromes demonstrate so well; after all, don't we all need a little something to let us unwind, such as some good and not so good photographic records? Over time, images will be changed over. For now, it's back to work! Click on each image for a larger view.

Last of the sunsets, Johanna Beach, March 2006. Though nice during the day, it was not a very good farewell to the day at all on this evening! Johanna is a long time favourite beach for photography. It is unbelievable.	Early morning, Johanna Beach, March 2006. One of a series bracketed exposures. The scene is wrong, not helped by higher contrast than desired. Notice the house high on the hill! The sweeping views would be amazing.	Fun with figures, February 2006 I re-visited the two large boulders at Melville Caves, Kooyoora State Park to try for a full moon shot (next image). I'm just waiting for the sun to set!


And the moon will come up on the mountains... A raging gale, a precarious slope, falling stars..and I am out there trying to photograph the full moon rising between the boulders. Worth a try, but it it didn't work. Return next summer...	Set up: 'Evening light on boulders, Kooyoora State Park' The superchromed image of these 2 boulders (inselburgs) appears in the Gallery. It was very hot here in the sun with no breeze. I set up early to watch the angle of the sun and the quality of the light in the west.	Anchor of 'Marie Gabrielle', Wreck Beach, Great Otway National Park, December 2003 This is a pre-chrome test print off the negative made on Ilford Delta 100 @ EI80 on an EOS 50E (sold April 2006). The water here is frigid and sinkholes lethal.


All aboard ... almost now! Spirit of Tasmania II October 2005 At last! We're on the way in...! Will they ever do something about the interminably long loading queues??	Evening, Eddystone Point Lightstation, far east coast, Tasmania, October 2005 Pretty, yes. But next morning my tent was strained by screaming gales and pelting rain...seemingly “out of the blue” !! I packed up and retreated hastily to St Helens.	Sunrise, Dora Point, near Binalong Bay, East Coast, Tasmania, October 2005 My tent was perched high on a sand dune overlooking a sweeping body of water. High winds and rain overnight had cleared to this cheerful greeting in the morning.

		to be continued...
Arty parts... Elizabeth Street, North Hobart One of my favourite haunts is the top end of Elizabeth Street with its cafés, curio shops, bookshops and eateries. And only a short downhill stroll to the orderly chaos of Hobart city.	Seeing red: 'Aurora Australis' Antarctic research and supply ship, Macquarie Wharf, Hobart Looming large and in stark contrast to the blue and white of the sky, this behemoth of the south is equally at home in the relatively timd waters of Hobart or the frozen floes of Antarctica.

A good snapshot stops a moment from running away. —Eudora Welty

The cameras... There have been a few over the years. The longest-serving (and oft-repaired!) is 'The Sheriff ' (below, left), which I bought en route Norfolk Island in 1995 — a true system camera I've learned through long experience to love for its layout, simplicity, and clear, straight forward operation. The EOS 1N, taking exposure accuracy (and dexterity!) to new levels, is a more recent addition; it's a considerably heavier and thus physically more solid box of tricks plucked from a family clean out on eBay (thanks Hugh!). I have owned various other cameras at one time or another, chiefly during the 1980s when I travelled extensively solo by mountain bike. As the box below right attests, there were a few unfortunately a few disasters during that time. For a more detailed walk through my history of camera ownership (and what happened to them), visit The Cameras page. Digital, right? Wrong. My personal policy is that should 35mm film cameras be rendered obsolete (this may happen about 5 to 8 years from now), I will be moving up to film-based large format, which remains untouched and unfettered by the madness of the push to digital and has no likelihood of obsolescence given inherent large format image quality.

		Lost in action... Olympus OM4 T + motor drive – bicycle accident, misadventure, Torquay, then Cape Paterson, 1984 & 1985. Nikon F3 + MD4 motor drive – Strahan Wharf, Tasmania, 1986. Ricoh GR1 compact AF – lost in surf, Lorne, 1999.
'The Sheriff ' Canon EOS 5 1995 (Norfolk Island) – present. Delta 100 B&W / alt. transparency stock	'Brutus' Canon EOS 1N + PDB-E1 2005 (Sydney) – present. RVP 50/100F.
The lens shown on the left (EOS 5) is a Canon TS-E 24mm f3.5L perspective control lens. I have been asked to write a technical background to the application of this lens, addressing its known propensity to introduce exposure errors (chiefly with the shift applied). This is not secret and it is easily overcome through specific metering technique.
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Reading The Cameras and what became of them ...
This page will be updated periodically (September 2006 onwards, time permitting)

© Gary Rowan Higgins / Silent Street.	Back \| The Cameras \| Blog \| \| Top of page
Page last updated Tuesday, 15 August, 2006 5:02 PM