07 May, 2013

Clutch Problems...

Over the weekend, I started to develope a problem in the car; the clutch was begining to give out... The amount of 'resistance' or pressure in the pedal was getting less and less to the point where on Sunday morning when I went over to the shops, I was sitting at the traffic lights (First Gear - clutch IN) and the car was wanting to move forward on its own!! So it was becoming urgent!

So my days plans changed, and instead of going to a 4yo birthday party (and getting stuck either on the way there or home afterwards), I stayed at home.

Monday morning, I dropped the car at the mechanic's (2nd gear all the way and only about a 2-3 min drive), dropped the key in the mailbox, and headed into work. Around 7.30, I called Leo, and asked him if he was "surprised to see my car waiting for him"? We chatted about what it was doing, and I resigned myself to upwards of a $2,000 mechanics bill!

Late in the afternoon, around 2pm, I got "THE CALL", and to my relief, it wasn't the clutch at all, but the 'Slave Cylinder' that assist's the clutch's operation; the seals had gone and had been losing fluid into the cabin; between the firewall and the carpet!

Vitara Clutch Slave Cylinder

So, even though it had a service at the same time, replacement of the slave cylinder and fluids etc, I got the car back about 5pm last night, and I am only $786 the poorer!!

Hoo roo for now...

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03 May, 2013

A 'Stitch-in-Time'

You use this proverb to say that it is better to spend a little time to deal with problems or act right now than wait. If you wait until late, things will get worse, and it will take much longer to deal with them. It is often shortened to "A stitch in time." This proverb expresses a similar idea to that of "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure".

But, that is not what I am posting about, if anything, it is the opposite! I had seen an example of this photo the other day, and thought, "I'd like to try that one day..."! Well, that day came about, last night! I threw caution to the wind, and in a split second decision, I set it up, fired off four frames, and this was the result!

Needle & Thread
Hoo roo for now...
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01 May, 2013

Wordless Wednesday No. 79 - A Sydney Moon

Sydney Moon 27 April 2013

Hoo roo for now...
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24 April, 2013

Wordless Wednesday No. 78 - Egypt & Dubai

Horseman at Pyramid
Horseman at Pyramid
Dubai
Dubai
Dubai
Dubai

Hoo roo for now...

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18 April, 2013

Thursday Thirteen #21 - Tilt-Shifting Photos

Thursday Thirteen - Tilt-Shifting


This week, I have been told of a great little website, for making my images, into 'Tilt-SHIFT', or to make them look like minitures or models! So I went back through my collection, and turned some of them into these 'Tilt-shift'!! Some, look MUCH better than others, but over all, for a free utility, that saves a lot of edit time (or worse still, a couple of hundred bucks on a lens), I'm pretty happy with the results!

  1. SYDNEY AIRPORT
    YSSY_SYD TS
  2. ZIG ZAG RAILWAY - Blue Mountains
    Zig Zag TS
  3. THIRLMERE FLYER - Sydney
    Thirlmere Flyer TS
  4. PRAGUE
    Prague TS
  5. VENICE
    Rialto Bridge Venice TS
  6. CAIRO
    Pyramids TS
  7. LONDON - Tube
    Notting Hill Gate Tube TS
  8. HONG KONG
    CLK Aerial TS
  9. HO CHI MINH CITY
    Ho Chi Minh TS
  10. OSLO
    Holmenkollen Ski Jump TS
  11. ROME
    Rome Traffic TS
  12. MELBOURNE
    MELB Sporting Precinct TS
  13. SYDNEY
    Sydney CBD Nth SYD TS

Hoo roo for now...

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TUPAM2FKQJBM

15 April, 2013

Louise - 4th Anniversary

Hoo roo for now...

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06 April, 2013

A day at the footy...

Today, I spent the DAY at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) as the footy (AFL) has started again… The Sydney Swans are the Premiership Club after winning last years Grand Final!

As this was their first 'home game', they had a special ceremony for the Premiership Flag. Then, it went around the Stadium for a lap of honour! The field looked great, despite the showers about, although the first half (two quarters) was sloppy/greasy play. In the end, the Swans won, Swans 17.12(114) to Suns 11.7(73)

Swans v Suns
Unveiling Premeriship Flag
Swans v Suns
Premiership Cup and Flag
Swans v Suns
Premiership Cup
Swans v Suns
Premiership Flg
Swans Win v Gold Coast Suns
Swans Facebook Status

In other news, my other football (NRL) team, Parramatta Eels, FINALLY won a game, after losing 50-0 last week, we won over the Cronulla Sharks!

Eels Win v Cronulla Sharks
Parra Win

Hoo roo for now...

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03 April, 2013

Wordless Wednesday No. 77 - Begonia

Begonia spp - HRBG
Begonia


Hoo roo for now...

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27 March, 2013

Wordless Wednesday No. 76 - Sydney Harbour Bridge

Sydney Harbour Bridge - Observatory Park
Sydney Harbour Bridge - Observatory Park
Observatory Hill Tree
Observatory Hill Tree



Ok, I know I have not been blogging as regular as I should, but having to apply for my own position at work is way to exhausting at the moment... Although, I did get out the other day to get the photos above, including the time-lapse project I also did... Let me explain!

Bayer, who are celebrating their 150 years, has a blimp that is flying people around. A friend of mine in Auckland put out a call asking if anyone was going to be out, if they could photograph it, as his brother would be onboard! So, I thought I'd help, and arranged a location to be. His brother texted me saying it would be an afternoon/evening flight around 5-7pm. So it would be a 'facing' the east composition. I thought do I do north side, Blues Point, or South Side, Observatory Hill, I opted for the later. Anyway, whilst waiting, 5pm came... And went, then suddenly, I got the text, its a "NO GO" due to winds! What to do now?

So, as I had the gear in the car, I thought I might get a shot of the Harbour Bridge whilst here, and I had my tripod as well. It wasn't until I got to my spot, I thought about doing a time-lapse of the sunset against the bridge! I had done one before, so the settings would be ok (just a little more thought) to give it a go! So I set it all up, and let the camera simply do its thing.

Settings are, if you're interested, A/V, F9.0 and ISO200. Then I set the intervalometer at a 10 second interval, with a 2 second countdown. What I should have done, was for a 5 second interval, which then would have given me double the images and a longer video! Then, in Lightroom, a sharpen, and boosted the blue, red and green spectrum's only, and VERY slightly increased temp... I also cropped at 1600 x 900 which is a better 'video' output, and then 'synced ALL 800 odd images so as settings are the same. I then outputted the video at 24 frames per second, a plug-in that you can find for Lightroom...

Hoo roo for now...

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18 March, 2013

Sunrise...

This pic, sort of sums me up this morning... Not the best news here at work, which sort of makes me feel sad, but hopefully, with time, something over the sunrise will be better...
Sunrise
Sunrise
Hoo roo for now...
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