Blood Moon - Total Lunar Eclipse

While not a very rare event, thought I would give take a couple of shots of the total lunar eclipse, also known as Blood Moon. I read that the eclipse will be on Tuesday, 15th April at 6:34pm. Unfortunately, it was a workday and I only got home about 6:45. So, here they are. 

Apologies on the grain, I don't have that long a lens so these are cropped pics. Hope you enjoy them anyhow. 

On hindsight, may be I should have done time-lapsed pics to get many shots. But this was a rushed job and I was thinking of playing with on-camera HDR instead. Anyway, apparently there is another opportunity in about six months time. Hopefully, I will be more organised then. 

Christmas Party at Puffing Billy

Despite living for decades in this city, I have never ridden the Puffing Billy. So great to finally have a ride and shoot it too!

I couldn't decide if I wanted to see more of the greens or the track. Hey, digital is cheap right? So I took both. :) You can decide which one you prefer.

I wish I am Elastic Man and able to stretch out my arm much further than I could; or Neo and just fly off and get an aero view. :D

No, it wasn't India and no Indian train. I couldn't help but fear that they are going to cage the carriages so people can't hang out of the windows sometime into the future. God forbids that we takes all the joy out of life because of fear and legal liabilities or law-suits.

4WD at Marysville

Several colleagues, friends and I went up to Marysville just after Christmas for a 4WD day trip and fishing. It was a fantastic warm day.

Marysville is well known being a beautiful place with amazing greens and tall trees. I am afraid I never actually went up there until now, until after much of the trees are burnt by the huge bush fire, better know as the Black Saturday, on the 7th February, 2009 (between 7th Feb and 14th March, 2009).

It is a very memorable time for me personally because that was the time my late father was in hospital before he passed away. It was a very hot summer and we followed news about the bush fire happening on TV in the hospital.





Almost two years has passed since the Black Saturday, rebuild activities are still happening. Moss looking plants are growing on some trees and there is a fair bit of ground cover, helped by the very significant amount of rainfall in recent months. Still, the trees have not grown back. In fact, the ground cover is not bush but a lot of small trees. The tall trees are still standing there, completely black, charcoal... Many have fallen. There are few signs of wildlife also.. no birds singing.. One can not help but give respect to the awesome forces of nature.

I wish I took a picture of the rocks there, I was really puzzled when I saw big rocks and boulders there, they are flaking! They really look like sheets of metal. Only later I found out that this phenomenon is caused by intense heat causing rock to split and flake off...




Hope these two pictures give you an idea just how tall the trees are. Imagine once they were all green with lots of leaves. What devastation!




OK, here is the fleet, first is a series 75 Toyota Land Cruiser Carrier, a very rugged, basic hence easy to keep it going, with great ground clearance and looks awesome. The second (black) is a series 80 40th Anniversary edition Toyota Land Cruiser, it is so well equipped it is amazing. Third is a Nissan Path Finder (red), a very 'willing' vehicle, doing jumps all day! Last but definitely not the least is the Mitsubishi Pajero (blue), a very formidable performer on and off road.

Remember the victims of the Black Saturday at Marysville. Remember also the flood victims of the recent Brisbane and Victoria floods. Lend a hand and help them get back on their feet. For more information about Queensland flood, please refer to this and this for Victorian flood information.

Macro Photography

Went out with friends to explore the world of macro photography at the Botanical Gardens. A friend of mine (Sam) lent me his Sigma 105mm macro because I didn't have any real macro lens of my own and frankly never did macro photography. Thank you Sam, you are a generous man.

I had previously posted here result of a little macro (micro in Nikon's language) photography experiment where a 85mm prime is coupled with a 50mm prime back to front. The magnification power of that set up is approaching microscopic level (about 2.65cm diagonally in FX format). That is more than 50% more powerful than the 105mm macro lens.


Taking a macro photo of the face of a watch which is rather flat is one thing, taking a macro photo of a flower or insect is a different matter altogether, I very quickly realised.

Trying to shoot such as bees and ants, I found it extremely difficult to focus and maintain that focus handheld. Eventually, I gave up automatic focus and went manual. Using rocking motion of the body to bring the subject into focus. Boy, I felt like I was drunk! Because the depth of field was so narrow, I keep winding the aperture number up until it went all the way to f/22 (hence the dust spots) and background details.

Thanks to another friend, Bronson, a great photographer by the way, for the many tips, I think I will do better next time. Must try to catch a bee in flight!

Anyway, for the time being, this is what I have. Enjoy. :)




PS The first pic is not a macro photo, just one that is shot with a macro lens. I hear macro lens can be good for portrait, etc as well. So here you go. :)

PS Sorry, I didn't bother to remove dust spots from the pics. If you know the name of the insect on the leaf in the second pic, appreciate if you would leave a comment and let me know. Thanks a lot!

Mt Dandenong - Mushroom

Went to Mt Dandenony with a bunch of photography enthusiastists a couple of days ago. Not really sure what the subject was but I was happy just to tag along... We ended up going to a golf course and found these really beautiful red mushrooms. I bet they are as poisonous as they are pretty! :P

It has been a long time since I have taken pics of nature. Too long! What a wonderful beautiful world that God has created for us to enjoy! How I wish we could stay there for many hours until dusk or even into the night...


Despite that it was already close to mid-day, we were still spoiled with this gorgeous rolling hills in a distance. I absolutely love it!!!


Also, I saw this really interesting looking mushroom, one that really reminds me of a sculpture at Southbank near the Crown Casino.. What a gem! You know the one I am talking about? What is it called?


Last but not least, you know it is autunn when you see red leaves like these. I want to go back again really really soon!

Jewelry from Heaven

Yes, jewelry from heaven - the morning dew.

Just as I was getting out (alright, rushing out) of the house to attend church, I saw this beauty in the backyard.

Beauty? Mmm, it is merely a lonely leaf, less than 2cm in length, that has fulfilled its purpose (to collect and process energy, to shade and protect the plant and much more). It is now lying on the concrete drying up and returning to earth. Yeah, I actually thought it is really beautiful that even for a leaf spent that God would dress it so beautifully with dew. What about us - people, we are precious in God's eyes.

Matthew 6, "...do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

...Your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

What about this second photograph? An unwanted plant thus called a weed (or valueless plant growing wild as the dictionary says) in a pot.

I actually thought the leaves look like wings of butterflies, many butterflies, dressed so beautifully with dew again. A truly beautiful moment captured forever! Hope you enjoy them as much as I do. :)

One more thing, they were taken by my 28-200mm G lens, a humble little lens, without AF-S, given by my mother-in-law. It is a lovely little lens.

Sakura (櫻花) - Shinjuku Gyoen (新宿御苑)

God was kind to us. Despite getting to Japan late for Sakura, we saw wonderful Sakura (Cherry Blossom) in the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden (新宿御苑).

The imperial gardens, which were once meant for the royalty, were completed in 1906, and destroyed in 1945, during the later stages of World War II. The jurisdiction over the Imperial Palace Outer Garden and the Kyoto imperial garden was transferred to the Ministry of Health and Welfare (now part of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare) with Shinjuku Imperial Gardens in 1947.

It was on May 21, 1949 that the gardens became open to the public as "National park Shinjuku Imperial Gardens".

Covering 58 hectares, Shinjuku Gyoen is one of Tokyo's largest parks. It was opened to the public in 1949, after it had served as a garden for the Imperial Family since 1903.

Shinjuku Gyoen features three garden types: an English landscape garden with wide lawns, a traditional Japanese garden with teahouses and a symmetrically arranged, formal French garden. Furthermore, there are some forested areas and a greenhouse (the greenhouse is being reconstructed until 2011).

Shinjuku Gyoen is home to a large number of cherry trees of more than a dozen different species, making the park one of Tokyo's most popular and pleasant hanami spots during late March and most of April when Sakura is in its fullest bloom.

So many keen photographers turned up looking to catch a great pic of the Sakura. Man, Japanese loves photography and their cameras. It was a warm sunny day. We were showered upon by falling Sakura pedals. (pic.1) :)

Where did February go?

Sorry if you follow this blog because you must have become incrediably bored waiting for updates. The last post was on the 3rd about a photo shoot last month. So, what am I up to? What have I been doing in the whole month? Did I go on holiday? Was I ill? Was I inundated with work? Well, there were several things, and to sum them up, busyness with work and my dad has been in hospital basically since the Australia Day (26th Jan).

Many of you would know, on the 7th February, Victoria has experienced its worst bush fire in history in what is known as the "Black Saturday". Over 200 people lost their lives and I indirectly know at least two of them. I would have loved to take pictures of the amazingly beautiful (colourful) sky when it was covered with smoke or haze. But then, personally, I didn't feel right to enjoy the sky in such tragic time so I didn't take any picture... No offense to those who did.

Anyway, had a couple of photo assignments on Thursday. Firstly for NAB, then again for the Manningham city council for the Healthy Lifestyle Week Launch and the Retirement Expo Launch. Yeah, all on the same day. So I picked up my camera again after an unusually long break (thank God the batteries kept their charge well)... Yesteday (Friday), I took a few more pics just nearby. Here they are..

If a photographer's work reflects his mood or what is in his heart/head... What message do these pics convey to you? Saddness? Depression? A sense of lost? It is a fairly dark footpath, winding, and no hint where it leads to... Well, the end of the road is actually an amazing sunset, full of colours and vegetation (and houses - family - people), full of hope, power and life. It is rich and beautiful. Can you picture it? :)

My first HDR photo

This is my first high dynamic range photograph. Took this at Tuki, a trout farm on Easter Friday. The scenary is to die for! Can't say HDR imagery is my kind of picture but it seems to work in this case and added plenty of punch and interest. For the complete set of pictures, go to http://picasaweb.google.com/david.lisa.ng/TukiTroutFarm until it is taken out of public access.