A golden oldie

 I purchased my Leica X Vario camera way back in 2014. The model was a commercial flop for Leica and it went out of production in 2016. By today's standards it is vintage with a "slow" zoom lens, only 16mp, a clip on accessory electronic viewfinder and shooting in the APS-C format.

Its biggest redeeming feature is that it takes stunning photos. The lens may be considered slow but the colour rendition and sharpness are outstanding and the straight from camera jpegs are superb.

I still really appreciate my X Vario despite owning a Leica Q2 and now a Lumix S5. I don't use it enough but this past year, due to the upheavals in my life, the same can be said for all my cameras. 

Leica have announced that they are no longer providing product support to the X range of cameras which is a pity as they still enjoy a cult following. My X Vario has had relatively light use but digital "rot" may still claim it and it would be sad not to be able to get it repaired.

I pulled it out today to shoot our two cats-Marvel and Smudge- enjoying the small garden in the new house.

Both photos are unprocessed straight from the camera jpegs shot at 70mm.

 

 

House with a view

 A panorama of Terrigal shot from the top balcony of my new home this afternoon. The main bedroom opens out onto this balcony.

Starting from the left there are the neighbouring houses and then the Pacific Ocean and The Haven and boat moorings. Behind the trees is Terrigal Beach.

Centre is the main street and the Crowne Plaza hotel and then the houses in the Terrigal bowl. Nestled amongst them is my old home in Auld Street.

Photo is two frames taken with a Panasonic Lumix S5 with a 16-35mm lens at 16mm stitched together Adobe Lightroom Classic.

Smudge

 It's been many weeks since I posted a photo on the Rolling Road due to the fact that for the past three months I have been totally preoccupied with moving house. 

Now I am settled into my new home with my cat, Marvel,  my delightful partner, Ros, and her little cat, Smudge, so it's time to pick up a camera again to take some photos.

Lots still to do in the house although we have knocked over most of the unpacking. 

First photo of the new era is of Smudge.

Photo taken with my Leica Q2. This image is from a DNG (RAW) file processed in Lightroom but the straight from the camera JPEG is nearly identical.

The colour rendition from the Q2 is stunning. It is a beautiful camera.

Otto-a portrait.

                                         

                                              Grandson, Otto, and Scout photographed today at home in Sydney.

Waiting for the demolitian crew.

Empty house on my street in Terrigal ready for the demolitian crew.The house has been unoccupied for a few years since the previous occupant departed. It has just been cleaned out and the discarded items left waiting for a pick-up to take them to the garbage tip. More land fill.

The next step will be a demolitian crew and the sad old shack will then be replaced with a brand new home.

Perfection

 

Sitting with Ros in the bar of Swells overlooking Terrigal beach enjoying a glass of cold Margaret River chardonnay late this afternoon. Pretty close to perfection in my book.

And what a beautiful day it has been. There is only one word to describe the weather here on the east coast of Australia for much of this year-awful. But there could be no complaints about today because after a gloomy start it turned out to be wonderful. Warm with a deep blue sky. And the surf was up late afternoon. Paradise.

Marvao revisited

 With the hassle of clearing my house and selling it there has been no time for new photography so a 2016 oldie from the archives. 

Taken at dawn in the beautiful, fortified, hilltop town of Marvao in the west of Portugal right on the border with Spain.

I was up very early to climb onto the ramparts of the old castle. Much to my surprise I was joined by a Portugese lady photographer who had the same idea.

The photograph was taken with my Leica X Vario-a beautiful camera. I have featured the shot on the blog previously but this is a rework and I feel it is better than the earlier version probably because Lightroom has improved along with my Lightroom skills.

Taking it easy

Taking it easy, Santa Monica Beach, California, USA.

 

The Lone Tree

                                  The Lone tree. Myall Lake, Myall Lakes National Park, New South Wales, Australia.

Rusting away

 

Near Lightning Ridge, north west New South Wales, Australia.The opal mining areas are littered with hundreds of abandoned vehicles rusting away.
 

Silos

Silos at sunset, Wyuna farm, Stockinbingal, New South Wales, Australia.

 

Miners Co-Op Store

Miners Co-Op store, Lightning Ridge, New South Wales,  Australia.

 The Miners Co-Op store in Lighning Ridge has long gone. Superseeded by a big IGA supermarket just a short distance away. The old building stands as a reminder of the town's past.

A country garage

                                          A country garage. Thallon Motors, Thallon, South West Queensland, Australia. 

Not so many years ago there were thousands of small garages like this across rural Australia doing servicing, repairs and selling tyres and fuel. Most have gone. Rural populations have declined, vehicles have become more reliable and also more complex and costs have increased.

The local

 

 

 A local enjoying a beer at his local, an outback pub, near Lightning Ridge, NSW. Another road trip 2021 photo taken with the Leica Q2.

Free beer yesterday

 Turn off to the Nindigully pub, Nindigully, Queensland. Leica Q2 photo from my 2021 road trip.

Storm approaching.

 Storm approaching. Toobeah, southern Queensland. Leica Q2 photo from my 2021 roadtrip.

 

Ginger cat appreciation day

 

 It's September 1st. Did you know it's World Ginger Cat appreciation day today? 

Don't believe me? See Ginger Cat appreciation day

Silly I know but Marvel and I are willing to go along with it because I really appreciate her. She's friendly, very pretty, gentle and very well behaved. A perfect pet.

Of course I know nothing of the circumstances before she found herself in an RSPCA shelter but she had adapted very well to living with me. Truly a Marvel and as only 25% of ginger cats are female she is more than a little special.

Success in monochrome

I entered three photos in the 2022 Australian/NZ Monochrome Awards photo competition-two in the People category and one in the Places category. To qualify the photos had to have been taken since 1st January 2021 which really restricted me as I have taken very few photos in the past 18 months.

Last year I was awarded a highly commended in the People category of the 2021 Monochrome Awards with a my single entry, a photo of a Lightning Ridge opal miner, taken on my NSW road trip back in May 2021.

This year I was highly commended for my three entries but frustratingly still no cigar. According to the organisers there was a big number of entrants-up 40% on 2021 -and the standard of the entries was very high but I was hopeful that my photo of Surfers at Sunrise would make it into the prize winners.

Poppywas taken with my Leica Q2, Men of the Cloth with my Leica Q and Surfers at Sunrise with my iPhone SE. All three photos were shot in colour and converted into monochrome using Silver Efex Pro 2.

Here are the three succesful 2022 entries-Surfers at Sunrise, Men of the Cloth and Poppy.

Doggytown by sea

Terrigal is suffering from a plague. Not a mouse plague but a dog plague. It seems that every other Terrigal resident now has a newly acquired dog.  There are dogs of every size and whilst the majority of owners do pick up their "deposits" some do not so the Esplanade and boardwalk often remind me of the streets of Paris-25 years ago. It's definitely a case of watch where you step in Terrigal these days.

Doing the crossword

Doing the crossword. Terrigal, August 2022.

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Chaos-Marie Kondo's nightmare

 I'm downsizing. Putting my beautiful house with its many rooms, ocean views, swimming pool, large garden and four car garage up for sale. It's too big for just me and Marvel and the maintenance is becoming a chore. I can manage the many steep stairs today but that will not be the case into the future.

I have spent the past two weeks clearing out. It's a mammoth task and far from finished. I wish I had heard about Marie Kondo years ago. Maybe we would not have accumulated so much stuff. The garage-photo above-is the clearing station. Four sorting areas-firstly stuff for the tip ( landfill) by far the biggest pile and three truckloads already moved there. Secondly stuff for the charity shop, thirdly stuff to go to the new place and fourthly stuff belonging to the children-to be reclaimed and removed!

Onwards and upwards but no time for photography or the blog for a while.

New toy

 In a moment of weakness bought on by the prospect of a substantial boost to the bank balance by the sale of the Porsche I purchased a couple of new toys a few weeks ago.

 Although the last thing I actually needed was another camera I bought a Panasonic Lumix S5 and a couple of lenses including a mighty Panasonic Pro F2.8 70-200mm zoom lens. It really is a monster at 1.6kg (3.4lb) I had not intended to buy such a monster but digiDirect here in Sydney were offering it at a large discount and I could not help myself. Nonetheless the lens alone cost more than the camera body with the 20-60mm kit lens

I have not had a chance to use the new kit much so far and as I have just embarked on a major time consuming project so it will not be getting a workout for the next few weeks. In the meantime here are the first efforts from the new lens featuring, of course, Marvel and two surfers at Avoca Beach. I'm very pleased with the results. Now where can I hire a sherpa?

A drive up north

 Last week in an attempt to escape the unusually cool Terrigal winter Ros and I headed the 1000kms north in the Mini to Noosa in Queensland with a two night stopover in beautiful Yamba on the way up and a one night break there on the way back.

It was cooler than it should have been but at least it was sunny and we only had one day's rain. 

It was a really great trip and we really enjoyed ourselves.  

Noosa has changed immensely since I first went there in 1980 but despite all the development it has retained its charm due to the beautiful setting, the Noosa National Park and a strict limit on high rise development. 

 A selection of photos from the trip -beautiful Yamba and neighbouring surf heaven Angourie-Noosa and Noosa National Park.

The major volcanic eruption in Tonga a few months ago has put dust into the southern hemisphere and this is giving us really spectacular sunrises and sunsets. Photo below shows the sunset over the Noosa River from Noosa Hill.

Photos taken with my iPhone Se and Leica Q2.

 

A touch of colour

 With firstly the covid pandemic and now the senseless war in Ukraine and its economic effects occupying our attention the appalling situation in beautiful Myanmar has been forgotten.

A quick recap. After decades of military rule and economic malaise Myanmar was pulling itself up by its boot straps with a government which although not totally democratically elected was someway down the track to being democratic and an economy which was attracting foreign investment and developing quickly after years of stagnation.Tourism was developing rapidly and there was an air of optimism until 1st February 2021 when the Tatmadaw—Myanmar's military-deposed the ruling party in a military coup. In response there was a popular uprising which was brutally supressed by the military. Thousands of innocent civilians, including many children, were murdered by the military. It was a case of here we go again.

Now Myanmar is firmly back in the basket case category. A total disaster. The evil, corrupt military are in charge and supressing any form of dissent. Aun San Suu Kyi who had been elected in a landslide election victory was deposed and has been jailed on trumped up charges. She will most likely die in jail now. 

Myanmar has become an international pariah state again-but China has been supporting the military-no surprises there-presumably with the intention of turning Myanmar into a vassal state.

I have visited Myanmar three times and was due to go again in 2020 when the military and covid struck.

Two colourful photos -reminders of a beautiful country, So sad. I'll never see it again.