well the big game is on tonight! Australia v All Blacks for a place in
the 2003 rugby world cup final. the Wallabies (Australia) are the
rank outsiders and have been copping an absolute bagging in the
local press. i'm off to a party tonight up in the hills and it will be
centred around this game. lots of drinking and cheering (i hope).
the winner will play in the final next week against either England
or France. for those who don't know - the All Blacks (New Zealand)
are the traditional enemy of Australia and there have been many
very close and exciting matches in the past. it does look a pretty
tough assignment for Australia tonight but the fighting spirit is there
so let's hope !!

in the evening last night i went outside with the S45 and did some shooting.
the light was very nice and i think i got some nice stuff-

i decided that yesterday with the hot weather and bright sunlight,
i would try and use the contrast and conditions in my shots.
generally as most people know, shooting most things in bright sunlight
is difficult and usually best avoided, so here are some high contrast
shots which i think came out pretty well !!

today marks the first day of the warmer weather here in melbourne!
the forecast is for a sunny 32C. of course it may be too bright and
contrasty for good photos but we'll see!

i was in a work-related bad mood yesterday!
i used to like my day job but not any more and as soon as i can find
a better way to spend my days that's what i'll be doing! easier said
than done.

another of the shots i like from yesterday -

as followers of my weblog will know - i use a Canon S45 for most of
my daily stuff shot while i'm at work. now the problem is and this is
the same as with most non-dslr's, shutter lag. you can get rid of most
of it by presetting everything and shooting in manual. the thing that is
the most tricky is the focus. interestingly, if you autofocus on your
subject or where you think it might be (in the case of waiting for it to
enter the scene) and then press the manual focus button, the focus
will lock in that position so that when you're ready, you can shoot with
very little shutter lag. it takes a bit of getting used to but is definately
worth the effort.

i managed to shoot 30 images yesterday!
now that's something i wouldn't have done too often when using film
while working! of course as usual there are good ones and bad ones.
here's some of them -

well another week has passed and i've just posted my week 45 PAW.
i'm starting to think about what to do with them. perhaps i will print
them all 5x7 and put them into some sort of album - perhaps to have
as a coffee table book or something like that!

the shots i took yesterday were all with the 20mm f2.8.
while this lens is great for getting shots in tight areas like indoors
or when i want to make a foreground object "jump out", i don't
think it's quite up to the quality of my 85mm f1.8 or my 50mm f1.8
i bought it because i wanted to have the equivalent of a 35mm.
that is what i used almost always when i had my leica M2.

a few shots from yesterday -