White door

Another industrial shot from my run. I like the frame within the frame.

Tilt shift

Today is a holiday in Dunedin (Otago Anniversary Day) so I have been whiling away my time playing with photos in Photoshop. I followed this tilt shift tutorial on the image above (you may need to select the image to enlarge it to see the difference). It works better with a bird's eye view photo, but it was fun playing.

Blue door

Part of the industrial landscape where I take my Sunday run.

New handbag

I had to indulge my handbag fetish this weekend. But it was a necessity.

Rock for Christchurch

The kids from Otago Girls and Otago Boys High School put on a 'Rock for Christchurch' charity gig tonight. From a rough estimate of the crowd they raised well over $1000. Gunslinger reclaimed the stage where they won Battle of the Bands 2010.

Dunedin Musicians Club

The boys played to their largest crowd yet to great applause.

Relay

Here's a shot from the 'real' camera. I suppose it doesn't matter which camera you use as long as you catch the moment.

Saturday morning races

Into the frame

Sunset framed

I was having dinner at the Esplanade at St Clair tonight when I noticed the view, so out came the iphone.

Restricted

I run around the wharf and harbour in Dunedin, it is such a beautiful harbour however has never been used in a way that everyone can enjoy it.

Crane

On my run yesterday I had to snap this huge crane which has been living at the Otago Settler's Museum for quite a while as they complete their renovations.

Until

Another cemetery shot. I was taken with the words I found on various headstones - resting - sacred - beloved... This one word, broken from some long forgotten grave, seemed very poignant - Until...

Forgotten

I went for a walk in the local cemetery this afternoon. Lots of very old graves in various states of disrepair.

Smash the system

Graffiti spotted in Dunedin. I wonder which particular system they would be referring to?

Circles

I went for a run down to St Clair beach and these circles all jumped into my consciousness. I have been there so many times but never noticed how many there were. I snapped this with the iPhone but will have to go down in the glorious sunrise and grab a shot with the light dancing.

QR codes

This image is from the first day of the Learning@School conference in Rotorua, snapped quickly on my iPhone. Allanah has had a pair of earrings made with QR codes on them. Reading them with the iPhone was almost impossible as she kept giggling and jiggling. People must have wondered what we were all doing with Allanah on the floor right at the entrance of the conference centre with Erin scanning her earlobes.

Things from the vault, organised neatly

This image is influenced by two different things I have enjoyed over the last week. The first was a photographic exhibition at the Wellington City Gallery - The Vault by Neil Pardington. These were amazing photos of objects found in the vaults of museums all around NZ. They were sharp, focused and had an amazing sense of perspective. I wanted to play with an image in photoshop to see if I could figure out what he did to get that sense of perspective. The other influence was the things organised neatly blog.

Wellington, Rotorua, and an earthquake

I have had a very full week, I have taken photos but not had the time to put them up, so I have decided to make this post a week's digest.

To start the week on Sunday I had a lovely day wandering around art galleries in Wellington with Esmay. This orb hangs in the sky outside the Wellington Art Gallery.



The day was beautiful, the sun was shining and as I sat in Mac's restaurant I looked across and saw the day framed. It seemed the perfect image for my girls' weekend away - the perfect day framed.



From Wellington I traveled to Rotorua for our annual Learning@School conference. This is a conference that I always look forward to. 1000 enthusiastic teachers sharing their practice with each other around technology, pedagogy, curriculum, and everything else. We had two days to set up for the conference but tragically in the middle of setting up on the Tuesday the news came through about the earthquake in Christchurch. CORE Education, who I work for, are based in Christchurch and about half of our staff at the conference had family there. Everyone was on their phones to find loved ones and then we found a way for them all to go home. Fortunately all were safe, but very, very shaken.



The conference went on with the remainder of the staff stepping up to fill in for the Christchurch staff who went home. Everything ran smoothly and the delegates would not have noticed how frantically everyone was working. My last image of Evelyn trying out one of the electric bikes at the conference summed up the experience for me. The conference went by in a blur of activity.

Petone Markets

We went for a walk through the Petone street markets and these enterprising young boys were showing off their artistic talents and selling pieces of their artwork.

Lower Hutt Farmers Market

I'm in Wellington staying with a friend for the weekend. She took me to the early morning markets where she buys all her fruit and veg and I only had my iphone to capture images, but I loved the colours.

Blue sky dreaming

Exposure bracketing

I found the exposure bracketing setting on my camera last night so played with it while capturing this sunset.

Gunslinger

The band performed in downtown Dunedin today.

Reaching

Evening from my back deck.

Bell tea

Blue skies in Dunedin. This golden bell is just down the road from my house, high atop a building, in a backstreet, where no one really notices it. What a shame

Phone boxes

Phone boxes used to be on every corner when I was growing up. I spent a good deal in phone boxes as a teenager since we didn't have a phone in our house. And of course, where would good old Clark Kent get changed without these boxes? You don't see too many of these around now but these three stand proudly in the exchange.

Advertising

I noticed these coke signs in a bit of a dodgy part of town. They had chain link fences erected in front of them. I found it interesting to think that they were considered important enough to need that form of protection and yet had been let fade with age. In this particular one I think there is supposed to be a splash of coke behind the model, however with the passage of time, and attention of the sun, it looks like she has met with some gruesome end.

Summer

This is a sight not often seen in Dunedin - St Clair Beach with people swimming. Was a beautiful warm day followed by a torrential rain storm.

Dunedin Prison

Just across from the railway station is a beautiful old building being used for a rather sad purpose.

Otago Farmer's Market

If you are ever visiting Dunedin on a Saturday morning and you want to experience the best French crepes, then pop in to the Otago Farmer's market at the railway station. My favourite is the Butterscotch Crepe and (in my opinion) they are so much nicer than the ones I had in Paris.