Tim Christie

I have been travelling out west last week for work around the Gunnedah and Narrabri area. I am impressed. For the whole week I got to see the sunrise and sunset while travelling to and from work. I had grand plans of getting time to shoot a few sunsets but unfortunately time didn’t permit. Compared to here on the coast where I live, the colours out west are amazing, they last longer and light the landscape in ways I havent seen for a long time. The beginning and end of the day is greeted with the most intense pinks, purples, blues , yellows and oranges. It was hard as a photographer with camera at the ready to not be able to stop and take a few shots to share with you.

Most of these photos, except for the bus ones, were taken from a moving vehicle as there was no time to stop. I was surprised that they cam out so good. I might have to work on my technique for future trips where I cannot stop again.

In between Gunnedah and Narrabri is a sleepy little town, population 70, called Baan Baa. Perched along the Kamillaroi highway, its main purpose is serving as a grain rail terminal for the local farmers to disribute their commodities out to the world. The first thing I noticed as I was driving through was a green bus off the side of the road that at first look appears abandoned and forgotten. It was quickly pointed out to me by my passenger that in fact it was the local cricket club grand stand. Thats Aussie ingenuity for you. Most people would leave it to rot in a paddock but the locals at Baan Baa have made it into a talking piece that for me put it on the map. If it wasnt for the bus I would have most probably not noticed the few houses on the side of the road.

Further down the road stands the majestic Gin’s Leap which legend has it that an aboriginal girl threw herself from the rock while being chased by a wild aboriginal tribe. Originally known to early settlers just as the rock it took its name once the legend became more widespread. If you are travelling the Kamillaroi highway you will not miss it as it is a massive piece of stone and has a very ominous presence early in the morning with the light of dawn warming its face.

Made it out shopping today and bought my self an Olympus u 1030 SW digital camera. Our old point and shoot happy snap camera finally died after mountains of abuse so I thought I had better upgrade. It was a tough decision but I decided on the Olympus because of its sheer toughness. No other camera could match its performance in such a diverse range of conditions. I have been missing a compact camera to take in my pocket as it can be a pain in the ass to carry my SLR’s with me every where, especially if all you want is a few happy snaps. Although it was a bit more expensive than cameras with with similar features, the waterproofing and drop resistance are worth the outlay if you have kids, work in wet or dusty environments, enjoy snorkeling or diving or even just go to the beach or pool on a regular occasion. I am pretty happy to know that if I abuse this little camera it will keep on working, and that just suits me fine.

The Olympus 1030 SW (SW is for shock and waterproof) is Drop resistant to 2 m, waterproof (not water resistant) to 10m, crushproof to 100kg and freezeproof to -10 degrees. To me that also sounds like its pretty kid proof too. I have a 2 yr old who is obsessed with any kind of gadget that has buttons, lights and makes noises, so once she finds out this takes pictures too those specs are gunna get a thorough testing. Built solidly, I think anything short of a nuclear bomb wont really worry this camera too much.

As a camera the 1030SW has some pretty impressive tech specs as well. It has a 10.1 megapixel CCD sensor, 2.7″ TFT ‘Hypercrystal II’ LCD display, 3.6x optical zoom, (5x digital zoom too but I wouldnt bother with it) 29 shooting modes, image stabilisation, face detection, shadow adjustment and a whole swag of other goodies. There is also a Manometer to tell you how high up or deep in the water you are,

When you open the box the first thing you notice is how solidy this camera is built. With the outer casing made of metal with full rubber seals around all the joins and everything screwed not glued together, it even feels tough. Button actions have a responsive feel and everything is easy to access, even with my big fingers.

I have only taken a few pictures so far, mainly of my feet and computer desk and walls and stuff around me so nothing worth posting yet. As I put it through its paces over the next week or so I will post some for you to see. The screen is crystal clear and appears reasonably accurate and optical zoom is good. There is a mountain of shooting modes including portrait, night time, inside, underwater, macro etc etc and I think I would actually use alot of them. When I am not using my SLR’s I like to be able to have some control over images I take, but I dont want to have to think about settings. The scene modes appear to cover this reasonably well.

Stay tuned as I will have more for you soon.

Part II - Olympus 1020 SW Review

I was at this years Groovin The Moo in Maitland, NSW, photographing the bands once again. While wandering around between sets it was amazing to see the amount of different and stylish gumboots people were wearing for a festival affectionately renamed - Groovin The Mud.

Festival fashions have come a long way in recent years, but it also appears it has taken a step back when people have to start accessorising gumboots. I was amazed at the variety and difference in styles that are available these days. When I was a kid, all you could get was the trusty old black gumboot… Not anymore. As with any kind of fashion accessory some people wore them well, others I guess you could say they would have been better off with bear feet. I was an intersting day, and as always the bands were great, the people were awesome and security were just a bunch of arseholes.

For the complete gallery you can find it on my Groovin The Gumboot guest post for I’m With The Band

In the week leading up to Groovin The Moo 2008, Maitland had 260mm of rainfall and literally no sun at all. While setting up crews were working in rivers of water flowing all over the site. Paterson and other low lying areas of Maitland had already flooded in by Friday and if the rain didnt stop then Maitland could have possibly been flooded too! Things were looking pretty bleak to expect sunshine on Saturday. That sounds pretty dramatic, but I was watching the Groovin The Moo website all Friday and they said they would go ahead, rain, hail or shine.

I think all the punters who had bought tickets must have read the same post, because they all went out on Friday and bought every last pair of gumboots you could find between Maitland and Newcastle. Someone within the Groovin The Moo ranks though has done some really good deeds lately and must have had some really good karma stored up, enough for the sunshine gods to smile and turn it on so the show could go ahead. With 12,000 people converging on Maitland Showground all at once, it was instantly turned into a giant mud wrestling pit.

Although the rain had stopped, and the sun was shining, you just couldnt escape the mud. Organisers had done their best by spreading woodchip in the really bad ares, but without any drying time the ground didnt stand a chance. Some of the punters took advantage of the abundance of oozing mud, deciding that it was a good idea to start a WWF style mud wresting bonanza. All that was missing were the bikini clad round number girls. Affectionately the festival has been renamed Groovin The Mud, 2008.

After braving the writhing sexed up mud pit that was the King St Hotel Dance Tent to photograph the Potbelleez, I decided to make my way back to the Triple J Main Stage. It was on my way there that I was lucky enough to witness the mayhem you see all round this post. It was a tag team style WWF 2008, no rules, one in all in, scene of chaos. Bodies were being slammed and the recently outlawed manouvre ‘Arse in Face - Smell my Sphincter’ made an appearance as well. No one was spared from the flying mud, and not even the useless security guards could stop the fun, they didnt want to get dirty. The crowd LOVED it!!

My camera gear escaped unscathed but only just by a whisker. The poor girl I was standing beside though copped a mud pie to the face, and most of the crowd was sprayed by flying mud. Somehow it managed to miss me. The Photos were worth the risk!! Groovin The Mud will hopefully be a one off even and next year will return to Groovin The Moo with great weather and a dry arena!