Day 130

in
super moon

super moon

Last night was a super moon eclipse. I managed to see some of a partial eclipse but missed out on the full thing due to a niggly baby. I personally dislike the term super moon as it makes it sound massive.

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uncropped eclipse at 400mm on Canon 6D

uncropped eclipse at 400mm on Canon 6D

At best it is only 14% bigger which considering the size of the moon to the naked human eye doesn't mean an awful lot at all. Even the BBC was waxing on about how the moon is 2 or 3 times brighter. To a photographer, that just means one stop of light which isn't much in photo terms. The moon is always so much brighter than its surroundings that to get a photo of the moon at night with both the environment and moon well exposed you would need a camera with a massive dynamic range or some creative photoshopping (I suspect most moon photos tend towards the later).

This is a heavily cropped pic of the moon from last night taken with my 400mm lens while the moon was quite high at about 1am. To get great photos of the moon, you would need a 800mm lens or bigger. I got up at 6 this morning to get the moon on the horizon but the biggest issue with the photos I took was that the moon was not a nice circle. Being close to the horizon and probably with the earning morning air, the moon gets squashed into an ugly wobbly egg. So the next time you see a beautiful photo of the moon well exposed, near the horizon surrounded by picturesque scenery, be more than a little suspicious if the photographer claims it is not photoshopped.

super egg moon

super egg moon

Day 126

in
Tai Chi cake

Tai Chi cake

On weekends, I spend a lot of time and energy practising Tai Chi and try to coach other practitioners the things I picked up in Japan from my teachers. It was one lady's birthday this weekend and as she is a very special person (I think she is over 85, but not sure of her exact age) she is always happy and smiling and lightens the mood whenever she is around, I decided to make her this cake!

Edit: it turns out she turned 90! I hope I have half of her energy when I am that age. Apart from tai chi, she paints, plays guitar and makes all kinds of art!

Day 125

rain, rain go away

rain, rain go away

I'm a bit sad that my day numbers are no longer consecutive days but it can't be helped. I've been cycling to work the last week and it has rained practically every day, so it just hasn't been possible to take a camera as everything I carry to work gets soaked.

Day 124

in
tools of the trade/daily survival

tools of the trade/daily survival

For the past few months this has been a regular sight for me. Camera for most eventualities, coffee and cake to keep me awake mid afternoon and something to keep my son Josh amused/fed/thirst quenched. I will be going back to regular work from Monday and will miss having so much freedom and fun with my son. I won't miss the 15+kg of baby and equipment that I carried around on my front and back, but will miss everything else. I will try my best to keep a camera handy wherever I am in future too and even if I can't manage daily posts, I hope to make a couple every week. This week was a bit erratic and I wanted to try film again after such a long stint of digital. Hope the negatives don't take too long to develop...