More Melbourne Panasonica
May 28, 2008
OK – I did say next stop Singapore, didn’t I? Well I am still loving playing with my new point-and-shoot, so I’ll treat you to a few more Melbourne CBD sights.
Today I stumbled across a public speed chess match played with man-size pieces. It attracted quite a crowd!
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| From Melbourne CBD |
Whilst heading back inside the office two kids grabbed my attention. Each had an extra head in their hands, complete with hair, and a full face. They took turns to place them inside their hoods on top of their head, as second heads (who was that character on Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy?), on the ground where they stood on them and occasionally throwing them at unsuspecting passers-by.
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| From Melbourne CBD |
Everywhere you look along Bourke and Swanston Streets you see buskers. Some are way better than others. This guy was one of the better ones, and was selling CDs – I bought one of course. His didjeridoo and guitar are both hand-made by himself, and he even threw in a DVD showing how to find a didj tree then actually make the instrument.
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| From Melbourne CBD |
Trialing the Panasonic around Melbourne
May 25, 2008
Day 2 in the city with my new point and shoot – the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18, and I thought I should try a few shots over lunch and on the night walk back to my car. Check out all of the shots here.
Sitting on a bench in the middle of the CBD, I was staring into my LCD screen trying to interpret the icons. Suddenly feet started appearing in the preview. I decided to see how fast the autofocus worked on a dull day with no pre-focus and got this.
Don't tread on me
Looking back up from the foot, I noticed a street artist using his hands to create some pretty authentic renaissance style painting on the concrete. You could spend all day in Melbourne photographing the various street performers, and when you get bored with them you just photograph some of the more unusual people hanging around.
I was curious about how the camera handled night lights and handheld slow shutter speeds. For the most part it does a great job, although at times I had to place it on a steady surface and take long exposures. This shot was handheld and typifies some of the night shots I might be capturing in many of the world’s busiest Asian cities.
After much dawdling around the CBD I started to get cold and began to make my way back to Crown Casino, where I had parked for the day. The rest of these images were taken on longer exposures, but show what you can do with a cheap camera when you are traveling. These are all different views of the Yarra River around the Southbank and Crown Casino areas.
Every hour the Crown Casino flame jets explode into life, lighting up the boardwalk with spurts of a hot, orange glow. Far more difficult to photograph with this type of camera, and I really wasn’t in the right place to shoot them effectively, but hey – I had fun trying. Perhaps the tourists in the foreground of this image had more luck than I did. 
Well, next stop Singapore. See you there…
New Point and Shoot meets AFL at the Dome
May 23, 2008
I’d like to talk about the long and arduous process I put myself through in choosing a suitable point and shoot camera for my upcoming travels. I own two Canon DLSRs and an old Powershot S50, but I wasn’t prepared to lug a big body and even bigger and expensive lenses all around Asia for 53 days.
Oh – yes, I’m leaving my office job and travelling through seven countries from June until August. You’ll be able to read (I hope) a daily blog update from me, including photos, once I kick it off. [Read more]
