Sunday, September 21, 2008

Bill & Bev Bailey

Over there! (by Ian B-M)Laetitia's parents came to stay with us for a few days. They're doing a driving holiday; they put their car on the train from Brisbane to Cairns, then driving back to Brisbane in stages. The fact that they went to Cooktown is beside the point! (Check a map if you're confused by that comment.)

These photos are from the breakwater at Mackay Harbour.

Last year, laetitia's father Bill had heart surgery. It took him a while to recover. It was really good to see him again. I've seen him a few times since then, and each time he's looking more spritely and steadier on his feet.
Contemplative silhouette

Monday, September 8, 2008

Camp Rapture

Our church camp this year was again at Cape Hillsborough, with a theme this year of “Camp Rapture: Don't be left behind”. This time I had a decent tripod to take along, so I got some nice photos on the beach at night.
Torches on the beach (by Ian B-M) Beach at night (by Ian B-M)

I also had another play with my interval timer, making a couple of sequences of dawn and sunrise.
Dawn breaking

Friday, September 5, 2008

Square Dancing in Rockhampton


The weekend after our 10th wedding anniversary, I went (but not Laetitia this year; last year we both went) to Rockhampton for a weekend of square dancing with the Capricorn Waves club at Parkhurst (north side of Rocky, on the Bruce Highway heading towards Mackay).

If you're not sure what square dancing is, try this:

That's a time lapse video I made with my new toy, an interval timer shutter remote for my DSLR camera. I put the camera on a tripod, tell it to take photos every few seconds, then stitch them together afterwards into a video. Cool, huh?

Anyway, this video starts with everyone squaring up, then a teaching session, followed by two dances. Sorry, because of the timing tricks, I really can't give you the music/sound that goes with it! Imagine your favourite rock or country music with a strong 4/4 beat at 128 beats per minute.

On the drive back home (and it's a long, boring four hour drive when alone) I stopped at took some photos. Each time I've driven that road, I've thought about some of these photos. So this time, not being in a great hurry to get anywhere, I stopped and took them.

See, there's this section near Marlborough where there's an old road beside the new one. The grass is growing up through the bitumen, and it looks simply delightful.
Old road

The old road is not easy to get to. I had to use my tripod to help me clamber down a bank thick with grass and shrubs, while the cows watched in amusement (okay, so they were probably more interested in eating grass).
Old road (by Ian B-M)

And there are plenty other nice views along the way, across wide open plains.