User:Podzemnik/diary
2019[edit]
March[edit]
I've moved to New Zealand. Again. I thought it was a good moment to start something new - something like a wikidiary. Nothing special though. Just every now and then, it could be fun to write a word or two about my photography life offline and online.
April[edit]
- April 5
Just got back from a week long tramp around Wanaka. I felt like I needed to remind myself how beautiful this island can be and Wanaka surely feels like a good place to do it. I got so many pictures that I think I'll be processing them for the whole winter. The weather was so amazing, same as everything down there. It feels like you can just grab your camera, stick it out of a car window and shoot while eating your sandwich and you'll still get a great image.
- April 12
At QIC, one of the main issues for me is that if I comment on image that needs fixing, I have to come back and check out if it was fixed. Maybe that's why some users just don't comment but only promote or decline.
- April 19
It was the pink moon today. Oh, if I only knew. I was having fun with my camera with wide-angle lens by a pier in New Brighton, Christchurch, when this pinkish beast started to rise above the horizon faster than I could focus. I might have a shot at the end, but I was totally jealous of other photographer who had 100-400 lens. We'll see what comes out of Lightroom. It reminds that I want to study more stuff about the Moon so I can incorporate it into my photography more often.
- April 20
I went to check out Waimakariri River and took a few nice images. Very inspiring light but I was struggling to find an inspiring composition. It seems like the more I think about it, the worse compo I make.
I went to take pictures of two bridges that are crossing the river but the best shot I got was quite a random panorama of a rainbow above the trees. It's often like that: the best shots often comes from unexpected occasions. It's similar with parties or hikes: the best ones are those that are spontaneous and unexpected.
- April 21
I'm excited for the day when someone at FPC will oppose my picture saying: "too sharp".
- April 22
My first NZ FP was promoted. This one is from my Wanaka trip. It's a semi random shot because the light looked pretty poor and after 60km in my legs and about 6 river crossing ahead, I felt like I can't be bothered to take pictures right now. It's often like that: you're going to the beach to shoot birds and your best picture from that day is a random guy on a surfboard that you took just to test out your camera settings.
- April 26
Just got back from a 3 days hike in Richmond Range. Got a few nice shots but not too many - the weather was somewhat uninspiring and the pictures are all greyish and fogy. It's never easy to admit that the weather was bad so your shots are just ordinary gloomy shots with dull colours.
- April 28
My Cyprus donkeys failed at FPC but my turkish baths are doing well. I expected the opposite. It seems like the hardest part of photography is to judge my own work.
I also nominated the picture of the Christchurch Art Gallery for FP. It was a pain to post-process the image and I only hope I won't have to go back to it as my computer wasn't very happy to process such a big image. Fancy buildings during the blue hour tend to pass the nominating process more easily than donkeys on roads.
So yeah, why not to go and take another fancy building, Christchurch Town Hall of the Performing Arts. I like how badass the graffiti in the background is.
May[edit]
- May 4
Just got back from a 2 days tramp around Mt Somers. The weather was alright but it's a shame that DoC huts are often in the valleys. That means that the time around sunsets and sunrises, when the light is the most exciting, you spent down at the valley bottoms. I might got one or two nice panoramas and that's all. But that's alright. I don't go tramping to take photos at the first place.
My Christchurch Art Gallery passed without troubles so that was good, same as my turkish baths. I think that it might have been my last nominations of a picture outside of New Zealand for a while. I don't have any new FP candidate in mind from my latest nomadic period and now it seems like I'm putting down roots here in New Zealand.
- May 6
I feel like I'm getting into local discussions more than I'd like. I think I'll back up a bit.
Cmao20 nominated my picture of rainbows over Waimakariri River. It's always nice to see that somebody else nominated one of my pictures.
- May 10
I went to town last night to take some night pictures but came back with just a few. I was just wondering around, not feeling inspired enough to take out a tripod with a camera out of my backpack. It's different when I hike. I go from place A to B and take pictures on the way. During my hikes I often hike for 8 hours or more so there is quite a good chance that I will find the composition that I like. In other words, the composition will come to me and photography is secondary. In the city, I'm intentionally looking for compositions and places to take pictures of. I have to come to composition and photography becomes primary. And that's hard for me. That's why I should do it more often - to look for new interesting things and angles at familiar places. Because it challenges me more right now than anything else.
Ahuriri River ended up FP. It's a special picture to me. The colors are very gentle and the image doesn't strike at first but after a while it's growing on you. If ever printed out, black frame would suit it well.
I've got maybe 10 more pictures to nominate, I hope guys at FPC won't get bored of seeing my name there all the time.
- May 12
My old friend happened to be in Christchurch so we went for a wee walk to a local park called The Groynes. I didn't expect to do many photos but I grabbed my camera with a long lens anyway. I ended up taking quite a nice panorama but one of the frames isn't very sharp. No tripod, no fun in the early mornings.
As there are many ponds, it was fun to play with reflections. I find it quite trippy when the reflection is turned upside down. On of the shots I was happy with was New Zealand scaup photo. This adorable bird is endemic to New Zealand. I was thinking about nominating in for FP but nah, I don't think that is that good.
- May 17
Mike's lecture "How do we get New Zealand artists into Wikipedia?" was great. It's always good to see the right person (Mike) at the right place. I hope we'll manage to establish Wikimedia New Zealand one day. That'd be epic.
My other nomination from lake Wanaka seems to get quite a good support so that's good. It was such an epic morning, almost too good to take pictures.
My good friend and a great photographer, Jakub Fryš, joined Commons. His contributions are just so good and he's managed to get his first FP not long after he joined. I'm happy for him, I'm sure he'll chip in a lot of high quality material into a bag of free knowledge.
I keep having my evening and early morning strolls around town. It's fun but it starts to be a bit monotonous as I've already discovered everything in a walking distance. Time to get a bike I guess.
- May 20
I managed to get a so-so shot of New Zealand fantail. These creatures are so small and so fast. I took about 50 pictures of the bird and most of the pictures contained only a branch with nothing on it. The bird managed to escape in a gap between my brain sent the signal to my finger to press the shooting button and the actual button pressing. Fun.
- May 29
Just got back from a weekend tramp in Hakatere Conservation Park. Normally I don't take my tripod with me but this time I did. It was worth it I think, got some nice shots of sunset / sunrise.
I nominated a couple of weird photos: Roof detail of Cardboard Cathedral and Reflection of trees in a pond so we'll see what if locals will like it as much as I do.
