HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSH - LOVE FROM US IN HK

Congratulations Josh - we hope you have a wonderful birthday and year ahead. Love from Aiden, Evan, Ange and Dad.

New year hols at Po Lam and Shek O

I'm doomed to deafness at the mo - and thought I'd catch up on these posts in lieu of phoning you which would be pointless. The op went fine (so far) hospital and staff were great, the two nights and a day and a half flashed by in a blur of anaesthesia. I had two pethidine jabs along the way for pain, which are quite fun because they really work and put you on cloud nine at the same time. Its not that comfortable at the moment. Being deaf is an education; I can hear loud sounds though, and for the time being it's quite peaceful. I suspect it's going to be grim by day ten though, Monday next week I go to get the plugs which I understand are stitched into my ears taken out. I suspect that's going to be unpleasant.

The boys got scooters for Christmas and what better place than Po Lam park to take them for a run. It's a very cool park with curving lanes and tracks - a greenbelt running in between the highrises. They've both got pretty practised at scooters on our front patio, though Aiden's two years give him finesse which Ev lacks, but makes up for in enthusiasm.

On Sunday last, the holiday's final, we met Jens, Camilla and Freja on Shek O Beach - fabulous day - crisp with good cloud pattern for some gel flash tungsten blue arrangements (they look a bit dark in small format - clicking on them should brighten them up), maybe 22 degrees. Jens brought a kite for the boys to fly which was really kind of him, and I like the photo of Ev looking kite-casual below. I also think the landscape with Camilla and Freja in the background worked really well. We had lunch at the Thai restaurant before heading home - perfect day.

Around Christmas 08

Ange and Ev

I like this pic of Ange, you can see reflected in her glasses the tungsten sky from the three pics of Aiden a couple of posts ago. The only thing is the dreaded fence - such a grim suburban backdrop, one which frequently invades photos taken at home. When Ev is smart enough, this fence is moving two terraces down, and then the background should become more workable.

These stragely coloured ones are shot with coloured gels on the flash. I particularly like the one of Ev, and of course Aiden's face-pull. The small ones on the right are from the tram cruise - tricky light and space, but nice colours in the clothes and cool skin tones.

Portrait of Jacques

December Hong Kong

December is feeling great - I've been out quite a bit with the camera, light has been great, and I've learned a few things from Jens which I'm now able to put into practice. Firstly the finishes on these photos which is done in RAW conversion rather, so in other words before the file is created, rather than via photoshopping an existing file. I think their contrasty, detailed and volume oriented feel - almost a three dimensional feel of depth - is really nice, and offers a higher dynamic range than a normal photo would. For example there is detail in the bottom of the bridge in the tram photo (we went on a christmas tram ride through Hong Kong with a group of people from Sheung Sze wan which was lovely) that would not be visible with a standard output. The photo above of Aiden on his bike I really really like. The backdrop is an old demolished restaurant which the Gov closed down, and then fenced off to prevent it being operated on the sly. I like its bright colours and the way they worked with the bike's colours and shapes and Aiden in jeans and t. The single bit of graffiti - PIMP - gives it a bit of sleeze-feel in what is really cheerfully coloured, but also about urban decay. Unrelated, but in the same style, we have my version of Dreams of a Tatooed Man - Ev after finding and experimenting at length with Freja's winnie the pooh stamp.

I think I've posted a pic of Grant's Ultima GTR already, but he was giving it a wash and fired up the engine (you have no idea, a very smooth and tight
aeroplane quality noise to it) and I couldn't resist - it is such a superlative machine. I get tricked into thinking these sorts of cars are small because they are so low, and invariably offer cramped accommodation for people, so I put the small one in here to give you an idea of scale - big big vehicle. I also learned that it was used as a test-bed for the McClaren F1, which I know you (rightly) have an appreciation for. And there are some visual parallels, like the over-roof vent, which in this case feeds a massive supercharger.

Finally, check out these - supergroovy and stylized - again something that Jens taught me - these are all taken with a yellow gel filter on a flash, with the camera metered on the sky (nice detailed sky in this case) and then the camera's white balance set to tungsten, which renders things other than yellow-flased skin blue, and gives you these sorts of results. Hope you like them.

Cousins

I loved talking to you on Saturday. I'm just refinding myself in post SFC exam limbo - please let me pass that and not have to revisit it (he says hopefully, wanting that rush of joy, fearing the crushing frustration and disappointment). I suspect you are somewhat more adept. Thought I'd post this - got the kit out - black backdrop - took some pics of your boeties and their cousins, and pasted it together in a collage. When the lights go up, they don't mind a bit of posing - for now, for ever? Also did a family port for my mate Jacques on Saturday for their adoption agency interview/application. Made a groovy pop art thing out of it too, like this.

Fabulous SA

I loved coming to SA for a number of reasons - you being a huge one - and the staggering beauty of the place. There are things I don't like too - not sure if this is me changing because I've been away for what suddenly feels like quite a while - or because I've become more set in my ways and am more judgemental than Iused to be. Being judgemental is not something that I've thought a good thing, but sometimes it's helpful and even necessary I suppose. The photos that I put into this slide show are either airbrush type portraits - a look that is achieved with post-processing in RAW before outputting the file - or daylight flash photos taken in the evening so as to leave some colour in the sky. Hope you like them. It was such a positive, lovely surprise to see you.