Here Kitty Kitty Kitty...

Sometimes, on peaceful sunny afternoons, my neighbour's cat comes visiting. The tag on his collar says his name is 'Biggie'... I googled blue cats with yellow eyes and apparently he is a Chartreux, which are monastery cats that the French Carthusian monks used to keep the mice away from their Camembert... According to the Oracle (bless Wikipedia) the first letter of the official name of a Chartreux cat encodes the year of its birth; all Chartreux born in the same year have official names beginning with the same letter. The code letters rotate through the alphabet each year, omitting the letters K, Q, W, X, Y, and Z. For example, a Chartreux born in 2002 would have an official name starting with the letter T. Which means Biggie was born in 2006, making him four years old. He still has a playful kittenish spirit - his favourite game is to hide under garden furniture and then rush out to bat my feet while I'm hanging out the washing...

Ah, Grasshopper!

I found this li'l martial arts expert in one of the cumquat trees in my backyard on the weekend... He was only 5mm long, so the Sigma 150mm macro lens came in handy. I am also indebted to Alex Wild for his kindness in sharing his insect-photography techniques.

Elsewhere - An ABC Radio Travel Programme

ABC Radio National has a new Travel programme in the making called Elsewhere, presented by writer Beth Yahp to broadcast every Saturday at 4pm. Beth asked me to make her a head-shot suitable for the web-page, so it was a great opportunity to test out my new glamour Ray Flash extension - and I'm impressed!

The Elsewhere programme details can be found here: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/elsewhere/about/
The program comprises documentaries, features, interviews, readings, performances and talks drawn from ABC Radio's vast back catalogue, but will also include new work, blogs and essays from travellers near and far.

For those keen on tech specs:
Camera: Nikon D300s
Lens: Sigma 150mm macro at f3.
Flash: Nikon SB900 Speedlight on-camera with Ray Flash extender.

Here's a Ray Flash video link, if you want to see the flash unit in action - the ring light info is about half-way through the video. It is available in Australia from DCW in Canterbury.

Lightroom3 Beta

I'm trialling a beta version of Lightroom3 for processing RAW files... whack colours, hey?!

Wasps at Happy Earth

Today I went to an open-garden day at Happy Earth with Regina and David and Maia. As you can read on the Happy Earth website, this home and garden is "an adventure in urban sustainability" exploring how the owners Richard and Ally might be able to "retrofit a typical suburban house and lawn into a healthy, efficient home with an abundant food garden." For them, being sustainable is really about living happier, healthier lives and feeling good about doing things that are good for themselves, the planet and their community. "It’s about wholesome food and lower bills, meaning more time for family and friends, and less time working."

Richard and Ally's vision for Happy Earth is also about "sharing stories and providing practical, independent information about sustainable living in Wollongong..." - and to that end they host occasional open-garden visits where they generously share their stories, experience and expertise with other interested people. They have documented their journey on their website where you can find abundant resources and information about their permaculture projects and philosophy-in-action.

Here are some macro shots of a wasp seen busily pollinating the fennel flowers.

Even the Little Sparrow...

Another pic with Jeremy's 150mm macro lens... sigh...

Lens Envy - Have your Cake and Eat it Too...

Jeremy came to town with a brand new 150mm f2.8 Macro lens that made me drool with envy... these are some pics I snapped while having a 'go' of his Nikon D300 in a cafe in Randwick...