Here are a few sites that I visit from time to time that are worth a look and hold a wealth of information.

www.luminous-landscape.com

www.photo.net

www.dpreview.com

www.earthboundlight.com

www.acecam.com

www.doubleexposure.com

www.fredmiranda.com

www.PhotoFriday.com/calibrate.php ~ monitor calibration

www.photonotes.org

www.johnpaulcaponigro.com

www.takegreatpictures.com

www.photoimaging.com.au

As photographers in Australia--or indeed anywhere--what are our rights when it comes to taking our beloved images?

I’ve been watching the developments and doing a little reading of my own around this topic. I must admit I haven’t kept up-to-date on the laws that threaten our hobby/profession but I’ve been surfing the web looking to change that.

I won’t duplicate the information here, but rather link to it. I’m also not an expert in legal matters by any stretch of the imagination.

As photographers, we should be informed on what the law says we can and can’t do. Not so we can run rough-shod over everyone, but so we can debate intelligently and in an informed manner should we ever be confronted by someone who has decided to take exception to us taking photographs of something/someone.

I think it always a good policy to ask for permission first. If confronted, be polite and if there is any doubt, put the camera away and leave. I doubt anyone wants that burly security guard confiscating our equipment and perhaps damaging it, even if we are perfectly within our rights to be there. That would be more hassle than it’s worth--as far as I can tell.

Here is some excellent information:

http://www.4020.net/words/photorights.php

http://www.artslaw.com.au/legalinformation/StreetPhotographersRights.asp

http://www.overclockers.com.au/wiki/Photographers_Rights,_General_Privacy,_and_Copyright_in_Australia

You an also order this book
http://www.copyright.org.au/publications/bookfaq/B120faq.htm

If you have any other information that may be useful, let me know and I’ll link to it here.

I have recently returned from a motorcycle ride out to Longreach. This trip took me 9 days and was a lot of fun.

Photos can be found here.

My blog of the trip can be found here.

I took my entire photographic kit as a test. I now know exactly what not to take in the future. I have decided to make up a separate camera kit just for the bike as a lot of wear and tear was sustained by my DSLR’s.

Today I downloaded a couple of colour profiles for a canvas printing operation. I temporarily forgot where these go on a Mac. So here is where they go for future reference:

HD > Library > ColorSync > Profiles

Incidentally the canvas printing company I’m about to try out is called Genius Printing. I’ll get a print done and report back.

I have been rebuilding my PC with Ubuntu Hardy Heron over the past two days. I’ve been running Linux of one flavour or another on it for just over 12 months.

I’ve been checking and watching the Linux world from time-to-time to see how photographers are faring with this OS. The one thing I found in the past that was a real bug-bear was colour management in Linux. It was one of the reasons I went to OS X over Linux 12 months ago. The other being no photoshop for linux. (Yes there is The Gimp but...)

I have a ColorVision Spyder II that I use on my MacBook for colour management and it does a rather good job. Today I decided to do a search to see if there had been any developments.

I came across this site:

http://jcornuz.wordpress.com

This site is full of excellent information on how to get your Linux machines up to scratch with colour managment, along with lots of other usefull information.

Joel Cornuz has done an excellent job putting it all together.

To day is the day that Australians celebrate living in the best country in the World.

Prawns are thrown on the BBQ.
Cricket is watched.
Beaches are visited.
Fishing becomes the national sport for the day.

Happy Australia day to all Australians. Have fun, and be Safe.

After umming and arring I finally bit the bullet and purchased the Canon 5D. I've been using my 10D for many years and saw this as a worthy upgrade.
I have only taken a few 10's of photos with the new tool, but will be posting more as I get them on my gallery site.

Exposure with my 550EX is superb as is the ISO performance. I have yet to test all my lenses and am hoping that because most of them are "L" class, they will still perform as well as they did on the 10D.

More news on the 5D as it comes to hand.

I've had my new bike now for about 4 months and the only dirt its seen is the 1km I have on my way to and from work. So I decided to check out a back track that I hadn't been on for a number of years and then only once. The two wheel track runs over Mt. Buggery out the back of Borumba Dam via Bella Creek Road and takes you the back way to Land Cruiser Park and the Jimna forestry. There is a reason the mountain is called Buggery... Now my little scooter is not a trail bike. It's a DL 650 which is part road bike and part tourer. A trail bike it is not. This became rather obvious once I left the tar. Two things immediately came home to me, 1. the bike is front heavy and 2. the tyres are for the road.. slicks and useless on sandy gravel. However, not one to let a challenge go um.. unchallenged, rocks pinging off the oil filter I charged forth.

The final approach to the summit of Mt Buggery is rather steep, so much so I was rather concerned as I came upon it. But being far to late to turn around I stamped down to 2nd and wristed it. Rear wheel spinning and front wheel skating over the road like it was ice I arrived at the top of the goat track with heart pounding. Suddenly out of the corner of my eye I spied a weedy sapling that was in dire need of some hydration so I came to a halt in a cloud of dust, marched off into the scrub and rendered assistance. Feeling rather like a super hero I climbed back aboard my steed and carried on. 1hr and 10mins later I arrived at the entrance to Land Cruiser Park. Piece of cake.

Decision time, take the left and go to Jimna/Kilcoy or take the right and head into the unknown. I chose unknown and 15 mins later realised I was low on fuel, Doh!

Just when I thought I'd be spending the last hours of my life stranded miles from anywhere I found a road sign. It was in english, so I was still in Australia. It said Kandanga (get down and say praise the Lord). Thinking I was home and hosed I headed off down this yellow brick road to civilisation, visor up, bugs ricocheting off my teeth.

New sign.

Permit required.

Large fines.

Cursing, I pulled up to check out the largest carpet snake (carpet python for the city slickers) I had seen in quite some time. Easily 8 feet long and as thick as my calf through the middle. As I watched the critter search for a warm place in the sun, along came the park Ranger in his Land Cruiser. He nearly ran over the snake as he considered if I had broken down and how best to render assistance. Some skillful braking, sliding, spinning and sphincter clenching brought him past the snake and up beside me. Moments later, he's telling me that the road I was heading down was much better than the one I had taken over Mt. Buggery and to disregard the permit signs.

With a sigh of relief and waving thanks, I headed off with visions of paved freeways racing through my head.

5 minutes later I almost came back to earth with a large thud. What followed was an hour of white knuckle riding that saw me almost on the bike the whole way. Never in my life have I been so close to falling off for such an extended period of time. Sheer drops off the road, near vertical sections of rocky switch backs. The Ranger said the views were spectacular. I didn't notice. With the words of Banjo Patterson's Man from Snowy River running through my head I landed at the bottom of that 'Terrible Descent' and just shy of kissing the ground I dismounted.

After a few deep breaths and couple of moments counting my blessings we headed home, along paved road. My trusty steed, pluck undaunted, courage firey hot, snuffed the battle with delight and thought nothing of the ordeal. It's rider on the other hand, will not be riding that road again.

I can laugh about it now, safely home, bike in the shed nibbling some well earned hay.

No. I didn't take a camera. More fool me. I'll be turning left next time.

As you may have noticed, I use RW to produce this website. Why do I use it? well that's all explained on the RealMacSoftware website. RW makes it very simple to create a flashy website very quickly. What's more, version 3.6.2 has been released. This version brings a couple of nice additions. Side bars can now be edited just like any styled text page and there is also the new iPhone theme which looks very snazzy. I tried it on my site, but it ended up looking like a giant pear so I didn't progress any further. Not that I'd want to mind you, I don't think my web presence lends itself to the glittery look of an iPhone. Yours might however, so give it a burl. Blog updating and closer integration with stat services are another two areas that have seen a facelift. If you haven't had a look at Rapid Weaver why not go check it out.

As I was sitting around thinking of something to do today, I decided to have a look at a website that I hadn't been to in a while.

Mahesh Thapa is the Starving Photographer. His website is one of those where you'll lose hours in if you're not careful. His images are extremely well crafted and the colours positively jump off the screen at you. If you have taken the time to calibrate your monitor you'll be even more impressed.

His photography is the only reason I want to visit the United States (sorry to any Americans reading this), and wander through their National Parks.

I recommend you take a stroll through his images, I especially enjoy the Yellowstone and Grand Tetons gallery. Keep a look out for "Tree Bottoms" and "Teton Fall Puddle".

Mahesh sells his work and it is printed on archival paper with archival inks, expected to last over 90 years. The refund policy states that if the print fades during your lifetime it will be replaced free of charge! ..gotta love that.
After you've seen the quality of his work, you'll want to live for at least 120 years just so you can get a 2nd print for nix.

Check out his work at www.starvingphotographer.com