I haven’t posted here for a while – sometimes life gets busy and you need to focus elsewhere. It’s been weird not posting, as I have posted most days since I started this blog, but I don’t feel that I’m going to be able to post regularly for a while. Please bear with me!
Panasonic Lumix DMC GX7 with 14-140mm lens.
I haven’t felt like posting for a while – mainly I keep up my instagram account, @melanieylang, and I have been otherwise engaged of late. A recent trip to Daylesford was a great chance to take some nice shots, though.
Panasonic Lumix DMC GX7 with 14-140mm lens. Edited with Snapseed app.
Along with many others, I’ve been musing on the notion of celebrating our love for Australia on a day that the first Australians think of as commemorating the invasion leading to European settlement and irreparable damage to an ancient culture.
I don’t want to get all political about it, but I wanted to show you how we decided to celebrate this day. This is the new mural at Sheep Hills, between Minyip and Warracknabeal, featuring Wimmera Elders Ron Marks and Regina Hood, along with a young boy and a young girl, to acknowledge indigenous culture and knowledge.
I’m so grateful to have been born in Australia, I love my country.
I visited Umpherston Sink-hole, Mount Gambier SA, today, and was blown away by how spectacular it was, from top to bottom. Here’s the view of above-the-top from the bottom.
Fujifilm X30, edited with Snapseed app.
Well, it’s a no-brainer, surely? And yet, one that has been eluding me in my Gear Acquisition Syndrome-induced blindness. Ever since a friend asked if I would take photos at her wedding, I have been on a journey to improve my gear to a level that might not make a pro (one of whom will also be shooting that event) look at me with scorn. So, I have been trying lots of different tools – from various camera models, formats, and lenses – and feeling like I’m spinning my wheels trying to get somewhere that I possibly need not go, especially considering she didn’t ask me to!
I suddenly realized something quite important today, while out shooting with one prime lens: my partner has only one camera with a fixed lens and only one angle of view – an iPhone; as much as I look at it with scorn, he makes some really interesting photos with it, and I often make remarks along the lines of damn your iPhone! with bad grace and a pout. My realisation was that he has been forced, by using the tool he has, to make the most of it by harnessing its limitations to his advantage, often getting a perspective I wish I had thought of capturing.
Another realisation came only a day after the first one: if I found myself without an internet connection, I would spend more time actually practising my art, instead of reading camera reviews and comparisons to all hours.
I’m not going to make any new year’s resolutions based on either realisation, but maybe I’ll be a bit more proactive in my practice going forward.
Panasonic Lumix DMC GX7 with 14-140mm II lens and in-camera dynamic monochrome filter, edited in Snapseed app.
This precious nut, so prettily attended by its leaves, was one of surprisingly few in the tree outside our window, which has featured here a few days ago.
precious ruthless captures 