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Whilst in Melbourne last week, I managed to track down a couple of Nendoroid Fate/Stay Night figures. Just throught I would share them, as I think they are both particularly cute and am very much proud of my photography skillz on the first image as I think it came out really well.

Saber (Gao?!)

… and joined by Illya

More news soon. (hopefully…)

After a long time between drinks, I finally managed to escape Canberra and headed to Melbourne… if only for a weekend.

It was a rather successful endeavour, as I managed to snatch a couple of new/old cameras…

These will be my first ventures into the world of film photography, so hopefully I will be able to share some new, creative endeavours, soon.

After having travelled quite a bit in the last 6 or so months of 2009, I’m starting to get antsy to get out of Canberra again. I made a quick trip to Sydney back in March, but thats been about it for most of 2010 so far. Wanting to get out an try some more photography, I think I’ve almost worn Canberra out. Some of my latest are below, but I think I’m running out of Canberra icons to cover.

The National Carillion:

Lake Burley Griffin

Random Autumn shots:

Definitely struggling for inspiration. I’ve had so little time for photography lately, that the photos I have been taking feel so forced. I’m planning an escape in the next few months, probably to Melbourne, to see some footy (go the Raiders!), but also to hit up a big city again… As much as I love Canberra, and am definitely proud of it as my home town, it’s starting to feel really small. At the same time, I starting to seek out bigger things. Moving overseas after graduation seems like an attractive option at the moment…

Finally… my first post in over a month. I have been so busy in the last few weeks, with both work and uni being completely full-on.

Work is busy at the best of times, but particularly in the past month. So many people have been out of our office, so those remaining (such as me) have had to pick up extra work. Uni demands have been just as busy. Heading into the last few weeks of semester means a whole lot of assessment arriving in such a short period of time. Despite the amount of reports, tutorials, presentations and preparation I have been doing in the last month, the next few weeks will be make or break for my semester. I’m doing 3 courses at the moment, in 3 fairly different subjects (engineering, physics and environmental policy), which surprisingly makes it easier to manage, as I can completely switch between each. But putting so much into Uni is causing my work performance to suffer, which usually should be the other way round.

All of this has contributed to my lack of posts, as well as a drop in the amount of photography I have been able to do. No posts and just 5 new pics to Flickr in a month is not great. However, after another 2 weeks of craziness, I should be able to produce more content, and justify my investment in this blog.

This windows are on buildings a short walk from Uni. I think they’re pretty cool.

I’ve been told that morning sun is the best for outdoors photography. However it does mean being keen and getting up early to get the best opportunities. I’ve been meaning to shot these buildings in the early morning for a while, but haven’t had the time. Last week I had the motivation and time to get out and finally do it. Unfortunately, the day I picked happened to be cloudy and overcast, defeating the purpose of getting up early in the first place! Argh!

I also finally received my new Blue Snowball mic, which I ordered through the Australian Apple Store (despite some shenanigans from TNT express during delivery… I’ve been wanting to get a new mic, to use with some videos I’ve been planning to make for a while. We’ll be doing some interviews for our Engineering project at uni, so I thought it was a good excuse to dish out for a good one. It’s not mind blowing quality (it’s not a studio mic), but it’s sure as hell a far improvement above mics you’d find built in to video cameras and laptops, so I’m happy.

In anime news, I’m still getting through Cowboy BeBop when I can, which I am enjoying immensely and just purchased Neon Genesis Evangelion which I’m looking forward to watching afterwards.

More posts soon, hopefully…

I haven’t had a chance to update much recently after a week of death at uni (5 pieces of assessment spaced out over 4 days…), but I have managed to pick up a couple of bits and pieces; Sackboy from Little Big Planet and Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII:

I like the Sackboy Collectable. I think its the first real piece of LittleBigPlanet merch in Canberra (let alone Australia). It was cheap too, but what I really want is a plushie, and I’m guessing I’m not the only one…

My Lightning figure finally arrived from Tamarket on Friday, apparently they had been caught up with moving stuff from the Supanova conventions, which is understandable. It’s a nice figure, of pretty good detail and quality, with my only complaints being with the hair and how some of the joints appear. Aesthetics has been sacrificed for extra movement, but I really do like it nonetheless.

I’m kind of disappointed with the lack of free time I really have at the moment. I’ve started to watch Cowboy Bebop, and am averaging about 1 episode/session a week, which sucks… I’ve also picked up Resonance of Fate for PS3 and the two Otacool books (otaku rooms and world-wide cosplayers) but I guess they will have to wait until either a rainy day, or a uni break for me to enjoy them. Oh wells…

I have fairly decent plans for tomorrow, up early for the ANZAC day Dawn Service here in Canberra and then going to the Raiders match in the afternoon. Hopefully I’ll be able to sneak a bit of photography at each…

Just a quick update with my latest acquisition, the Revoltech Alter Saber.

I’ve been searching for other figures I might want to order, however I am finding that new figures are either too expensive, or just hard to find. Plus I really haven’t watched many anime series, so there are a limited number of figures that I am trying to hunt down. It’s also kinda difficult to find figures locally (Australia), a lot of the figures I am ordering are having to be imported straight from Japan.

I just finished watching the Fullmetal Alchemist series (plus the Conqueror of Shamballa feature). I’m trying to hunt down an Alphonse amour figure, but again, they are either too expensive or just poor quality.

I’m currently watching Cowboy Bebop at the moment and have Chrono Crusade lined up for afterwards.

Anyway, to Saber:

I finally managed to reach my interim goal weight, so the only thing that is standing in-between my ordering of a Welkin Gunther Cosplay is finding a flat to live in. Hopefully, with at least a half-dozen property inspections lined up this week, that shouldn’t be too far away. If I reach my goal of moving out before my birthday, I might even be able to buy it as a birthday present to myself!

As alluded to an a couple of my earlier posts, I have entered to participate in the Canberra Photo Marathon on the 27^th of March. I had been looking forward to this event, as it would have been my first real experience of competitive photography.

To give some background, the Photo Marathon was a daylong event, where 12 themes are presented (6 at the start, 6 half way through). A photo for each theme must then be presented; with photos [in theory] taken in the order the themes are given, with no Photoshop/Aperture/ whatever editing allowed.

Examples of themes for the Canberra event included “Light”, “Evolution”, Earth Hour (which was that night) and my entry number (70). It was really well organised, with entry into the National Zoo and Aquarium included.

Naturally, I was eager to participate in this event, and it started off well. However, about an hour into the 12-hour event, tragedy struck. Attempting to fulfil the theme “Upside-down” I was taking images of the National Library as reflected in a pool of water. I had my Lumix GF1 sitting on a tripod along the edge of the water….

I turned around for just a second to assist my brother with his tripod, in that time; I heard a splash and turned to see my camera sinking into the water, it was only a few seconds, but it was enough to get water into the body and into the lens (the same lens I’d waited months for Panasonic to supply…).

My gut reactions were to do all of the right things, pull it out, drop the battery and memory card out and then proceed to dry it off as much as I could.

As I had to refrain from turning the camera on, the Photo Marathon was cut short, but that was the least of my concerns (although I was pretty disappointed it happened BEFORE I made it to the Zoo…)

Over the next few days, the camera and lens were alternated between spending time in the sun and in a container of rice. Rice apparently is a natural desiccant (absorbs moisture). After a couple of days doing this to draw the wetness out of the camera, I dared put the battery back in.

It worked…

The lens seems fine, with no noticeable blemishes, the body operates fine and its taking photos just as well as it did before going in the water. There was some condensation on the LCD screen that lasted about a week, but that cleared up gradually and now it’s fine.

A couple of test photos, let me know if you notice anything that doesn’t look right (besides technique issues…):

So… if you ever have a camera end up in the drink to the following:

• If not already, turn it off
• Drop the battery/memory card out
• Get as much water out of it as quickly as you can
• Open all compartments (battery, flash, and connector sockets) and leave it in a warm spot, to help evaporate the water.
• Store the camera in a container with rice, pour rice into the container, place a sheet of plastic (like a bag) onto the rice for the camera to sit and seal well
• DO NOT TURN IT ON FOR AT LEAST 3-4 DAYS, be confident its dry before turning it on again

After having such a good week, there’s nothing worse than wondering if your expensive camera will ever be the same again, but be patient.