Kincuri.com » Canberra

Bound by Canberra

kincuri — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 07:41:29 +0000

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…

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Opportunities of Freedom

kincuri — Sat, 29 May 2010 00:27:16 +0000

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.

2010 National Multicultural Festival – Canberra

kincuri — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 12:56:01 +0000

Just a quick photo update from the 2010 National Multicultural Festival, held in Canberra, Australia.

This really is a great event, each year on the Saturday of the event, a massive food and drink fest is held in the Canberra city centre, drawing probably the biggest crowd of any event held in the city.

Usually a very beer focused event (this is where I discovered pretty much every nation has its own brand of beer), a nice introduction was the handing out of free, branded, bottles of water. Last years event was held in ridiculous heat, with little access to free water, so this was a pleasant improvement.

Most of the stalls are organised by the relevant embassies that are dotted around Canberra. A lot of international community groups contribute as well, particularly to dance and musical performances.

The merry-go-round is a permanent fixture in Canberra, but I don’t think it’s ever quite as busy during the rest of the year, than as it was today…

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Transitions

kincuri — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 12:22:28 +0000

Well… this week really has been a week of firsts! I’ll note that in the post prior to this, I stated that I had goals I wanted to achieve within the next month, with the proposed reward of dishing out for my first venture into Cosplay. To reiterate (for your benefit, as well as mine) the goals were:

Increase my fitness
Save money
Find a place to live – move out of the family home
Continue to produce work and study that I am proud of (not specified originally, but should be mentioned). This includes Work (capitalised to denote actual employment), Photography, reading and generally seeking knowledge.

I have specifics to these goals, that I will keep personal, to use as a measure and ensure that I meet these goals. It’s only been two days, but I have already crossed on of them off the list. Today I received confirmation that an application for my first apartment! It will be shared with a mate from Uni, located much closer to work and Uni itself, plus providing the freedom and excitement of moving out of the family home, which I have been living in ever since I was born (22+ years…). Point 3 taken care of. A first.

Last night I attended a Climate Change Forum at my Uni, being one of the very few “young people” to attend. Surprisingly, interesting events like this, whilst hosted by a University, attract very few student attendees. Before and after the forum, with a little spare time at hand, I sought out some chances to take some photos (see below). Combined with a a reasonably busy week at Work, I think I’ve made a pretty good go at meeting Point 4. Notably the first image, which represents my first decent capture of lightning in an image, learning technique as I went. Another First.

Oh, with almost daily exercise, Point 1 is being addressed too, but as most fitness attempts, lapses are easy, I’ll be conservative and delay claiming success just yet.

The last two pictures are of a couple of the many sculptures that have been installed around the Canberra city centre, the first is part of the ‘Icarus’ series, the second is called ‘Relic’. There has been some criticism of the amount of money spent by the ACT Government to bring these art pieces into Canberra, mainly due to their obscurity. I do like them however. I believe public art brings character to a town centre. If they stand out, to the point that people are debating whether they are aesthetically pleasing or not, I think the goal of their installation has been achieved. Art needs to stand out and be noticed, otherwise you may as well not have them. Over time, people will grow accustomed to their presence, and will form a part of the city scape.

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